Tasks by Gateway

Task 1 Search results feedback; long vs short description (humbul vs. biome), meaning of colour bar, other comments. Gateway AGRIFOR Comments Humbul is more specific. I think it is good idea. Colour: darker colour is attribute of relevance. Use percentage instead of colour. Create an icon indicating that you are going to another Web site User type Student AGRIFOR Typed in fishing and got results. Thought the colours were good, as not too flashy, but provide colour. The colours don‟t mean anything. Too much colour can be distracting. Would like to have the facility to go to a numbered result, e.g.. Result no. 45, so that he can go back to it again, and quickly revisit it. He prefers the layout of the BIOME records to the Humbul records, as they look more symmetrical, and aren‟t just hanging in space. He prefers the BIOME descriptions, with less detail. He knows if he clicks the titles he can go to the resources. Student AGRIFOR Knew immediately how to search, user went straight to the search box. When the results were presented the user wondered what the green bars on the sides of the records meant, and could not see that they were needed Very positive about the short descriptions in AgriFor, felt that the information in the HUMBUL descriptions was far too long, of no use, and completely unnecessary Liked the keywords under the AgriFor descriptions Would like to be able to tick boxes next to the keywords presented to find other records with both those keywords in them Very much liked the italicised search term in the results presented, as could clearly see how the results had been found. Identified that the term had been truncated, and expressed a wish that it hadn‟t been, but did not think you could turn it off. Student AGRIFOR Too many results for me to search through Feel that my search is too broad Not listed according to relevance, what is the point of search results being listed alphabetically? I like the fact that my search query is highlighted in the description Why has fish appeared in my results when I was searching for fishing? Bored with too many non-relevant results Too much text to read Click on the keyword and then I am lost, have I actually narrowed my search? Click on related topics, loses me even furtherHumbul record is too confusing, too much stuff here, why so many radio buttons1.1 prefer the shorter BIOME descriptions because of the highlighted keyword in the description1.2 colour bars noticed – yes1.3 design element1.4 liked the highlighted keyword in the description; keyword links Researcher AGRIFOR Liked Humbul features: intended audience; rights info; date last updated; long description with summary firstDidn‟t notice colour bars at firstbut thought useful when understood what they were for.Details of provenance and validity desirable. Lecturer NMAP Prefered Humbul because it has more detail. Colour: Didn't notice colour bars. Thinks that the meaning of colours is some sort of classification. User prefers full record Student NMAP Types nursing in to the search box. Likes the information as to whether there are too few or too many. Useful for the inexperienced user. She felt 200 resources were too many, she would normally narrow this down. She would like to select UK resources only. Likes the display of results, and the fact it shows you its doing 1-10 of 200. Looks at the dates to see if the information is up to date. Likes the descriptions, particularly the sections outlining the publisher info, and the fact you need Acrobat Reader. She would click on the keywords, but would assume they took her to other web site on that topic, so not what they do do. However, once she clicked on them, she was clearer on where she was.Humbul – doesn‟t like the Humbul site as much, there‟s no Welcome. There‟s no explanatory information. Liked information on how to search / advanced search, and there wasn‟t any on Humbul. Doesn‟t like the browsable headings on Humbul, but does like the left hand bar. She thought there was information overload. Preferred the layout of our search results, with the colour bars dividing them. Doesn‟t think you need the cataloguers name and date set up, like Humbul do. Liked the subject area link. She wasn‟t sure what the view full record link was. When she clicked on it, did find the information interesting. Colour bars – likes them, their linear look and the way they separate out resources. Thought the meaning of colours was something to do with dyslexia? search for nursing 200 results too many. reasonable presentation - clear division between results. highlighting of search term. Can I set the number of results? Colour bars (LHS of record) not strike me as meaning anything. HUMBUL - like the title at the top much clearer. Likes browse category areas on front page...About humanities...Is it case sensitive?...7 hits - smallerunscientific presentation - more on history than science.View full record button - didn't notice it on BIOME.Likes more info but not mega screens.Path (like yahoo directory structure) interesting & useful - whe4re I've been etc....Search box on screen good.Uncluttered...Likes who catalogued, when & subject area Typed „nursing‟ into the simple search box on front screen of NMAP – felt there were “lots of results”Liked keywords linking to other resources with that word, but would like them to say „keywords‟ next to it to make it clear what they are. Liked length of NMAP description, but very keen on the HUMBUL metadata. Especially liked the intended audience field, and would like to see this information on NMAP.Liked the coloured bars to identify the separate resources in the list in NMAP. Liked layout of the HUMBUL description.likes having the author / publisher information (especially important for health Information) – needed to read the NMAP descriptions more thoroughly to get this informationliked seeing the url, rather than just the link (as in NMAP)Liked being able to see the MeSH keywords in NMAP (aren‟t shown in HUMBUL)Hadn‟t noticed the colour bars in NMAP, and didn‟t know what they meant, but thought it was a good idea when I explained what they were.Would like the option to have more results on the page, rather than having to click on to the next page, especially when a lot of results are retrieved. Liked Humbul better. Liked Subject Area display field. Add full record to BIOME. Adds more detail. ** Colour: don't know, means relevance? Lecturer NMAP Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian BIORES Student BIORES BIORES BIORES Did a search in BioResearch. Likes the fact the results are 10 to a page. Would also like to know more about how resources are ranked, it isn‟t clear. Descriptions are helpful, and are just long enough. Would like to have what type of resource they were highlighted, e.g. tutorial. She would ignore the keywords, and assume they are keywords there to help pull up a reference. Clicked on a keyword, and was confused, as these new set of resources didn‟t relate to her first search.Humbul – Preferred the BIOME layout to the Humbul layout. She didn‟t want to know who‟s catalogued the record. Probably wouldn‟t want to go to the full record, she already had enough detail in the description. Would go straight to the resource itself if it was of interest. Colour bars – liked the layout, but they didn‟t mean anything to her. Both result lists are clear and similar - with links and explanations....There is nothing in the ways of differences between the two that she would want to see changed.....Liked the way both are laid out - might possibly be better if the gaps between results were slightly bigger.....Liked the blue and black contrast of BIOME. In general probably wouldn't read a longer description - she'd just go to the site if she needed more information so no need for more on the listings.....Liked the way that the colour bars separate out records in BIOME as this breaks it up a bit and makes the list easier to read - can't see any other function of the bars.....In general BIOME“blood” in both gateways.Felt that the BioResearch results had too much text, but Performed a simple search for the term results are well presented. would like the option of having more information, like in the HUMBUL records.Does not like the grey of HUMBUL, but thinks BIOME is too blue.User was not clear what the keywords were for – he believed that clicking on the terms would take him to an explanation of what the term meant, such as if he clicked on „diabetes‟ it would give him a description of what diabetes is.User would like a note at the side to indicate that these are keywords. Keyed in the term blood into the query boxNoted that there were three pages of results first ten on the first page, easy to scroll downDescriptions, these are useful because it provides information on the type of resource that your search query has producedLike the fact that the term blood is highlighted in the descriptionsHUMBUL my search query (blood) is not highlighted in the textPrefer the BioResearch description because my search term is highlighted and each resource provides accurate subject headingsHUMBUL description is far too long (not necessary for my purposes)Also not too sure how to get back from the HUMBUL full recordNoticed the coloured bars but they have no meaning to me at allWish that my search results could be displayed better (no further clarification on this) Humbul is too much info, I prefer short ones, long is too time consuming. ** Colour: Didn't notice, used to split up results? Keyword links should be a different colour. Each record should be numbered. How are they displayed? Alpha, relevance? List resource type in result display. Have an option to click on a long summary. Add filtering of results. What happens if I click on keywords?Put more space between resources. add the http://link to the result display. Typed in anaesthesia to both gateways. Humbul – liked the fact that it was obvious what he had searched for (ie bold search term at top), but though the results sets looked messier. Thought the Humbul descriptions were too long, wouldn‟t want them much longer than the BIOME ones. Doesn‟t like the full record option, doesn‟t think they are useful. People would confuse the link thinking they were going the resource itself. Don‟t need to know who‟s catalogued the record.OMNI – Liked the hints on no‟s of resources etc. Liked the linear balanced layout. Liked the fact that you have consistent navigation from home page to search page. Thought that students would get confused by the MeSH keywords, as they wouldn‟t know what they were, or when clicked on, wouldn‟t know where they were. Likes the colours, and knows they relate to the gateways. She suspects students probably wouldn‟t know.Overall, prefers the OMNI search results. She likes the way the word searched for is highlighted in the descriptions. Thinks there could do with being a bit more room between the keywords at the bottom of a resource, and the title of the next resource.Likes the fact you can do another search from the search page. Likes Humbuls simple search box, with the phrase search button below. She‟s not sure if people use the OMNI Advanced Search, as the numbers of resources there aren‟t huge. Thinks it would be useful to have the Resource Type filter on the homepage, and the UK only facility, rather than having them hidden away on the Advanced search. Researcher Student Student BIORES Librarian OMNI Researcher OMNI Librarian OMNI Performed a simple search for „anaethesia‟ (spelled wrongly), and got 2 results from OMNI. Performed the same search in HUMBUL and got no results. Was not impressed with this result, and did not notice that she had spelt it wrongly.Observer pointed out the mistake in order to get feedback on the HUMBUL style results, and so the searches were performed again, this time getting results.User wanted to see OMNI results numbered, or with a bigger space in between to differentiate between the different records.Noticed the different coloured bars for the OMNI/NMAP resources, but thought that the purple bars indicated that the site was American.Liked the search term being in bold italics, so she can immediately see how her search term relates to the record.Preferred the length of OMNI descriptions, as said she would not have the time to spare to read the longer HUMBUL ones. When asked if she would like to see HUMBUL style descriptions in OMNI she replied “oh no, definitely not!”.She preferred the layout of the HUMBUL site, and the fact that it has different colours.Thought the keywords were too much “that‟s too much information”. She also believed that the keywords would lead to resources within the search term, such as if she clicked on „dentistry‟ it would lead to an example of anaesthesia in dentistry.Again said the site was “too blue”. * Like the fact that my search keyword is highlighted in my results * Wouldn't read the whole description, probably read around the highlighted search query keyword * What is the difference between results (some have blue bars, others have purple) * Prefer the descriptions in the results with the blue bars * I really don't require all this information * What is the relevance of the keywords, what are they? Why are they located here? * No idea of what I am clicking on * Would like the url underneath the title of the resource to be visible * Browsed through search results and commented: * Why isn't the resources from the Royal College of Anaes located together? * Prefer the shorter description, too much information (not targeted at my needs) on the HUMBUL site User likes 'date catelogued' field. Long description is of no interest, I don't need the web address. Humbul has too much language. I like a last updated, don't need the rest. ** Colours : I don't know what they mean, could it be relevancy? Oh, green is biology, blue is medical, it's a code for the gateways, it's not clear. *** the Less info the better. Student OMNI Student NATURAL Researcher NATURAL Natural: Went to Advanced Search, but got confused about the resource types, not sure what they refer to. Tried to find a category "webpages". so selected resource guides in the end. Wondered what truncation means, but liked being about to select how many records to see at once.