Research Article: “How Usable are E-books? User Testing E-Books at an Academic Library”
The following article appears in the latest issue of Weave: Journal of Library User Experience.
Title
How Usable are E-books? User Testing E-Books at an Academic Library
Authors
David Comeaux
Louisiana Sate University
Emily Frank
LOUIS: the Louisiana Library Network
Source
Weave
Volume 3, Issue 1, 2020
DOI: 10.3998/weave.12535642.0003.101
Abstract
Over recent years, Louisiana State University (LSU) Libraries, like many others, has targeted collections spending to invest in e-books. We designed this study to better understand barriers to use and frustrations students encounter using e-books and to explore gaps in the field. While numerous studies have reported on usage analysis or survey results, few have employed usability testing to directly observe students interacting with e-books. This article reports on the findings of a series of usability tests conducted on four e-book platforms: SpringerLink, Project MUSE, Taylor & Francis, and JSTOR. We employed convenience sampling to recruit participants and a prompted think-aloud protocol to observe participants as they searched an e-book for information. The results revealed features that were helpful or sought by student users and those that created barriers in the user experience.
Direct to Full Text Article
Direct to Weave (Vol. 3 Issue 1) Table of Contents
Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Reports
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
ADVERTISEMENT
Archives
ADVERTISEMENT