diane velasquez nsw.net de & ux seminar 2015
TRANSCRIPT
An Assessment & Evaluation of
Public Library Websites in AustraliaDiane L Velasquez, PhD
Sydney, NSW
27 February 2015
1
Agenda
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Findings – Australia
• Findings – by State
• Findings, Phase 1 – Canada compared with Australia
• Conclusion
2
Introduction
• Public Library (PL) websites are the e-branch
• PL web assessment evaluations are a gap in library literature
• PL web assessment and evaluations if in literature is anecdotal
• Web sites equal presence and marketing
• Few PL evaluations:
▫ McMenemy in Scotland
▫ Powers in Pennsylvania
3
Marketing of Public Libraries
• Convenience for patrons
• Provide excellent customer service via web page
• Evaluating the web page for usability
• What makes a good public library web site?
▫ Ease of use
▫ Good information
▫ Well designed
4
Group Project• 18 Students in the four phases
• Initially 25 public library web sites each
• Given the methodology
• Asked to do a short literature review
• Worked individually instead of as a group except for Phase 3
5
Methodology
• Powers, 2011
▫ Pennsylvania project replicated
▫ Had 20 basic questions
One question was not asked
▫ Added two regarding joint use
• Included branch libraries
• Some consistency issues were apparent
6
Methodology
• Answered each category as a Yes/No question
• Used Excel to process results
• The rest of the data qualitative
• Qualitative data has not been processed
• Last Project data turned in on 7 November 2014
7
Information Gathered
• Physical & Mailing Address
• Telephone Number
• Hours of Operation
• Library Manager/Director
• Joint Use Facility – Yes/No
▫ If yes, what type?
8
Information Gathered (cont’d)
• Catalogue Link
• State Databases or other links (i.e. Trove, etc.)
• Date web page last updated
• Mixture of text and images
• Promotion of events and programs on the pages
• Search box available
• Place to provide feedback about the site
9
Information Gathered (cont’d)
• Free from spelling and grammatical errors
• A place to ask for help or assistance from the library
• Consistent logo, branding, or picture that is library specific (not council specific)
• Use of Web 2.0 tools (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Historypin, Yammer, etc.)
10
States Represented by PLs
1, 0%88, 18%
17, 4%
69, 14%
65, 13%44, 9%
43, 9%
161, 33%
ACT NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
12
n = 488
Joint Use Facility Type
29, 29%
6, 6%
8, 8%
15, 15%
4, 4%
5, 5%
32, 33%
School TAFE University Comm Ctr Council Museums Other
n = 99
14
Top/Bottom 5 Categories
Top 5 Bottom 5
• Telephone – 85%
• Hours of Operation – 83%
• Spelling & Grammar – 82%
• Catalogue – 67%
• Text/Images – 67%
• Help – 18%
• Library Manager – 20%
• Feedback – 27%
• Date Site Updated – 30%
• Image/Icon (library) – 35%
15
Yes/No Questions
16
430 415
182
404
9958 73
306
84
389
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Address Telephone OnlineContact
Hours Lib Manager
Yes Non = 488
Yes/No Questions
17
288
328
289
146
200
160
199
342
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Email Catalogue State Dbases Site Update
Yes Non = 488
Yes/No Questions
18
325 324
200
132163 164
288
356
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Text/Image Promo Onsite Search Box Feedback
Yes Non = 488
Yes/No Questions (cont’d)
19
400
89
171
219
88
399
317
269
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Correct Spelling Ask for Help Logo Web 2.0
Yes Non = 488
Bottom 5 Overall by Reverse Rank
OrderNSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Help 1 3 3 3 2 1
Date Site Updated 2 4 3 4
Feedback 3 1 2 2 3
Library Manager 4 4 1 1 2
Online Contact 5 5 4
Search Box 2 1
Icon/Image (Library) 4 5 5
Email 4
Web 2.0 4
Databases (State) 5
21
Top 5 Overall by Rank Order
NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Catalogue 1 5 5 2 5
Events 2 3
Address 3 1 1 1 1 1
Spelling & Grammar 4 4 3 3 4 4
Text/Images 5 5
Phone 2 2 1 1 2
Hours of Operation 3 4 4 3
Databases (State) 2
Web 2.0 5
22
Yes Answers
23
7772
33
7 101
53 53
25
55 54
19
44 44
26
41 41
21
152
140
56
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Address Phone Online Contact
NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Yes Answers
24
71
30
71
70
7
53
15 15
51
25
5042
0
3336
9
29
143
19
83
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Hrs Operation Lib Mgr Email
NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Yes Answers
25
86
60
19
7 51
35 35
11
43 43
8
3843
3541
2217
7881
54
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Catalogue State Dbases Onsite Data
NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Yes Answers
26
7579
51
7 5 2
4336
17
35
49
1
29 29 323439
33
101
78
63
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Text/Image Event Dates Search Box
NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Yes Answers
27
21
76
13
27
1
11
50
123
54
4
18
42
2429
37
16
49
133
18
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Feedback Spelling Help
NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Yes Answers
28
33
59
2 3
15
23
16
33
2725
27
36
50
42
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Icon Web 2.0
NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Bottom 5 Categories
Australia Canada
• Help – 14%
• Feedback – 18%
• Date Site Updated – 19%
• Image/Icon – 26%
• Library Manager – 32%
• Date Site Updated – 17%
• Feedback – 17%
• Image/Icon – 42%
• Help – 45%
• Catalogue – 51%
30
Top 5 Categories
Australia Canada
• Telephone – 85%
• Spelling & Grammar – 82%
• Hours of Operation – 78%
• Catalogue – 70%
• Text/Images – 67%
• Address – 98%
• Telephone – 97%
• Hours of Operation – 96%
• Spelling & Grammar – 96%
• Text/Images – 90%
31
Yes Answers
32
180 173
84
169
70
208 205
161
204
129
0
50
100
150
200
250
Address Telephone OnlineContact
Hours Lib Manager
Australia Canada
Yes Answers
33
116
151134
42
145 152169
109
151
35
190174
020406080
100120140160180200
Australia Canada
Yes Answers
34
5239
179
31
56
107
169
35
203
96 90
136
0
50
100
150
200
250
Search Box Feedback Spelling Help Icon/Image Web 2.0
Australia Canada
Findings - Australia
• Majority had catalogue links (67%)
• Most web sites were locked down and hard to access
• For a customer focused industry, most of the sites were basic and hinder customer service
36
Findings (cont’d)
• No encouragement of contact with patrons
• Staff names were not on the web sites
• Many of the sites were not well designed
• Not user friendly
• Sites didn’t encourage users to ask questions
37
Majority of Sites Missing
• Ability to ask for help on the site (18%)
• Feedback mechanism for the library site (27%)
• Site up to date: showing a date when it was last updated (30%)
• A library image or icon (35%)
• Search box available for the library information (41%)
• Use of Web 2.0 tools (45%).
38
Conclusions
• Websites need to be updated
• Could learn from other websites like the better Canadian and Australian websites
• Up-to-date marketing tools
• Web 2.0 Tools – more than Facebook and Twitter
• More user centric
39
Future Research
• Phase 4 has just been completed
• All Australian public libraries have been done
• Next phase will begin Phase 5 of English speaking Canadian public libraries
40
Acknowledgement of Thanks
The student researchers were:
• Andrew Angus
• Andree Brett
• Michelle Chitts
• Robin Costelloe
• Lungile Dlamini
• Daniel Easterbrook
• Fariha Hamid
• Deanna Harrison
• Catharine Kelly
• Isabella Laskari
• Zoe Manger
• Daniel Mason
• Cyprian Maynard
• Claire Morris
• Margaret Parker
• Claire Telfer
• Sarah Thompson
• Amy Vanner
• Jana Walmann
41