*** In Humbul, liked the layout - way the text in indented under the title and the bar at the bottom of each record that is retrieved as well as the fact that it puts the date of entry in there and the bullet points. Would be good if put the date the site was last updated as well....HUMBUL listing layout is clearer - more obvious where one record ends and another begins - the listing is less cramped looking than BIOME's....Liked the obvious title link in HUMBUL....The BIOME results screen is very text heavy - although the bars down the side do help....Likes the short descriptions as this helps him sort out useful stuff from non-useful more quickly - less to read through and can then read longer if looks interesting....Noticed that BIOME can just list titles but feels that this is too little information to be useful....Could tell that the different colour bars probably relate to different gateways but not obvious which gatewya each colour refers to. A key might be useful or to lump Student NATURAL Not clear in NS what order the results presented in. Looks alphabetical, but some italicised titles seem to be out of sequence.... In HUMBUL, the subject liked the presence of a subject link next to each result, but felt the “catalogued by” information was of limited use.... Subject approved of the brief display leading to full record display format of HUMBUL. In contrast, subject felt the brief results list on NS were not only too wordy (lengthy abstracts), but lacked other important information, such as date of website cataloguing or creation. Also, a full result associated with each record (rather than simply a link to the website) would have been advantageous.... The colour bars flanking each result were not noticed by the subject and conveyed no meaning. It was only by searching on BIOME (as opposed to NS) that the fact that the colours had meaning, became apparent. Student NATURAL 121 results brought up. Too much information given....Would like some indication of relevance....Not getting alphabetical listings. How are they selected/arranged?....Trees aren‟t mentioned in many of the descriptions first shown, only in brackets at the bottom – again refers to relevance of item in search....HUMBL : No sign of Natural on this site. Typing Trees brings up a huge selection in different contexts....BIOME : Descriptions are longer (even the short ones) than HUMBL, you are not offered the choice of lists or short descriptions. Less relevant items are brought up than on HUMBL....Yes did notice the colour bar – no idea about what it is basically. Student NATURAL NATURAL Natural Selection...Surprised to find species names in headings. It was a general search, but very specific terms ranked high in results....Wondered how the results were ranked; suggested should start with most general, then the specific....Shows useful no. of hits...Abstracts a good length *** HUMBL...First impressions – no immediate focus, because of colours (too faint)...A bit disappointing...Only 8 hits....Results were off the subject, out of context....Preferred amount of text in abstract to that of Natural Selection No understanding of order of BIOME results, no facility to order search by alphabet, date of inclusion, etc. HUMBUL gives date and similar descriptions to BIOME. BIOME gave more results. Colour bars useful for showing length of each entry and break up page, eye catching. Useful to have search term highlighted in each site. Find a learning material. Student Student Task 2 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments Searched: 'Forestry and Learning'. Looking in serach results. Clicked on first 2 results He clicked on the AgroForestry link from the AgriFor home page. Here he felt there should be a link to Aforestation. At the moment it‟s in Silviculture. This needs a link. Doesn‟t know how to find a Learning Material, just clicked on the Forestry links from the home page. Was not clear about how to find a learning material straight away.Expected to see a browse function for learning/teaching materials. When this was not available, the user performed a simple search for „ forestry learning material‟, which brought up some results. Did not think to use the advanced search at all. my results are not useful at allfeel lost now, think maybe I should do my search againclick on browse instead Needed prompting to find advanced search page. Was surprised to find list of resource types, but though it very useful. Search: 'Optometry + learning materials' Unsuccesful. Colour: Related to organisations and agencies User type Student Student AGRIFOR Student Researcher Lecturer Student AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP Did a simple searched on optometry, and got 92 results. Too many. Tried the advanced search page, and selected Resource Type. Didn‟t see Learning Materials on the list. Did the same search again, with the same results. Did „optomety AND learning materials‟, and got nothing. Changed the terms around, nothing again. BIOME home page & searched optometry in simple search box 90+ often American would choose Mesh keyword on an English one then click on it would only look at first 10 clicked on Mesh term - related topics not very helpful what do MESH terms mean? Hierarchy assumed (Observers note - he thought clicking on the MESH term would refine the search & only show records under that topic which related to original search)***pointed out advanced search & limiters - he had not used before - found 18 would start with lecture notes & teaching materials Is city university London? 1st 4 were from same institution - would click on one of these tried 2nd page He was constantly running the mouse over the highlighted link to see the URL in the bottom bar of the screen to see all resources from same institution Went to the training section from top navigation bar, as felt „a learning material would teach about optometry. Tried looking under „resources for further education‟, then „health and social care‟ and got into the RDN case studies page. Was very confused, and not happy.Tried the online tutorial for Allied Health.Then went back to BIOME homepage, and clicked search on the top navigation bar, taking him to advanced search page. Did a search for „optometry‟ limited to „learning material‟ after unchecking the VetGate option on „titles only‟. Eventually found a good resource he liked.Expected the site to open in a new window. Typed the term optometry into the simple search box on the NMAP home pageScanned resultsClicked on the „teaching material‟ keyword listed at the bottom of a resource, and scanned resultsCarried out a second search…typed in „optometry learning‟, then clicked on keyword „teaching materials‟ (seemed to think she was browsing within the results set)Showed her the advanced search and the option to select resource type – she thought this feature was very useful and would use it in the future, but hadn‟t realised that the advanced search would allow her to do this. Browsed for DNA then ran a search for DNA. Clikced on first resutl which was a learning material. Success. But not a VTS material. Searched for DNA learning, and got 8 results that she thought looked relevant. Didn‟t know to go to the Advanced Search page. Searched from BIOME screen went to site map and then online tutorials. realized that this was wrong as the VTS site looks very different. Performs a simple search for “dna”, and looks through the listed results for a learning material. Complains that this is too time consuming, and after much thought, clicks on advanced search.User tries to limit by resource type, but does not notice that the list of resource types is scrollable, and „learning material‟ is not immediately visible without scrolling so he does not see it.Does not understand what the option „sort by title‟ means.Is very confused and not at all happy. Not completed Lecturer Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES Student Researcher Student Student BIORES Librarian OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI Clicked on 'Internet Medic' tutorial link. Clicked back. Searched 'diabetes. I like the too few/many option in the search results page. I would like to have a links basket to save resources of interest. Display resource type in results display. User chose based on search results. No filter used. Put diabetes in as a keyword, and got 199 resources. Went to the Advanced Search, and clicked on Learning Material resource type. Would like to see this facility on the homepage (while still keeping the page uncluttered.) User performed a simple search for „diabetes‟, and thought that the 199 results was too many to look through for a learning material. After much deliberation, user goes to the advanced search page and performs the same search. When this produced the same results, she went „back‟ and searched for „diabetes tutorial‟.User commented on the „resource type‟ field, but said it was not clear what it was or what it would do, so she ignored it. Once she understood what it did, she said the box should show the most popular resource types before becoming a drop down list, so as to provide an example of what could be done.Did not understand why there was an option to cross search BioResearch, as she did not understand what the different gateways were for. * Firstly clicked on advanced search * Typed in diabetes * Selected resource type learning material (commented that he guessed it was this one, none of the others seemed appropriate) * Why can't I select multiple resource types? * Pleased with the amount of results his search has provided Search: 'evolution', then 'evo, learning material', 'evo tutorial', success. I'm not expecting high powered results for learning materials. A bit basic. Went to Natural and then advanced search….Searched for evolution and selected learning material from the resource type list. Searched on NS using the word “evolution”. Noted again that the sort order of results was not clear....Suggested that the results should have reasonably broad-based subject-based browse links attached to each record to allow for easy refinement of results. For example: Animal evolution, General Evolution....Noted that there were far too many results returned, but didn‟t naturally gravitate towards using the browse button as an alternative resource discovery route... Eventually decided to do an advanced search, but found she was unable to easily refine her search as there was no indication of whether more than one word could be entered in the search box and no information about the Boolean effects that might be produced (if any) by doing so. BIOME only seems to use the first 6 letters of a word in a search….Annoying that the first bit of information you get in the search is irrelevant...Should be put in relevance order….Easy to specify resource required….Very straightforward to use. Entered “Evolution” First hit again over specific (about conservation – of marginal relevance)...Results seem to be wordmatched rather than subject-matched...Then entered “learning material evolution” – 0 hits...Then entered “learning evolution” – 7 hits (did not discover how to do this kind of search until a later task)...Keywords at bottom of abstract don‟t stand out – could be put in italics. Text of abstract more useful than keywords. Not sure why only evolu was highlighted in search results. Good resources, keywords useful but some obvious ones missing. Advanced search no good for this query. Find a resource that has recently been added to the gateway. Researcher Librarian Student Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Researcher Student Student NATURAL Student NATURAL Student NATURAL Task 3 Student Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments I'm not sure how to do that. Searched: 'Forestry and 2002 + 2003'. Advanced doesn't give a date option. Add a year filter or results from the past 6 months He thought it wasn‟t obvious how to find a recent record. He clicked on What‟s New, expecting to find new materials under here, but didn‟t see the link to New Records. He clicked instead on the newsletter. He felt the Newsletter shouldn‟t be as prominent, as it isn‟t of interest to most users. The Newsletter link should be below New Records. User type Student Student AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP User went straight to the „What‟s New‟ page from the navigation bar and found the list of recently added resources.User would like to receive email updates when new resources are added in his subject area (not in AgriFor generally, but specified by keywords)User thought the „What‟s new‟ page was pointless, as unless you had searched the database very thoroughly and knew every resouce in it, being able to see what has been added that week is of no use. Also thought that the archive should be hidden, as while it may have some use to the service providers it is of no benefit to the users whatsoever, and clutters the page. click on the What‟s New buttonthen click on last updatedwhat is this red button? No idea what this iseasy to find a resource that has been recently added Found „what‟s new‟ immediately, but didn‟t realise you have to click on „last updated‟ to see the records. Thought it was useful and would use as current awareness as not too many each week. Searched: 'add resource to the site'. Searched: 'recent' I should be able to search for this. I should be able to tell from the Homepage what has been added Clicked on What‟s New, then last updated, to get to new records. Found it simple "Must be in the bar" clicked on "What's New" "not been updated" found last weeks new additions Red ball didn't spot the instruction to get the full record Straight to the NMAP „whats new‟ page, but the new records part of the page was off the bottom of the screen, and so he did not notice it. Left the page, and then went back to it, and then scrolled down and saw the new records section.Really liked being able to see what has been added to NMAP, but was under the impression that the new records were only newly published materials. He thought he could use the „whats new‟ page as a current awareness service of what was new in his field.Similarly he also really liked the archive of „whats new‟ listings – but he thought that this would take him to lists of materials published on that date. Clicked immediately on the „What‟s new‟ link, and scrolled down to the „New records‟.Didn‟t like the fact that there is no description at all, just a list of titles - felt that it wasn‟t always clear what the resource was and where it is from. – she realised that a full description would make the page too long, but thought a brief sentence would be useful. Clecked 'advanced search', Choose 'resource type', nothing, Clicked Site Map. Clicked 'whats' new', 'new resources' Success. Add date field in search area. User confused but finally found it. Wouldn‟t know how to find any new resources. Clicked on What‟s New and did find them, but thought that they probably wouldn‟t be something of interest. Thought the date display for the new records on the What‟s New page was confusing. Wouldn‟t have known that the red ball clicked through to the description. Went to advanced search and tried to find a restrict the search by date option (there isn't one).....Looked up in Browsable headings and tried to see if results listed in date order.....Tried "what's new" and went to newsletter. Finally found it under "last updated" but said that she would not have expected to find it under that term (wasn't clear what that term meant - asked why we don't use "new records") User goes to advanced search page, and says he is looking for an option to sort by date.Would like to see a „new since your last search‟ feature, which will remember if he has been here before.Cannot find a recently added resource, and is confused.When asked what he thought the „what‟s new‟ page was for, he replied that he thought it would be “what‟s new with BIOME, such as staff changes etc.” Not completed User entered today;s date in search box with the keyword 'updates'. Date provides no results. Would be nice to know why, eg; wrong format, not in database. Student Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian Student Researcher BIORES BIORES BIORES Student BIORES Student Librarian Researcher BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI Clicked on the What‟s New button, and on the last updated link. But she thinks that people probably wouldn‟t use this feature unless they used OMNI very regularly. Thought we could try having a „sort by date added‟ feature to find these thinkgs, but still thinks people wouldn‟t really be too bothered, they would just be looking for resources on a topic, not just new ones.Thinks that it isn‟t clear that the last updated link goes to resources, the link highlighted should be on the ‟37 records‟ bit of the sentence. Straight to „what‟s new‟, and found new resources within 10 seconds.Felt that the link to the records should be from the text ‟37 new records‟ not from „last updated‟ as this does not indicate that the link will take you to the resources. * Clicked on what's new * Clicked on last updated * Clicked on the red button on the first resource at top of list * I would like to see the url underneath the title of