1. TUG Primo Central Usability
Study
Randy Oldham
Web Development Librarian
University of Guelph
2. Who we are…
Tri-University Group (TUG)
Consortium of three university libraries in
Ontario, Canada:
University of Waterloo
Wilfrid Laurier University
University of Guelph
ExLibris Products we share:
• Voyager • bX Recommender
• Primo • SFX
• Primo Central • Verde
3. About our institutions
U Waterloo U of Guelph Laurier
# of Undergrad 28,200 18,296 14,536
Students
University 1901 2340 -------
employee FTE
Library employee 118.5 95.4 61
FTE
ACQ Budget 6.9 Million 6.8 Million 3.1 Million
4. Primo Implementation Team
Primo Implementation Team:
7 members total from all three
institutions:
1 systems guy
2 programmers
2 cataloguers
2 web developers
The cataloguers and the web developers
were responsible for the trial and final
implementation of PC
5. Initial Trial Launch
Based on several other Primo
implementations
U of Utah
U of Auckland
U of Iowa
6. Initial Decisions
Primo Implementation team initially
decided on three tabs
Web and Information Architecture cross
functional team at Guelph
Recommended having no tabs
Single search box for Guelph
3 tabs for Waterloo and Laurier
Compare user feedback with our consortial
partners
7. The Design – Waterloo / Laurier
Waterloo and Laurier
3 tabs: Blended, Primo only, Primo Central
only
Tabs have quick limits that can be applied
8. The Design – U of G
U of Guelph
Single search box
No tabs, no quick limits
9. The Trial Launch
Waterloo & Laurier launched as
separate trial, parallel to existing non-
Primo Central primo view
Guelph replaced access to it‟s Primo-
only view, essentially forcing patrons
into the PC view.
Feedback links on the Guelph PC view
shunted patrons to a quick three-
question survey…Random PRIZE: one
of five $10 gift cards for campus food
services/textbooks/gifts
10. The Survey Responses
88 responses
Generally +ve
staff vs users
Number 1 +ve:
Easy to use
Number 1 –ve:
How do I find a known item?
12. Usability Studies – UW
@ U of Waterloo
Purpose: to discover how uWaterloo
students, faculty and staff use PC, what
they like, and what they dislike.
Came up with specific scenarios:
“Please search for the journal article title
Strategic decision-making. Could you tell me if
you find the search results easy to
understand? Why, or why not?”
“I‟d like to draw your attention to the facet
„Expand beyond library collections‟. Before I
ask you to click on it, could you tell me what it
means to you?”
13. Usability Studies - UW
UW Participants:
Undergraduates: 38
Graduates: 32
Faculty: 2
Staff: 4
Alumni: 1
UW Incentive Prize: iPad 2
Lots of feedback to help with labels and to
get direction. Lots of non-PC related
comments.
14. Usability Studies - UG
@ U of Guelph (True usability)
Participants completed 4 real-life tasks.
Before the tasks were assigned, users were
asked pre-test questions and after the test a
number of follow-up questions were asked.
Use PC to find information on something
that interests you, or that you expect to be
researching in the near future.
Take some time to look at the results of
your search. What have you found?
15. Usability Testing - UG
UG Participants:
3 Undergraduates
4 Graduates
Incentive: $10 Dollar gift card for
campus food/gifts/textbooks
Learned a lot about GENERAL
principles of discovery vs. search and
user expectations…less about the
actual PC labels etc.
16. Usability Testing - UG
Also did group interview with Library staff from
Learning &Curriculum Support team and
Research Help Team
How do you use facets/with students?
When do you use Adv search/with students?
How effective is PC to find what you/students
need?
What has PC been good/lousy for
What do you wish PC could/not do?
Has the availability of PC changed your
search habits?
17. The Final Launch Decisions:
Primo Implementation Team (PIT)
Review all input:
Staff survey results
Patron feedback
Usability feedback
Staff group interview feedback
WIA feedback
Mock-up new labels and do some final
testing…