LIBsearch: new tabbed search box
Spurred by the realization that our home page lacked a clear starting point, and that patrons are confused about their various search options, the Libraries recently decided to implement a tabbed search box. We wanted it to be prominent, simple, and intuitive.
A working group was formed to determine what tabs and sub-choices we should include as well as to make recommendations on functionality and aesthetics.
After taking inventory of our searchable services and reviewing other academic libraries, we fielded an online survey to get feedback from our staff and patrons on what tabs to include, what they should be labeled, etc. View a PDF of the results or see them online. The second link includes the ability to read open comments we received.
We created a working prototype and tested it with users which lead us to make some structural and graphical changes. See the first round of testing’s script and results summary, which mainly showed us that the search box needed to be more prominent in the overall design. In the second round of testing (script & results summary), users had a 94% success rate overall and completed most tasks in a straightforward manner using our new LIBsearch box. Feel free to contact me, Jade Anderson, directly if you’d like more detail on the testing methodology or results.
We went back and forth a bit about branding it–users had varying opinions on the matter–but we did end up branding it LIBsearch in the end. The tabbed search box that we are pushing live in a few days will be monitored closely and is subject to alterations based on feedback and analysis of use.
In current times where technologies evolve at a lightening pace and we strive to provide usable and relevant web services to our patrons, we are more interested than ever in your ideas and feedback. Let us know what you think of our newly redesigned search by commenting, filling out an anonymous one-question survey, or emailing lib-searchbox at utlists dot utexas dot edu.