the resource * Commented on the amount of updates available here * Why such a long list? I would find it easier if you tabulated these lists * Couldn't you list new resources under separate subject categories, I would find this more useful Clicked 'advnced search', selected 'resource type'. User looking for a date range option. Clicked 'Help', doesn't help. User clicks 'What's new', Success. I'm not looking at the Nav I think of the Nav as more general information. New records should be in the search by 'sort by most recently added'.. What's new is more generic. It was my last hope. Went to what's new within the gateway. Felt that it's important to distinguish between what's new on the site (e.g. “new services”) and resources newly added to the database (e.g. “new links”). This could be made clearer. .... Didn't feel that there needed to be a long list of past what‟s new on the same page as the recent new stuff. Felt that could have a link to an archive page instead. Also queried why the what's new link took him to a page that then linked to the new resources page instead of just taking him straight to the list of new resources.....Could just have a new resources link from top navigation bar? Librarian Student Student NATURAL Researcher NATURAL Student NATURAL Easily found the what‟s new button...Found the most recent what‟s new items useful, but commented that those from the past were not so useful. Not only were they not seen by the subject as being timely within the context of a what‟s new page, but their display using an unfamiliar date format was not intuitive....It was felt that a subject classified version of the what‟s new page would be helpful. Date really strangely displayed! Either use UK or USA format....Really likes the click on red ball idea – should have been used earlier on the site to give easier/faster links....All entry dates are listed, but the date format is not good....Date for each description should be shown....Would like to see relevance of the item/hit somewhere....Need a choice of search : relevance / date updated / alphabetical. Used advanced search then Results type box – not sure what to do....Then used Simple Search Help – couldn‟t find option to search recent additions...Then found “What‟s new”. More options at this stage needed....Hits using “What‟s new” looked very specific – why not index under general subject headings? Went immediately to „Whats New‟ but not obvious due to way date represented and ignored this page initially. Tried search but no return. No internal search facility. Returned to Whats New and this time found the new entries. Refine a search. Student NATURAL Student NATURAL Student Student NATURAL Task 4 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments User did Simple Search then went to Advanced Search. Chose pulldown. User had trouble, Unsuccessful. Searched for herbicides, and clicked on return. He clicked on CAB keyword IPM to refine it down. He felt it would be useful to have another search box will the ability to refine searches. He wanted a way of further narrowing his search. User type Student Student AGRIFOR User was not clear that it is not possible to refine the search, although he thought that it was not a necessary feature as he would prefer to search again using more keywordsWould like to be able to specify how to order the results retrieved (eg by date last reviewed, or best match), as he felt an alphabetical listing was arbitrary and of no use to the user search for herbicidesI would not read the descriptionI would read “around” the description and try and locate the highlighted sear h termClicks on advanced search as a means of refining his searchClicks on display 40 records and decides to view records (titles only)So frustrated, how am I meant to know what is the most relevant resource herePresuming that they are all of quality, but not necessary relevant to meFeel like I haven‟t found a herbicide resourceClick on the keyword and now I am lost once again Used advanced search but didn‟t really know what was being asked. Noticed truncation was happening, but not how you turn it off. Did Simple search. Clicked on Advanced 'high risk pregnancy in young age' resource type 'any'. No results. Database doesn't have this info? Unsuccessful. Searched on pregnancy from the Advanced Search field. Refined her seasrch by going to the Advanced Search again, and used Resource Type function. She would always use the advanced search to refine a search. I'm in NMAP (Adv Search) Can refine by resource type Looked for documents & reports Would mesh to existing subject search "Is there a more advanced "Boolean"? "smoking & pregnancy & Australian" Does us Booleans but not for this Liked instructions on using the advanced search page "too few & too many" ? not clear BIOME cross searches all Went to search from top navigation bar and searched for „pregnancy‟. Then clicked „back‟, and performed the same search but limited by resource type to „practice guidelines‟ and felt that this was refining the search. Liked the broader and narrower keywords that were shown at the top of the page. User really liked keywords feature – said he was “well chuffed – you don‟t get this on search engines”Noticed the different coloured bars, but had no idea that they indicated resources were from either OMNI or NMAP.Was pleased with results found. Typed in pregnancy. Tried to refine search by selecting relevant keywords attached to records in the results set, and adding more keywords to the search box (again, she seemed to think that she would be searching within the original results set).Went to the advanced page and looked for an option to refine by „date‟ – thought this would be a very useful option. Clicked 'advanced search', clicked 'resource type'. User confused. Unsuccessful. Searched for toxicology. Would add an extra term to refine a search, e.g. testing, which narrowed it down to 5 records from 39. Searched in main biome search box. Went to advanced search and tried to add the term virus in the box as well to find records about both. Didn't work as used a coma to separate the terms…..Then searched for journal databases in Document Type. Performed a simple search for “toxicology”, and is looking for an option to „search within these results‟, or a filter. Is surprised that this option is not available, and feels it should be added. Student AGRIFOR Researcher AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP Lecturer Student Lecturer Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian Student Researcher BIORES BIORES BIORES Student BIORES Student BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI What do you mean by refine your search; do you mean narrowing/moderating it in some way?Browse rather than search seems a better optionNot enough records hereDo another search and do “pesticides and toxicology” Spelled incorrectly. User wanted a Google type: "Did you mean…". Resource type should be on simple search page. Refined search in Advacned to journals.. Selected 'show titles only'. Typed in antibiotic resistance. Would go to the advanced search to refine a search. She feels on the information provided on the results page, ie too many hits, too few hits etc, we could add a „refine your search‟ – as it might not just be when you had too many hits that you‟d want to refine a search, it may be that the subject area is too broad, and we should recommend adding another term. Performed a simple search for “antibiotic resistance”. Then went to „advanced search‟ as she felt this would “search within these results” and was surprised to see that her search term was not already typed into the search box. Did not realised that she could not refine her search, and was confused. * Clicked on advance search and entered query into query box * 12 results, not too many * how do I refine the search? Do you have to select a resource type? advanced search'. I need : title, author, abstracts. Web resources are not peer reviewed. Google advanced search is good. File format not important. List resource type on hompage 'simple search'. For multiple search use checkboxes, not a pulldown - in resource type. Went to Advanced Search, but didn‟t feel that there was much guidance on how to narrow down a search and that the Help button wasn‟t very obvious.....Ran a search and looked at results list. Felt it might be useful to have a “Refine Search” button on the Results screen and that it wasn‟t clear whether or not running a search from the results screen was a search just n the records found or if it was a new search of the whole database. Entered the term and searched….Clicked the advanced button and chose to refine to type journals (full text). ...Found this facility useful Looked for Fungus British. ...Nice description….Likes the fact that when you hover over a title you can see on where the link will take you. 13 results….again remarked that structure/logic/ranking of results not apparent – possible disincentive to usage... keywords seem more accurate….Google search may give more hits but would rank most visited sights first The label implied that further search would be based on results, rather than extra word(s) had to be added to original search term...Would be very useful to have the option to have wildcard and NOT to search terms. Submit a resource. Librarian Researcher Librarian Student Student NATURAL Researcher NATURAL Student NATURAL Student Student Student Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Task 5 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments Clicked Submit - Successful - under 30 secs Didn‟t know how to submit a resource. He looked at all the headings, and clicked on submit a resource. He doesn‟t think that the top bar menu makes much sense, he felt that the Search and Browse and About should be there, but that the Submit, Training etc. should be somewhere else, e.g. in some of the white space to the right hand side of the site. He felt space could be used better. Scientists need good geometrical designs. He liked the gateway menu bar. User thought it would be better if the navigation bar said „Suggest a resource‟Did not see why it was necessary to have to put your name and email address on the submission, as this would put him off submitting so as not to receive emails about the resource (he feels he gets enough email already)Liked link to evaluation guidelines Click on the submit key in the top tool barBit misleading, think the java script should read “submit a resource” Worked out this meant „click on submit‟ but didn‟t immediately realise what submit or resource meant here – would prefer „recommend a link‟. Thought it a very useful feature and would use it. User type Student Student AGRIFOR Student Researcher Lecturer AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP Entered: 'feedback' in Simple search. Then said would contact Webmaster Would submit a comment to the Webmaster, at the address at the bottom of the page. "can I do it in BIOME?" - had moved to another gateway went & looked at evaluation criteria - TOO MUCH INFO would stop you submitting Not clear that someone else would review & evaluate it ? need a 1-screen version ? put the summary first & then offer more info Went straight to „submit‟ from top navigation bar.Noticed the evaluation criteria, and said he would be surprised if many people use it.Completed in less than 30 seconds. Clicked straight on the submit button.Comments: thought the field „Site administrator email address:‟ might mean that only site administrators could submit – wouldn‟t necessarily know this information anyway.Wasn‟t sure if she could be bothered reading the evaluation guidelines, so might not bother submitting the site. Clicked Submit - Successful - under 30 secs Clicked on Submit button, thought it was obvious. She wouldn‟t know what the site administrator was on the submit table. Found the submit option without any problems. User went straight to „submit‟ from the top nav bar, completed within 10 seconds. Click on the submit button, but not too sure what this means, does it mean submitting my search query?I think submitting a web site for inclusion should be found under a feedback button, the word submit is totally confusing Clicked on Webmaster Submit button, she knows where it is. She has submitted things before, and will do more in the future. Went straight to „submit‟ from the top nav bar, in less than 10 seconds. * Clicked on the submit button * Stated that he doesn't think it is clear that anyone can submit a resource Clicked 'submit'. Success. Alos have a link on the bottom of the homepage. Looked for something obvious that said that users could submit sites but didn‟t feel that the existing button was obvious enough. ...Felt that the Submit section was very clear. From the menu, the subject was completely baffled by the meaning of this. When it eventually became apparent to her, she suggested wording such as “submit website” or suggest would be more meaningful... Extra instructions were needed at the top of the submit page, as this would have helped to clarify the purpose of the form. Easy to do....Feels it is unnecessary to be asked to give Site Administrator‟s address, and would expect any submitted sites to be screened fully before they are mentioned on BIOME....No screening process mentioned properly on this page. ...BIOME evaluation criteria is mentioned, but there is no link to the criteria on the page.....Thank You page is re-assuring.....Submitting pages should firstly have an introduction page explaining the evaluation criteria and then the form....Also, there should be a Keywords page. Went straight to “Submit” link – more familiar now with layout….Boxes are well designed, clear what‟s expected, no excess admin. Instructions... Liked feature inviting comments on resource submitted Found submission process easy. Good to have the opportunity to submit suggestions for inclusion on BIOME. Find a Virtual Training Suite online tutorial. Student Lecturer Lecturer NMAP NMAP Student Librarian Student Researcher Student Student Librarian Researcher Librarian Student Student Researcher Student BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Student NATURAL Student NATURAL NATURAL Task 6 Student Student Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments Clicked on 'Training', Clicked on 'VTS' link. Successful - under 30 sec Clicked on the home page of BIOME, and clicked the Training button, then on Tutorials, then on the Internet for Agriculture tutorial. He thought it looked like an external site. User type Student Student AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP Went straight to the „Training‟ page > online tutorials, and found the link straight away.Did not find the link on the front page as it was “too far down”.Would like to see the tutorial highlighted much nearer the top of the AgriFor homepage. Ooh this is a bit tricky, should I click on the training button?He does this and then is confused, why am I in BIOME, have I left AgriFor?Clicks on Online Tutorials and finds the VTS suite Did not know what Virtual Training Suite was so tried searching for it limiting by resource type „learning material‟ Clicked 'training', 'online tutorials'. Successful. Went to the training page, and found the Internet for Nursing tutorial. a challenge looked at hosted services - "doesn't seem to be anything" didn't say VTS which is in instruction - thought it would be a clinical subject VLE got to this point before but thought "I learn better by playing" Clicked on „training‟ from top nav bar. Went to „online tutorials‟ and clicked on the VTS link to the main VTS site. Found the Nursing and midwifery tutorial.Liked the fact that the tutorial has the BIOME logo on, felt it was a “quality seal”. Went to the advanced search and selected publication type „learning material‟.Tried to do a search without putting a term in the box (thought it would be useful if could do this).Went back to the simple search and searched for “virtual training” – got 14 results, the first two of which were VTS tutorials.Didn‟t notice the two tutorials on the NMAP homepage – could only see the „Additional Services‟ heading when the page opened up, and wouldn‟t have thought of looking there for the tutorials.Also said that it wasn‟t clear what the links to „Internet for Nursing, Midwifery, etc‟and „Internet for allied health‟ were and who/what they were useful for – an explanatory note would be useful. Clicked 'Training', 'VTS. Successful. Make it more obvious on the Homepage Went to the Training page, and then the online tutorials, and into the Internet BioResearcher. But, she wouldn‟t really use the top bar, as she wouldn‟t have been aware that she could do those things such as submit resources. Has already found these by mistake earlier so clicked on online tutorials from the main BIOME page. User clicked on „training‟ from top nav bar, then „online tutorials‟, and went straight to a tutorial. Completed task in under 30 seconds.User noticed that he had been taken out of BioResearch, as the colours changed, but did not know where he had been taken to. Click on trainingThen click on online tutorialPerhaps this tutorial should be found under the help pages and not the training ones? It's not listed in 'additional resources'. Searched: 'VTS'. Unsuccesful Clicked on Training button on top bar, and selected the Online Tutorials. She thinks other people may see this section as just training events. She feels the online tutorials need a higher profile from the home pages. Went to „training‟ from the top nav bar, then to „training events‟ and found a tutorial. She said it was more luck than anything else, and that it was not at all obvious that these tutorials were there.After visiting the VTS tutorial, she was really pleased with it, and said she would like to see it made more prominent on the homepage, as “it would be really useful for students”. * Clicked on training on the top bar * Clicked on online tutorials * Then notices that he has left OMNI and wondered why he was now in BIOME? User clicked 'advanced search', resource type 'learning material' or resource guide. User unsure. Don't know what each is, they need descriptions. User tired learning material, keyword 'tutorial'. Success. Felt that the top bar is confusing (again). Not obvious what “Training” means – training for what? Might be better to say “Online Tutorial”. Student Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES Student Researcher Student Student Librarian Researcher Librarian BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI Student OMNI NATURAL NATURAL Student Researcher Student NATURAL Clicked training VTS....Liked the subject organized page of virtual training suites....Visited the Nature VTS....Subject found this VTS highly confusing and too verbose. As she had never used a virtual tutorial website before, she needed information about its purpose in plain language, which she could not easily find, even in the welcome page.....The add basket icon caused confusion, as she could not make the connection between the purpose of that and the nature of the training. Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Task 7 & 9 Very good indeed. ...User friendly. Student Not completed Student Training front page straightforward. Liked the welcome visuals. Student Browse by gateway subject headings (AGRIFOR, BIORES, NATURAL) and Browse by NLM, MESH, CAB headings (AGRIFOR, OMNI, Gateway AGRIFOR Comments What does CAB keyword feature mean? User scrolled down. Where do I do that? User didn't see Browse link in the Nav bar. Unsuccessful. Could find out how to do this browse task ***************** 'Browsed 'soil erosion'. User could not find this subject. Clicked on the Search button in the top menu bar, and performed a search on the American Vineyard Foundation in BIOME. He didn‟t know where to go next, and went outside.He was then prompted to browse, and he felt that the browse button wasn‟t clearly labelled enough, and it was an important feature. Felt that both browse options (CAB and category) should be listed on the homepage. He found the browse by CAB feature difficult to use, and didn‟t know how to browse to find the resource. Went to „Browse‟ page after a few moments thought. User was surprised there was no direct link to „Browse by CAB keywords‟ from the homepageWent to „v‟ then clicked on „vineyards‟ and found the resource straight away as intended.Searched using the terms „American Vineyard Foundation‟ and found resource straight awayUser preferred searching if he knew what he was looking for, as it is quicker ******************** 'Would like to see Browse categories linked between gateways, for example „Botany‟ brings up results from AgriFor and Natural Selection, or at least offers „would you also like to browse Natural selection?‟ to indicate that the subject may be covered in two gatewaysDid not notice Browse headings for „Forestry‟ and „Food‟ as they were off the bottom of the screen, and user did not expect to have to scroll on the homepage Browsed the “Browse by Subject” and not the CAB kewywordCrops and horticulture-viticulture-then found Am Vineyard foundationCab keywords are hidden, not aware that I am browsing CAB keywords ************* 'First clicked on crops and horticultureThen clicked on field and plantation cropsNot happy with my resultsGoes back and does another browseClicks on economics, trade and rural developmentHaven‟t found what I want this way; am interested in crops and trade and they appear not to be mapped to each otherBrowsing is therefore not useful for me, I would rather do a query search Looked under vineyards in CAB keyword and found Am Vineyard Foundation immediately. Ditto search. Preferred search and would not browse if looking for a specific institutionNo difference Liked the possibility of browsing by keywords when not looking for specific site. ************* 'Only found one resource. Liked structure in principle but needs more entries under each heading. Not clear what subheads are likely to appear under which main heads – need to get to know structure User couldn't find Browse for a long time.. Scrolled 'A'. Unsuccessful. Searched: Successful. User didn't like MESH. ***************** 'Scrolled hompage. Where is NLM? Searched: 'NLM' Observer needed to point out how to get to NLM. User browsed 'parenting'. Scrolled down. Couldn't find, Unsuccessful. Never the less, User prefered the NLM heading to the Subject Headings because it gives alot of detail. User type Student AGRIFOR Student AGRIFOR Student AGRIFOR Researcher AGRIFOR Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP NMAP Went to the BIOME browse page, and found the MeSH browse in OMNI from there. She hadn‟t realised she was at the BIOME page and not NMAP. Browsed down the A list of headings, looking for American, and couldn‟t find it. Did a search on American Association for the History of Nursing, using inverted commas around it (not quote marks). Preferred searching for this topic, but she does like to browse generally if there is a broad topic. ************** 'Need to add NMAP into our left hand list of gateways.She didn‟t know what NLM was, thought it was something to do with medicine. Clicked on Browse in top bar, but didn‟t really know where to find it. Found a resource in Alternative Medicine. Did like these headings, and liked the number of resources shown. AgriFor – didn‟t like to travel down so many pages before getting to a result, too hierarchical. Preferred the NLM ones as you could get through in one go. found mesh - not sure what to do looked at "A" for American then H for history would like a second alphabet bar on each page with second letters e.g. Aa Ab Ac etc rather than scrolling tied history of nursing - copied & pasted to search box & found instantly prefer to "search if I know what I'm looking for" search & limit is quicker **************************** 'Nurse prescribing 1-10 36 res 1st heading did another search on "intensive care & weaning" - description good User had never heard of MeSH and did not know where to look. Tried looking on the advanced search page for an option. After a bit of confusion, he clicked on browse on the top nav bar, and saw MeSH 2002, although he was still unclear as to what it was.Tried looking under “A” for American – did not find, so tired “N” for nursing, which was there, but the user did not see it. Said the page was too cluttered. Went back to “A” for associations, which he found, and found the record from the results list.Searching, he went to advanced search page, and searched for the whole title, and found the record.Preferred searching for speed, but was really keen on MeSH once he realised that it was the keywords that he had been so keen on earlier. Really liked being able to link to other resources with that word, as he felt that with a search “you only get what you ask for and might miss stuff”.He said the MeSH browse made him feel “panicked” as it was very cluttered and seemed daunting. Felt it might be a bit much for 1st time users, and would like to see a „warning‟ that this area was for advanced users. ******************** 'Was looking for information on interpersonal skills between nurses and patients.Went to he Clicked on „Browse‟, selected MeSH, and scrolled through the first page.Tried „H‟ for history – clicked on „History of Nursing‟ MeSH term – found record for this siteCarried out a simple search for „American association history nursing‟Retrieved the record for this site.Comments: - prefers to search, as it gives more control - would search if had a specific query - when browsing MeSH you need to know the right keywords, and you get more results - found the layout of the MeSH browsable structure unclear – should she read down or across ****************** 'Browse by NLMHoped there would be sub-categories to select – got too many results to scroll through, and weren‟t all useful/relevantAgriForLiked the breakdown of subjects, but said that it wasn‟t clear what the „+‟ meant.Comments:Preferred the AgriFor browse structure because of the sub-headingsThought that it would be a good idea to have a cut off number, and any category with more than this number of records should be broken down into sub-categoriesNeeds to be more information about what NLM is – she finds that users often don‟t know what it is and don‟t realise it is different to dewey Used Homepage browse. Clicked MedHist link. Clicked 'advanced serach', 'resource type'. User finally guessed and clicked Brwse from nav bar. In MESH: Clicked 'R'. Successful. User likes MESH better that homepage browse. It's very clear but hidden. **************** 'User didn't know the meaning of the + symbol. Needs to be made clear Lecturer Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian BIORES Student BIORES Didn‟t see the browse button. Didn‟t know what Browse by MeSH meant. Clicked on „R‟, and down to RNA. Once she was in the MeSH hierarchy, she liked it, particularly the related subjects offered. MeSH didn‟t mean anything to her. She liked it once in it, as she found it fairly direct. She preferred browsing if she didn‟t know what she was looking for eg. Teaching materials, and searching if she‟s looking for something specific. ************** 'Used the home page categories, Genetics, then down to Developmental Biology. Would use the university journals page to find journals, and knows already her key sources to go to. This section is too small to be on real interest, or the first port of call, but she did find the Mill Hill Essays, which she didn‟t previously know about. Thought the headings were clearly labelled, but thought there would always be difficulties in terms of where things go, e.g. genetic mutation could go under Developmental Biology. Likes the split of types of information, e.g. journals, databases. Thought there should be more genetics departments, as there were only 4. Clicked on BROWSE and then browse by MeSH then did a keyword search from the main search screen.....Liked both options. Liked to be able to narrow down a search using MeSH but also to be able to do a freetext search as well.....Said that what she used would depend on what she was looking for, e.g. if she was looking for conferences she would use browse. For other types of search she might use keyword search. ************** 'Felt the headings were very general and preferred the MeSH terms. Didn't seem to find any subheadings and didn't like that…..However did feel that the terms made sense and she found what she was looking for. From the training page, user clicked on „browse‟ and was taken to the browse page of the BIOME site and was confused by all the options he was presented with.The user then clicked on the option to browse by MeSH within BioResearch.User went to “R” looking for „RNA‟, and found the term for „RNA stability‟. He was very pleased with this way of browsing as it allowed him to choose the type of RNA he found records on, and it was more specific. He said he felt that searching would be better if you are not exactly sure what you are looking for.User also commented that he would like a clear explanation on the site of the “Boolean logic that is being used, as it is not clear to me how to type in my searches for the best effect”. User did not understand that the search box „ands‟ terms together automatically. ****************** 'User is looking for resources on children‟s brain tumours. Tried browsing by „cell biology‟, and then by „journals‟ and cannot find anything of relevance. User does not understand that there are more browseable headings than are shown, and does not realise that clicking on the main heading will lead to the list of headings in that area until he is shown. Thought that “what you see is what you get”. User Clicked the browse buttonLike the hierarchical structure of MeSHBrowsing is ok but as an experienced searcher I prefer to search the databaseBreakdown of MeSH terms is very useful thoughRelated topics is a useful way of gaining access to related resourcesPrefer to know how many results my search has achieved, this is not available when I browse ****************** 'Aim to find something on genetic modification and bioethical issuesThe Bioresearch headings are good leaders and make senseMaybe they should reflect topicality, for example, GM crops, bioethical issues etc User didn't know what MESH was. It's a pain to browse. Why do I only get one result in search? I prefer search because I don't have to hunt. I'm not confident in this search. I like 'related topics'. It's not good to have just one resource. I wouldn't use this as my information source. **************** 'NLM: User didn't know what it meant. Browsed for 'cancer', not listed. *** BIORES: Cant' search within a category, I would like to. Relevance display is an issue. What is the advantage of browse, it could be in multiple categories. I need clarification on why to browse. When gathering info i like to search Researcher BIORES Student BIORES Student BIORES Librarian OMNI Researcher OMNI OMNI OMNI She feels non-information people would get confused by the terminology of MeSH. Even with descriptions of what it is, which we have, it still might not be clear. On the MeSH browse listings, she felt it would be more intuitive to have them listed in columns rather than left to right.She also felt that unless you were familiar with MeSH, you wouldn‟t know how certain terms were described, e.g. wouldn‟t know that Community Health Nurse was the term for Health Visitor. These make sense to a Librarian, but not to general users. She likes the fact that you can get to related topics via the MeSH browse, and feels that accessing the headings via the Browse button makes more sense than accessing the MeSH keywords via the search results.She feels it isn‟t clear what the MeSH subheadings are at the top of some MeSH browsable pages, she though some might think that they were accessing a resource by clicking on those.She does like these browse features, but would tend to prefer the search for herself, as she knows there won‟t be huge numbers of results returned.She‟s never used the NLM subject headings, and wouldn‟t, as they are too broad. She would search. MeSH though she feels is more useful, and people From the training page, where she was from the last exercise, the user clicked on „browse‟ from the top nav bar, and was taken to the BIOME browse page, and was confused by the number of options presented, as she did not realise she was no longer within OMNI. Finally she clicked on “browse using MeSH keywords” provided for OMNI from the BIOME page.She liked the idea of MeSH, but would like more explanation of how it differs from search.After using the browse feature she thought it was “brilliant, as sometimes you are given a word by your tutor, and you can‟t always spell it, so this prevents mistakes”. This was exemplified when she searched for the term “acne rosea”, which is spelled differently from the MeSH term “Acne Rosacea”, and only got one result.She felt that this feature should be made more obvious from the homepage or else the temptation to search would prevent users from finding this useful feature. *********************** 'Really liked the BioResearch headings, as she felt it was easy to locate resources when you are interested in a general topic. “”if this was available from the OMNI page I would definitely use it”.She felt it needed to be made more obvious though, as the browse * Firstly clicked on advanced search and noted that he could not browse by MeSH on this page * Then clicked on browse on the top tool bar * Then clicked on MeSH 2002 headings * Preferred to search by keyword than by browsing * Noted that he retrieved more results by doing a search for this keyword than by browsing ************** What is NLM? I have no idea what this is at all? * Browses and selects the term "physical therapy" * Oh, there are too many results here * Would prefer to be able to search the browse results? * Much prefer to browse the BioResearch subject headings, easier to find what I would want Librarian Student Student NATURAL I assume browse is equivelant to search. I see browse is useful, Success.. I prefer search because in browse the keyword may be in multiple categories. Now I know what Natual Selection covers. 3,000 + records instills doubt. Doubt of quality. I'd like a breakdown of how many resources are in each category. It feels haphazard. ********** 'Headings are a bit broad. Looking for 'paleozoic'. Not all subjects are listed. Things listed in categories are not accurate. Need expert reviewers to categorise. I'm not very confident..Dinosaurs section is good. Should breakdown sections into: trivial, children, academic Went to “Browse” and felt that it was all fairly obvious. The layout of the browse headings screen is fairly clear although perhaps the columns could be spaced a bit further apart as some lines seem to run into each other.....Likes the bold headings – make sir clear.....Prefers the Browse results screen to the search results screen. It‟s a lot clearer although it doesn‟t have any options to resort the order of the records which is a shame.....Likes the keyword search as you can limit the number of records listed on each page. In general he feels that it would be good to have a limit on the length of each record description in either search or browse results, and that people should have a choice of serach or browse. It might also be useful for each description to say what type of resource it describes (e.g. journal). In the advanced search it could be clearer what each resource type actually is – perhaps by grouping similar types together in the drop down box on the search screen under a main heading e.g. “books” and “journals” could be grouped under “publications”.....He would normally search by keyword as the browsable structure might not reflect his subject interests and a keyword search could be more specific unless there are browseable headings that exactly match his topic. ***************** 'Felt that Browse wasn‟t obvious to find on the main screen Researcher NATURAL Student NATURAL Clicked browse zoology (sub-category behaviour) and found the process straightforward.....Searched for animal behaviour. Noted that the number of results was very similar.....The advanced search option was liked, but extra sort options would be welcomed....Would always choose to search rather than browse as subject feels more comfortable with that method of retrieval....Did not notice that with results generated by browse, the green result strip icon is not present, whereas with search it is. This reinforces her earlier argument that the colour bars are meaningless. ********************************** 'Approved of the subject headings but found the ellipsis after each main subject heading to be confusing as it was not clear whether this meant the heading had been truncated, or that it linked to a subsidiary heading.... As a chemist, she found it difficult to ascertain which, if any of the gateways were relevant to her discipline and did not manage to find a useful resource. Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Task 8 Users like to see symbols which can be associated throughout a site with relevant links. It takes a moment to realise where the description you are looking at comes from (ie, from a journal), this should be more prominent.....Both search and browse are favourable and so would use both to ensure that as much information as possible is found....In this instance, Browse is better, although it is not in alphabetical order and not laid out that well....Titles should not necessarily be in bold, would be more favourable if a list with tabbed sub headings was used....Zoo-Animals – only 2 categories shown, a drop bar with a selection would be a lot better than the … that are presently used. Possibly a description of what the section covers would also be useful. ******************** 'Because these are such specialised subjects you need a lot of input/influence from people very familiar with the subject to assist in laying out the subject fields.....For instance Oceanography and Aquatic Sciences doesn‟t make sense because no Oceanography is offered on the list.....Other than that – fine......Have a general section available as on other pages on the site.....Easy to find? The word input was Mediterranean.....Very few items were available...Perhaps develop the site so that foreign sites are taken into account / can be Went first to BROWSE and quickly came to “animal behaviour”... Good selection of results, well ranked **************** ' Searched for “ecology”...Good structure in display of results this time, with general results at top...Liked BROWSE option, would use this in preference to keyword searches Animal behaviour: Browse – more spread out results page, no top green bar. No option to skip up or down page. Search – no alpha order. If knew what looking for then preferred BROWSE, if vague SEARCH. The same term threw up different results 28 and 27, so what happened to the missing record. Felt a great inconsistency as a search on different terms meaning animal behaviour threw up different numbers; i.e. only 3 for Ethology which means the same as animal behaviour. Animal ecology different return to animal behaviour. **************** 'When searching on personal interest was unable to find a section on ENTOMOLOGY on BROWSE menu, which is a large group, and nothing to indicate Insects. Failed to find any resource relating to personal interest „sandfly‟ Find the most recent BIOME newsletter. Student Student Student Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP Comments Clicked 'What's New', Newsletter, 2003. Successful. Under 30 secs Not completed Tried searching for „newsletter‟ from BIOME homepage, but this brought up lots of unrelated results.Eventually went to „What‟s new‟ and found it. Click on What‟s NewThen clicked on newsletterWhy is there not an AgriFor newsletter? Found easily under what‟s new Clicked 'What's New', Newsletter, 2003. Successful. Under 30 secs Went to the BIOME homepage, selected the What‟s New link, and selected the Newsletter. User type Student Student Student Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer NMAP BIOME page -> what's new -> newsletter "spotted it earlier" looked at vacancies then jobs.ac.uk "is a distraction" ** Browse by NLM - "can see more readily at a glance" What top level headings e.g. Health Services -> organisation -> policy development "are they in alphabetical order?" then AGRIFOR - "can see more easily at a glance" "feels more 'on track'" "more comfortable than alphabetical" Went to „whats new‟ from top nav bar. Found it in 10 seconds. She had already seen this on the „What‟s new‟ pageBut, if hadn‟t known where it was: would have gone back to the BIOME home pageand would expect it to have been available on this page.Would then have gone to the what‟s new page, but would have expected it to be more prominent.Asked if the newsletter can be emailed to users - this would be a useful feature What's New' 'newsletter'. Success. User is not interested in subscribing What‟s New, then to the newsletter. Thought that the most recent one should be at the top. Thought that she probably wouldn‟t ever want to find a newsletter. Went to site map and clicked on newsletter. User went straight to the „whats new‟ page from the top nav bar, and found it in less than 10 seconds.User commented that he only knew to go here as he had seen it before when looking for recently added resources, and if he had not seen it then he would not have know where to go and would have been confused. Whats newThen went to newsletterEasy to locate this item (if I had any desire to do this) What's New' , Successful Went to the What‟s New page, and to the newsletter. She wouldn‟t have known that we produce a newsletter, and doesn‟t think it‟s of much use even now she does know. Thought it would be of interest from a professional point of view, but not for the students & other users. Went straight to „what‟s new‟ from the top nav bar, and found it within 10 seconds. * Clicked on what's new * Then clicked on the newsletter * Are these kept up to date? * Thinks the listing should be changed, would prefer the most recent one to be the first one Clicked 'About', Clicked 'Publications'.First sentence in 'about' really important, it should be on the homepage. Went to BIOME “What‟s New “, but only because he‟d already seen the newsletter in there. Wouldn‟t normally go to “What‟s New” to find a newsletter. Felt that the list of new resources and the newsletters should be via separate access points and that the latest newsletter should be at the top of the list. Newsletter isn‟t in gateway what‟s new pages. Under BIOME , clicked sitemap and noted that in the hierarchy, newsletter was displayed under the home page. On the homepage itself however, the newsletter was not linked to, which was felt to be confusing.....Noted that the newsletter content would be of little interest to her. Not obvious or easy to find.....Why not have something one the toolbar. ....This is not obvious to find on the site map....Can only find the newsletter via the site map, but when listed on the site map this is shown as under homepage – though it is not mentioned at all on the homepage....Again, homepage is not updated as regularly as it should be....Homepage seems to be intended for inputters, not users/visitors. Lecturer NMAP NMAP Student Librarian Student Researcher Student Student Librarian Researcher Librarian Student Student Researcher Student BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Student NATURAL Student NATURAL Went to Biome home page and found “Newsletters” quickly....Design of page makes user scroll down when this should not strictly be necessary if there were more links at top of page, and if banner was smaller....It was clear which newsletters were available....This search only possible from BIOME, but should possible to access Newsletters also from Natural Selection, etc. Found newsletter through site map very easily, although unable to access as page down. Felt it would be useful to have a little more information, i.e. date and content, what in the archive. Run multiple searches. Student NATURAL Task 10 Student Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments unchecked Truncation. Then checked, clicked first result. It was a PDF file. Not labeled. Not completed User would have expected the site to open in a new window, as most websites do this now. Not completed Confused by site opening in same window – inclined to close window and so lose BIOME. . Would like to store search history. Was not sure what question was asking. User clicked on PDF. Confused user - should have an icon indicating file type. User became confused and didn't run another search Used inverted commas to search for nurse prescribing on the advanced search page (selected the Search button thinking it was the simple search?). Ran another search by going back, and using the search box on the homepage. no results - need to check your spelling Put a spelling error in - "would it have spotted it" (used to OVID, CINAHL which offers alternative terms if spelling is wrong but close.) ** Aside - liked being able to hit return rather than having to click search Simple search from homepage for “nurse prescribing”.He said he would dearly love to click on the MeSH keywords in the results list, but was afraid of losing his search results. Would like the option for these to open in a new window.Right clicked with mouse to open results in a new window. Carried out a simple search for „Nurse prescribing‟ Selected a resource – wasn‟t surprised that the site opened in the same window.Commented that this was often better for a novice user, as they otherwise don‟t realise that they have opened a new window and get lost/confused as to where they are.Then, clicked on the back button, deleted the original search, and ran another simple search.Also said she might select search from the top navigation bar. She tried this and didn‟t realise that she had gone onto the advanced search page. Clicked 'search' from Nav bar. Went to MESH. Clicked a results. Doesn't matter to user if he loses the search page. Did a BIOME search, and didn‟t realise she‟d gone to that. Did a search on cloning, and used the back button to get back to the search box. In general likes the fact that each description links to the resource but that the text that you click at the top of each description isn‟t blindingly obvious that it is a link to the resource.....Felt it was very clear that when you did click on it that you went to another site and said that it was very clear that to get back all she had to do was click the back button. User type Student Student Student Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer NMAP NMAP NMAP Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian BIORES BIORES BIORES Student Researcher Student BIORES BIORES User expected sites to open in a new window, so he would not lose his search results. He thought that it did not make sense that the user would be sent away from BioResearch. Ran a cloning simple search queryVery confused when ran the search again, what does using previous settings mean?Sort results by date?Wouldn‟t normally bother with any of these advanced search optionsWhy would I bother with title within gateway, and what does this mean anyway? Student Librarian OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL I would like another window to open. I don't like to click the back button, I don't want to lose track. Searched, then went back to the previous set of results, and used the search box at the top of the page. Thinks the Search button in the top toolbar could be confusing, as people might think it went to the simple search page, not the Advanced search. Performed a simple search for „stable angina‟, then went „back‟ and searched for „heart disease‟.User would like search results to open in a new window so that you don‟t lose your search results. * Search for stable angina in query box * Not many results but at least I can view them all on one page * Too much mouse work here, either clicking or scrolling I expect a new window. I use favorites a lot. Oh, I see 'nature.ac.uk'. Fact that it is academically led is not clear. No problems or feedback with this search. Entered the term and clicked search. Noted 13 results were found. Clicked on the first result.... Was aware that the back button would take her back to the subject gateway, but was worried that this could be potentially confusing if the website of the search result was browsed extensively prior to performing a new search., which would mean multiple use of the back button in order to return to the search page. Division of Botany – University of Nebraska State Museum has lots of broken links, this should be checked. As should all linked sites on a regular basis. Again commented on unclear order of results displayed. First one had heading with “Nova Scotia” and linked to a popular looking site, but it had good links to more authoritative and general sites....Despite lack of ranking, a lot of useful resources...Noticed one broken link (Nebraska Museum) Found it useful that the link colour changed to indicate sites already visited; and that on revisiting the site that previous hits were still indicated. Comment on the 'No Results Found' page. Researcher Librarian Student Student Researcher Student Student NATURAL NATURAL Student Student Student NATURAL Task 11 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP NMAP Comments No results page looks blank. Needs different colour, bigger font Not completed Would like to be given the option to browse by subject, or search a different gateway. Not completed Was happy with page as it stands; would look under Help if needed, did not want screen cluttered with messages Give an alternative spelling like Google. Does say if too few results try BIOME. She would also go to the Adv Page or Help if she hadn‟t got any results. Thought it was good, but wouldn‟t have known that BIOME searched across all subject areas. Not Completed Searched from the top of the results page. The NMAP results page says „too many… too few…‟ and the user was happy with that. He added that he would like to be given the option to browse for resources at that point using a browse structure like the AgriFor one. Wasn‟t sure why the text said “Too few results? Too many results?” when she had not retrieved any results.Said it wasn‟t clear if there were too many results to display, or if there were just no results – the text is confusing.The sentence saying „Sorry, your search did not return any records‟ should be the first text beneath the search box, and should be more prominent. It would be useful if the search could suggest a correct spelling if the term was entered wrongly (like Google) It needs more info. A reson why there are no results User type Student Student Student Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer Lecturer Student NMAP Librarian BIORES Student BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI If there were no records, she would assume that there were no records on that topic at all, or would try to refine a search term. Thought we could point to the Help page from here? Would be better if the screen suggested possible alternative terms e.g. like the spell checker on Google, especially with medical terms, e.g. "did you mean to search for xvxvxvxv". User said he would like to see alternatives suggested on the „no results found‟ page, such as a link to the browse structure, or to the MeSH keywords.He said that he would be most likely to go to another search engine if he got no results from a search, unless presented with alternative options for finding information. My first thought is I have made a spelling mistakeTry againNo results, so I would leave this Web site altogetherNot offered any alternatives It is good, I would go to BIOME home page and try again. I want to know why, Is it mispelled, etc? Feels that you need a prompt to go to some search tips, ie suggesting you check spellings, add synonyms etc. Also, on the display of text, the „sorry …‟ bit should be above the sentences suggesting advice. User would like to see the option to browse given on the „no results‟ page. She would also like a prompt to check spelling. * I would first check my spelling, maybe I haven't entered the word correctly * Have I no more options, why is this page not offering me alternative searches or some useful advice and/or information? The display is fine. Add some advice like, "Did you mean…" would be nice Thought that the results screen could say something like “try different keywords”. Found the “no results” page clear, but would appreciate some sort of spelling suggestion mechanism as exists in Google. No obvious Keyword search available – this should be looked into. When a search is unsuccessful help or an extra requestor asking for more information/clarification should be considered. The page should suggest close alternatives, or could suggest going to BROWSE page. No feedback on KJH, no suggestions on how to improve search, check spelling Find out whom to contact to report a technical problem with the site. Researcher Student Student Librarian Researcher Librarian Student Student Researcher Student Student Student Student Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Task 12 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP NMAP Comments Email webmaster Not completed Immediately pointed to the Webmaster address on the bottom bar. Also tried the contacts page, and found the „help‟ email addresses Not completed Not completed Contact Webmaster or 'contacts' will give me specific links. Would contact the Webmaster on email address at the bottom of the page. front page -> contacts - not clear Hadn't spotted webmaster email link on all pages Scrolled about the page, and saw the Webmaster email on the bottom bar, and said he would email the Webmaster.Then clicked on „contacts‟ from top nav bar to find someone more specific, and found help@nmap and the email for the technical officer. Now he felt he had too many choices and was afraid of emailing the wrong person. Would like to see an indication of whom he should contact. User type Student Student Student Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer Lecturer Student NMAP Initially, she said she would use the Webmaster email, displayed at the bottom of the home page.Then she saw the contacts link and decided to have a look at that page. She would send an email to the technical officer or to the relevant gateway. Clicked 'contacts' or Webmaster Would go to the About page, but wouldn‟t know who to contact from there, possibly Technical Manager? Then found the contacts bit at the bottom bar, and would email from there. Clicked on "contacts" at bottom, which went to the contact page to look for e-mail of technical manger or a customer service email…..Felt that there were rather a lot of e-mails listed and it took a while to find the right one. Clicked on „about‟ from the top nav bar – is looking for a „contact us‟ button.Sees the „contacts‟ button on the top nav bar, and clicks on that instead. Says he would send queries to help@biome.User would like to see one central contact, as he feels there are too many options given and he would be afraid of sending a query to the wrong person. Straight to the Webmaster emailSays this would be common sense for those who know about maintenance of Web sites Webmaster or 'contacts' Wouldn‟t immediately know how to find this, but would go to the About page, and the contact section. It wasn‟t clear that the email for the Webmaster was at the bottom of the page, and never scrolls down to the end. Went to „contacts‟ from the top nav bar, and found the staff email addresses. She said she would email the technical officer with any problems, but would prefer a link on the top bar that says “Problems?”Liked being able to see the contact emails for the staff, as she felt it made the service more accessible. * Clicks on the Webmaster email * Why do I have to scroll down the page to find the contact/webmaster details * Too many logos here Contact Webmaster Went to the Webmaster e-mail at the bottom of the screen. Felt that a contact button on the top bar would be useful. Noticed that the contact us section of the site map gives a different e-mail address.....Clicked on the contact BIOME option and noticed that none of the options actually say “if you have a problem click here” or “reporting a problem”. Scrolled down and noted both the email webmaster link and the contacts link....Said that she would investigate the contacts link before clicking on the email webmaster link....Contacts page felt to be clear and offer sufficient options to a user requiring technical help. Not completed Remembered “Feedback” link from BIOME page, but may not be ideal...Noticed he could email webmaster Imagined that webmaster would be the contact re: technical problems. By messing around found BIOME contact details but still assumed that webmaster was the contact for this question. What is your understanding of „Truncation‟ and „Display Options‟ options? Are the useful? Librarian Student Researcher Student BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES Student Librarian Researcher Librarian Student Student Researcher Student BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Student Student Student Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Task 13 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments Truncation should give more results. User checked and unchecked box to test. It is not that obvious. Sot by: "title w/in gateway" didn't make sense. Add date searching Not completed User type Student Student AGRIFOR User always searched from the homepage, never clicking on search on the navigation bar, and did not use the advanced search option. Therefore he did not know there were truncation and display options, and had to be pointed to the advanced search page to find these.The user said he had noticed the advanced search option but thought it would just be to search using multiples of keywords, and that it would never have occurred to him that it could be used to search for different types of materials, or display optionsOnce user had found these options, he immediately knew exactly what ticking/unticking truncation would doFelt the „sort titles within gateway‟ feature was not neededLiked being able to display more recordsThe user then performed the earlier search for forestry learning materials again using the „learning materials‟ option and it produced much better results, which he was very pleased with. The user felt that the fact that you could search in this way needed to be made more explicit from the homepage Not completed Not completed Truncation is Classification, user not sure. Add language search filter. Add Date filter, Maximum results not needed, user wants to see all results. Would go to the help page to find out what these terms meant. Did know what truncation meant, retrieving all words such as farm, farming.Display options, these are clear Took a while to work out what „up to a max‟ was, but did work it out in the end. Thinks they are useful.Thought the help page was important to help people understand. Truncation knew what it was but not what method to use e.g. ? nurs* on this system liked titles only - would use a s his default Would like to be able to set this as his default so that it would retain it when he came back to it. User did not know what truncation means, and would like to see an explanation of it provided on the advanced search page, such as a question mark beside the term which you can click on for an explanation.After some deliberation he clicked on search help, and found out what it meant. He then tested it by searching with it on and off, and liked the results and felt he would use it. Felt it was not made obvious enough though, as it could be very useful.Liked the option to display titles only, as he said it “speeds up the process, and student nurses are very busy”. She knew that a truncation symbol was not required, but thought that less experienced users would not know this and would try and use a truncation symbol, which would not return any results – users would then think there was nothing in NMAP on this subject.She would like to see a sentence explaining that truncation is automatic and that no symbol is required.Didn‟t know what the „display title within gateway‟ option meantLiked the option to display titles onlyDidn‟t think it was clear that you need to remove the tick from the „search in omni‟ and „use truncation‟ boxes if you don‟t want these options. Didn't know what truncation meant. Display options are fine. Yes, display options were OK. Haven‟t heard of truncation. She felt that the Advanced Search bit should be on the homepage. Went to the Advanced Search from BioRes. Didn't have any idea what truncation means…..Display options - liked option of listing results by the gateway that they came from but didn't see the point of having this choice if just searching BioRes. Student AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer NMAP Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian BIORES BIORES BIORES Student Researcher Student BIORES User did not realise that clicking on search from the top nav bar takes him to the advanced search page. He clicked on this button, then on the BioResearch homepage button, then on advanced search, and did not realise that he was in the same place.User does not know what truncation means, and would like a scroll over explanation of the term.When its meaning was explained, he really liked the concept. He felt that truncation should not be automatically switched on, as this leads to getting too much information, which may not always be relevant to the actual search performed. User felt it should be switched off, but the option to switch it on should be much more clearly available.Liked different display options that were available, except did not understand what „sort by title‟ and „sort by title within gateway‟ meant, and could not see the point of these options. Said that in his work as a medical librarian he was fully aware of truncation and display options, they are useful. Truncation: Us *, and, or. Title within gateway is confusing. Need relevance and date filters. Would know what they were, but felt that others wouldn‟t. They don‟t really need to know, as truncation is automatic. Liked the different display options available, particularly the option to show more results.Understood what truncation meant, but said she would prefer a wildcard search.Liked truncation being on by default, as “I want more information rather than less”. * No concept of what these terms mean * Goes to the help pages * Feels this is very useful information (particularly truncation) but what normally bother to go and seek out this information * Display options - I wish that you would include a note about what date this resource was added to OMNI User knew what truncation was. Should be made clearer. No idea what truncation means and felt that the help section on this was unintelligible. Would be good to have a “search exact word only” option so that it was more explicit that this could be done.....Wasn‟t sure why there was the choice to sort by title within a gateway when all you were searching was the gateway.....Not clear what “show titles only” means. The user was unaware of the meaning of truncation and would welcome a help link next to the option. When the truncation principle was explained to her, the user felt that this would be potentially useful.... User was impressed by the display options functionality but would appreciate a wider range of them Not completed Not completed Truncate meant that words containing search term would be highlighted, and that Display was good if a large number of results to view. Run a search across all six BIOME gateways. Student BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI Librarian Researcher Librarian Student OMNI Student Researcher Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Student Student Student Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Task 14 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments Started at AGRIFOR and clicked on each gateway link. Make it more visually understandable that all the gateways are linked. Not completed User did not know what the coloured bars on the sides of the records were for, but after thinking about it for some time he worked it out. He then said it would be much more obvious what they indicated if the titles of the gateways in the navigation bar on the left were coloured rather than grey.User felt it was not necessary to know which gateway the resources were coming from Not completed Not completed So, I press all these gateways? Not clear how to search all gateways Wouldn‟t have known to search across all six gateways from BIOME. Colours – these need to have the gateway names on left hand side in permanent colour, not just rollovers, so that it is more obvious what the colours mean. Not completed User type Student Student Student Researcher Lecturer Student Lecturer Lecturer AGRIFOR AGRIFOR NMAP NMAP NMAP NMAP NMAP BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES BIORES OMNI OMNI OMNI Went straight to the BIOME homepage and to advanced search. Searched for „nutrition‟. Liked the coloured bars beside the records, as he felt the different colours indicated their relevance to human nutrition (ie the darker the blue, the more relevant). Said that now he knows how to use the site he finds it useful and relevant and would use a lot, but having seen it before found it confusing and didn‟t know it was so relevant to him as a nursing student. Went to the BIOME home page.Clicked on the advanced search to make sure all gateways were selected (said she wouldn‟t have known to do this if she had not just seen the option to select omni form the nmap advanced page).Entered search term in box.Wouldn‟t have known what the different colours meant against the retrieved records if she hadn‟t already done question 1. Didn't know what the other gateways are. Would to go the BIOME logo, and search BIOME for viruses. But didn‟t know that the different colour bars referred to the gateways. Blue colour bars are all similar, and should be more separate. It isn‟t obvious that there are colours on that left hand bar – need to be more obvious. Clicked on the BIOME logo to get to search box. Realised that each bar probably related to different gateways but said it wasn't clear what colour related to what gateway. Went straight to BIOME via the BIOME logo, and performed a simple search for “viruses”. Thought that the coloured bars were linked to relevance, that the darker the blue bar, the more relevant the resource or the more „hits‟ it received, as they are shades of the same colour. Thought the differences were too subtle. User was confused as to what the orange bars were fro (results from the Wellcome trust gateway).When the meaning of the coloured bars was explained, he liked the idea but would like greater differentiation between the colours of the gateways, and would like the names of the gateways in the left hand nav bar to be coloured at all times instead of greyed out for reference. Was still confused as to where the orange results had come from, as this was not the colour of any of the gateways. Simple query into the BIOME search query boxNoted that this is a useful feature I would go to the BIOME homepage. Would to go the BIOME logo and search BIOME. But feels it isn‟t obvious as a link. Clicked on the BIOME logo and performed a simple search for “BSE”. Liked the coloured bars on the sides of the records, but did not know what they meant.User would like it made clearer that BIOME searches all the gateways across different subjects. By this point the user has understood what the different gateways are for, and thinks it is important for the coloured bars to indicate which subject area the record is from, although she feels it is hard to differentiate between the different blues.The user would like it made more obvious from the OMNI gateway that you can cross search different gateways together, and would like to see NMAP on the left nav bar.User would like a „mouse over‟ explanation of what the hosted services are. * Clicked on BIOME * Entered search term in query box for BSE * Confirmed that he found cross searching easy but not particularly relevant to him Clicked on BIOME. Ran the search…..General thoughts...Don‟t need simple and advanced search could just have the search box with the advanced options. This exercise was much more fruitful to the user now that she had worked out the purpose of the coloured result highlighting, as it meant that she realised she was conducting what was, in effect, a cross-database search. Not completed Not completed Although thought it was good to have the colour code for different gateways, no key to identify which gateway goes with which colour. Also felt it would be better to group results to each gateway. Liked the idea but felt more explanation would be useful. Comment on the BIOME and gateway homepages. Student Librarian Student Researcher Student Student Librarian Researcher Librarian Student OMNI NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL Student Researcher Student Student Student Student Student Task 15 Gateway AGRIFOR AGRIFOR Comments Simple. Green good for Forestry. Nav bar should have black text. Search needs to be bigger (more prominent). Focus on the search area BIOME Home PageBIOME home page is OK. Likes the jobs bit ------ Navigation is easy ------ AgriFor Home Page Easy to use ------ Not sure if the subject listings on the home page are comprehensive, ie plant diseases and pest control needs to be called Plant Disease and Insects. ------ Feels Pest Control is too specific. Likes Weeds, but feels we don‟t need IPM. Likes the headings for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Crops. Felt that the Forestry heading should possible be Forestry and Wildlife.Likes the subject headings as they give you a good idea of what is available.Likes the tutorials. User found the „search‟ and „browse‟ options on the navigation bar confusing – could not understand why there were two options -------------- Thought the page was nicely set out and uncluttered Understood the purpose of the navigation bar on the left, but was unclear as to what the different gateway names meant in terms of subject scope Found the „hosted sites‟ links confusing, could not determine why they were there Liked the design of the browseable headings, thought it was quite clearly structured Seemed very clear on where to go for different information, navigation was no problem BIOME Home Page:query box caught my eye not sure what the boxes on the left mean (those linked to the BIOME logo) not interested in reading the text that is below the query box, why is it relevant? ----- Hosted services, what does this mean, what is the distinction between these and BIOME? ----- Graphic above the top tool bar, waste of space ----- RDN, what is this and why is it here ----- Option for viewing in low graphics is very useful, but why is it hidden, not prominently placed ----- Like the simplicity of this page, especially query box (similar to Google) * * * AgriFor Home Page: No extra text beneath the query box, this is good ----- Browse option, appears to be logical Not obvious to me that I am in AgriFor Same look and feel as the BIOME home page ----- White space on this page focuses you onto the query box ----- Additional Services, what does this mean, not part of the browse tree so why are they at the bottom (beneath the browse structure) Simple query, easy to navigate The whole of the browse structure should be visible on the home page, scrolling down is not really intuitive on the home page Not clear what the other gateway keys are, why are they here, aren‟t I in AgriFor Why so many logos? Liked design - uncluttered, quick-loading. Seemed to grasp concept of separate gateways immediately, but did not notice colour-coding or tooltips giving full gateway names.First looked to see how resources were evaluated, and if they were peerreviewed. --- But had not initially grasped that BIOME indexes websites rather than articles so that concept not really applicable. Looked under About for info on that, but did not immediately grasp that „guidelines‟ would explain that, and having found guidelines was overwhelmed by amount of text. Felt there might be a need for a short one-page statement on „quality‟ control‟ aimed at end users.Tried a search on „bioremediation‟ on Biores, no results; tried again on Biome, also no results. Expressed surprise. Tried category search in AgriFor, would like to be able to search within categories. BIOME: it's clear, look professional. How can I get to search a journal? Put advanced search on the Homepage. I want to search immediately. *** NMAP : I just want to search and see results. Have links to specialised journals and magazines User type Student Student AGRIFOR Student AGRIFOR Researcher AGRIFOR Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP NMAP BIOME homepage --- Likes the BIOME home page. Likes the white background. Looks carefully at all the information. Likes the font size, and left hand menus. She knows the gateways. Likes the blue menu bar at top. Thinks the search and browse functions are clear. Likes the What‟s New to introduce new features. Likes the training pages and site map. Simple to see everything.Thinks it is clear what BIOME is, from the Welcome message. Likes the fact it‟s free, with no registration. Likes the description of what BIOME is. Likes the search box, simple to use. If she got too many resources, she would use the Advanced Search. She likes the fact there is a feedback form available from here. Likes the fact she can email the Webmaster. Feels it is important to have a disclaimer, likes the copyright notice. Thought that the last modified date made the site look out of date. Would use the Help feature if she was confused.Thought it was clear that you can get to BIOME and the gateways from here. Likes the description of quality, as there are many dubious quality health sites.**** NMAP homepage Likes the description of NMAP, very important to keep the explanatory information, as it explains what you can do at this site. BIOME is not 1st choice - goes to OVID when looking for literature Typed in www.biome.ac.uk - even though biome.ac.uk given Don't know where to go - "is it going to search everything?" Not use site map - just fish Layout - uninviting & sterile - sufficient colour Not clear where to go or what to do NMAP not very different - not gone anywhere Highlight NMAP more boldly 1st action would be to type a query Thought it had a professional look, but felt it looked “too professional for students” and might lead them to believe the site is not aimed at them. Didn‟t feel it was obvious the site is associated with nursing, felt “health and life sciences” was for doctors. Would like to see drop down navigation boxes on left to explain what each gateway is for. User had no idea what the navigation on the left was for, felt gateway names were confusing and presumed too much knowledge from the user. Liked layout “easy on the eye”. Liked top graphic – felt it gave the site a professional edge. Found top navigation very clear. Could not find link to NMAP. Found the site “overwhelming for the first time user” Liked the „additional services‟ section and would like to see these more clearly highlighted nearer the top of the page. Did not like link to jobs.ac.uk though, as he felt this was not relevant for a student. BIOME Home page -- Likes the white background, thinks it‟s nice and clear. -- The relationship between BIOME and the other gateways is not immediately obvious – wouldn‟t know if all the gateways could be searched from BIOME or if it was necessary to select each individually. -- Liked the „Low graphics‟ option -- Thought that the text stating BIOME is a „quality service‟ should be more prominent. -- Would begin searching using the simple search box on the home page – wouldn‟t bother reading all the text. -- Thought that it wasn‟t clear what all the links on the top bar led to, and that a description would be useful. -- The „last updated‟ date was misleading – made the site look out of date *** NMAP Home page -- Not obvious where NMAP is – why isn‟t it on the left hand bar? -- Made the same comments as above about the *** NMAP home page -Thought that the colour of the NMAP page was too similar to the BIOME page, and it wouldn‟t be immediately obvious that you were now in NMAP not BIOME -- Liked the text under the NMAP search box, thought it made it much clearer what search and browse options are available (not clear from the BIOME page). Looked at the „What‟s new‟ page and commented that there BIOME: Intro text means everything. Not sure if for researchers or the general public. Colour looks like it is for researchers. Give more info about BIOME. ** BIORES: I like the browse by subject, it is very clear. Make it more noticable. Homepage is important for frist time users. Lecturer Lecturer NMAP Student NMAP Librarian BIORES Student BIORES BIOME Home Page : It isn‟t obvious that the sites have been evaluated and hand-selected immediately as you go to the site, which she feels is the key selling point of the service, ie pointing out that you won‟t get a lot of dross. --- Page looks a bit boring, texty, too many words. She did see the description of hand selected, but it‟s right down at the bottom.She‟s not sure about the navigation, the left hand bar does suggest that the gateways are subsets, but need more information to say that they are subsets of BIOME. She wasn‟t sure what the hosted services are, and wouldn‟t click on them. She would search immediately in the box. *** BioResearch Home Page : The BioResearch pages are the same. Could do with a more obvious colour change, as you don‟t really know you‟re somewhere different to the BIOME page.The text is useful, and it does explain the topics covered. But all info needs to be on page without scrolling, as she didn‟t see the subject listings at the bottom, only saw some of the subjects listed in the text above, and they weren‟t laid out well. Likes the jobs bit. BIOME : Looks good, not very colorful but then it doesn't need to be. Like the blue BIOME bar at the top.....Clear layout and very clear what the site is all about. There is a site map and the search box is positioned well. The text in the centre looks a bit plain and the left hand side bar looks dull but the navigation is clear. **** BioRes....To get to BioRes she clicked the sitemap to get there and observed that it is obvious from the page what BioRes is to be used for and that it is very similar to BIOME......BioRes first page is text heavy, there is useful information in the top half but there is too much text and it isn't obvious that there is more text further down the screen if you scroll down. It would be more useful if some of this was in the top half. **** In general likes the site and finds it easy to use. However finds it confusing that BIOME page and BioRes page look to similar, causes especial confusion when using the browser buttons to go back and forward and means that you have to be quite careful to look around to see which one you are in.....Having search and browse and advanced search options all over the screen can be confusing - what's the difference between the advanced search option beside the search box and the search option on the menu bar? User felt the site looked “very average – it is not clear what it is for”. “Very plain looking, needs more colour”. Says that from the name „BIOME‟ he would expect it to cover biology information.Would like to see the search box nearer the top of the page. Feels there is too much text, although it clearly explains what the site is. Would like to see just the search box on the front page, so it was “more google-like, as they have got it just right” Did not understand where the links on the left hand nav bar would take him, wanted to see a scroll over explanation of what these were for. User feels you can‟t tell the difference between the BIOME front page and the BioResearch front page, and would like some more distinct definition between the two. Likes the browseable headings, but thinks there is too much text. User would like to see just the top level headings, and then when you mouse over them, the rest of that structure „pops out‟.Would like the jobs.ac.uk logo to be used for that link from the additional services, as “it would make it seem more appropriate” BIOME home page: Click on What‟s New Click on About Gateways/hubs/portals are all very confusing terms Are these synonymous terms?Submit button-what is this? Is this to do with my own search query --- Language used on this home page is very confusing, hard to define what all these terms mean --- Like the simplicity of the layout, colours aren‟t too garish or bad -- Why are there different colours in the gateway headings? --- What does OMNI mean, I am guessing that VetGate has something to do with vets but OMNI? --- Home page does not fit onto one page, why do I have to scroll --- Like the simplicity of the design, no annoying pop-ups or applets --- What are hosted services --- Info on hand selected quality should be higher, surely this should be attracting immediate attention? *** BioResearch home page:Big banner, looks nice but takes up too much space --- What do you mean by “quality” internet resources? --- No indication of the uniqueness of this Web site, what diff between BioResearch and Google --- Drawn to the query box (perhaps my librarian background?) --- Easy to navigate --Browsable headings are too broad, how are you expected to distinguish between biological science, cell biology and genetics?Browse, unsure about this, what will this give me? Researcher BIORES Student BIORES Student BIORES Librarian OMNI OMNI OMNI OMNI BIOME: Wondering about the Nav and the description. What are the resources? What is 'quality', does it mean published, peer reviewed? I wouldn't know if it is independent. Concerned about selected resources. Free search but is the resource free? What is 'BIOME hosted services'. Who qulaity assures this. How is it different from Google? *** OMNI: Similar to BIOME page. I wonder where i was it looks the same. I'm still confused, where is OMNI searching? I like the jobs listing link. ..Now I see that it is academically related when I see ac.uk. I wouldn't use links I would only use search. 'addtional services' confusing. Explain the additional services. Why is it free access?. Too many links at bottom of the page. Have rollovers explain the other gateways (in alt tags). Header should be specific. BIOME homepage Nice and clear, not cluttered. Would go straight to the search box. Doesn‟t think the work „query‟ makes much sense to a non-expert. Maybe call it Simple Search? Likes the Help and Advanced Search features. Thinks that the blue top bar isn‟t very noticeable? She‟s not sure if people understand the terms Browse and Search, and whether they understand the differences between the two. Thinks people would know what a simple search does. Ideally you would have all of the homepage viewable without scrolling. Thinks it is nice that there aren‟t too many images etc, so it loads fast and searches quickly. Likes our current logos and navigation images. ** OMNI homepage Likes the homepage, and the fact that it has the same corporate design as the BIOME page, so that you know you are still in the same service. Likes the fact that there is the same navigation elements. However, on the downside, people may not realise where they are, as the changes between BIOME and OMNI are subtle. Thinks that the gateway names don‟t really reflect the subject areas within them, and people may not understand them. For example, wouldn‟t know that OMNI covered health and medicine. Also not sure it‟s clear that by clicking on the BIOME logo you get to BIOME, which would cross-search all six gateways. Could there be rollover thing which Was not clear that BIOME/OMNI was a catalogue of internet resources – thought that it was a database of papers and documents written by OMNI staff writers.Likes BIOME logo, said it looks professional.Did not understand what the links on the left nav bar are for, or what the different gateways are for.Thought the site lacked colour and was “far too blue”.Did not like the „hosted sites‟ buttons as did not understand what they meant.Likes simple layout, but does not like scrolling on homepage.Thought that the feedback link on the front page was unnecessary, as “until you have been round the site you cannot fill it in -- Wanted more information to explain what the „additional services‟ were for. -- Did not know the difference between search and browse, and would like to see an explanation of what each provides on the front page, such as a „scroll over‟ box – i.e. mouse over the text, and a box pops out with an explanation of the term‟s meaning. -- Thought it seemed “unexciting”, and did not grab attention. BIOME home page: Intuitively scrolled down to view all of the contents of the home page * Too much text on this page * Like the colour and simplicity of the home page-not too cluttered * Clicks on query box * Then clicks on advanced search * Likes resource type option to limit search * Top bar, far too much space above this-shouldn't the top bar be incorporated into this space * What is meant by "quality Internet resources"? * Why so many graphics * When hover mouse over gateways why doesn't it describe what subject gateway covers ***** OMNI home page * Simpler than the BIOME home page, I like this * Popup java script boxes should provide more detail, provides no information at all * Wonder what is meant by the term "Internet sites covering health and medicine" I think this should say internet resources * Not clear to me what is being excluded * Welcome to OMNI should be more descriptive, not telling me too much * Why are the OMNI hosted services located in two places on the same page? * What is the difference between a BIOME hosted service and an OMNI one? * Clicked on internet medic * Think you should explain what Internet medic is? * Like the simple search box * Really like the advanced search * What is the low graphics option at the bottom of the page for? Don't think I would use this Researcher Librarian Student Student NATURAL NATURAL NATURAL BIOME: Sparse and clinical design. Says 'Health and life science', I'm immediately not interested. I'm intrigued by the gateway links. Hovering over them doesn't tell me much. Pop-ups should say what they are. Bland design. Know idea what the image header is. Use Light text with dark background for easy reading. Nothing wrong with the volume of text. I like the idea that it is rated resources. *** NATURAL : Not alot different from the homepage. Is ok, reassuring. BIOME link, alt tag should say 'all gateways'. Use tick boxes and get rid of gateway links. I want to run many searches. It's not obviuos that BIOME is all 5 gateways. BIOME : All the information should be on one screen, irrespective of the size of browser. The user shouldn't have to scroll down. As it is it looks very text heavy, especially on a smaller screen....Nice overall design....It isn't immediately obvious what BIOME is. Might be better to have more explanatory text on the front page....Nice graphic/content balance, but not always clear what words/graphics are hyperlinks (use mouse-over text). More underlining might be better, but the hover effect on the blue bar is good.*** Natural Selection: The side bar is good for navigation, but would it be required if all you wanted was to search Natural Selection? If it wasn't there it would make the text on the main bit of the page look less cramped a link back to BIOME could go in the top bar....It might be better to make the Natural pages more distinctively different from the BIOME pages. ...Too many search options on the pages. Might be easier to do away with the difference between simple and advanced search. ...Might be better to have a big link "click here to search" that would take user to one search screen....It isn't clear what the query box actually searches - is it the webpage, is it a database? Why is the word "query" used in this context, very technical. Might be better to use the phase "Search for websites in this box" or something similar. Simple single searchbox is clear (like Google)...Not immediately clear what resources the service is searching. For example, subject knew that Web of Science was for electronic journals, but didn‟t have much concept about what NS might include....BIOME service and sub-icons for gateways were meaningless to the subject. Was not clear from the icon that BIOME encompassed all the gateways. ...No Google-like branding seen as disadvantage. Also, felt that the service would be inherently poor, because it restricted its results to particular subjects. In contrast, Google was felt to be “open” and encompass all the potential results that might exist....Would prefer preliminary page which allowed user to choose their subject area, followed by the search page itself (tailored accordingly). Acronyms such as OMNI do not convey sufficient meaning....As a minimum would welcome a way of easily distinguishing the difference between the different BIOME gateways. Researcher Student Student NATURAL Generally OK. .....Dislikes sites where you have to use the up/down toggle bar to see a whole homepage.....The wording “The UK‟s Gateway……. not clear enough – doesn‟t stand out......Likes the BIOME logo and the links that are highlighted when you hover over them with the mouse.....Tutorial not obvious, should be on the green toolbar.....Hasn‟t‟ been modified since April 2002 – gives the impression that the site isn‟t managed or maintained properly.....NHM logo should be somewhere prominent – maybe a link to our actual website?....Blue Natural Selection banner takes too much space at the top of the page, again stressed that the wording “The UK‟s Gateway… just isn‟t eyecatching enough “quite minimalistic”.....Under Help : it says that “not” is not currently supported – this needs sorting.....More prominent and advances search required. Straightforward, further detailed search could be accessed by a pull down menu/tag?....Date again mentioned. “regular updates show that care and attention have been taken”.....Good Map Info. First impressions – clean, clear home page. Easy to tell what it‟s about and how to set about using it..... Omni/vetgate/biores/natural/agrifor – not clear what each of these is, nor how they differ from each other. Suggest drop-down menus to give more explanation, or more explicit description when you pass cursor over them.....Fairly confident that resources have been knowledgeably selected, judging from home page....BIOME logo – attractive, suggests interconnections/sub-disciplines.....Banner – adds no useful information, makes focus back on the links.....He felt more inclined to start with search box than the links (BIOME, vetgate, etc) Student NATURAL Student NATURAL Felt the home page was heavy on references to „gateway‟, design bland, not really eyecatching. Also suggested a different font would be effective. Good to see that there was a direct link to the NHM and to the library catalogue. Would not have read BIOME and labels as entrance to gateways. No „help‟ button for users. Would have first gone to search button. Very discreet, but useful, arrow for return to top of page, initially read it as part of the webmaster icon. Noticed typo on training page in RDN Virtual Training Suite „t‟ missing from supporting. Comprehensive site map. Useful menu buttons. Not too busy. Queried difference between „title‟ and „title in gateway‟. Would have preferred to have more than one option to search resources. Student like HUMBUL? y Colour Bar? relevance y no meaning n don‟t know n design element m didn't notice y didn't notice n y y separator y didn't notice y don‟t know n no meaning n y n n didn't notice n gateways n didn't know n didn't know n didn't know y didn't know y no meaning m didn't know n na na separator Action search none search search resource type search resource type search training search search search search resource type internet medic link resource type resource type resource type search resource type search search search search Action search what's new what's new what's new what's new search what's new what's new what's new what's new search what's new search search search what's new what's new what's new search what's new what's new search search what's new Action resource type wanted to narrow within results not sure how to do didn't know didn't know resource type resource type resource type used keywords used keywords resource type boolean resource type looked for filter or search within boolean search search search search search search search search search Action submit submit submit submit submit search webmaster not clear submit submit submit submit submit submit submit webmaster webmaster submit submit submit submit submit submit submit submit Action training training training training resource type training training not clear training resource type training training training training training search training training training resource type training training training na training Action unsuccessful unsuccessful successful unsuccessful successful successful successful successful unsuccessful likes mesh liked mesh liked mesh lliked mesh - didn't like browse liked mesh - prefers search didn't like mesh prefers search Action what's new search what's new what's new what's new what's new what's new what's new what's new what's new what's new site map what's new what's new what's new what's new what's new what's new about what's new site map site map what's new site map Action new window new window new window back button ok new window new window new window back button Comments Action webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster about contacts about webmaster webmaster about contacts webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster webmaster Action Action each gateway each gateway biome biome biome biome biome biome biome biome biome biome biome