Survey Feedback from New Library Website (as of 3/4/08)

What are your initial impressions of the look and layout of the new Library website?

  1. Great--sooooo much better than the old one. Much more logically organized.
  2. Looks wonderful. having the search function as essentially the first thing you see (followed by ask a librarian) is, for me, the most fantastic thing about the redesign. unless i typed "libcat" in the address bar in my browser, it took 2-4 clicks to get to the search function, which is probably one of the most important utilities. This alone makes the redesign worthwhile
  3. It is definitely sleeker and some aspects of it are easier to use such as by having the search bar on the first page and being able to select different areas to search while remaining on the same page. It might be more helpful if could extend that to the various other searches,too, like author, title, etc by having them off to the side and being able to click on it causing it to be selected, instead of going to a separate page (takes too much time and resets things if you mistakenly already typed in it).
  4. good. accessible
  5. Obviously, the layout is a lot more organized and a lot cleaner. Links are categorized and arranged for easy viewing, and links that I'd normally have to look for in the search bar are put upfront. Thus, I think it's a lot more readily accessible. It's also a lot more pleasant to the eye, but I would like more of the pages on the website to adopt this format.
  6. like the main dartmouth site (which I didn't like at first but am now used to). I like that there are more links to the things I use (libcat, eresources, dartdoc) on the main page.
  7. It looks great. I like the ties to the Dartmouth homepage, but it is nicely differentiated by it's colors. I also love the pictures from various libraries.
  8. pretty
  9. very positive, easy access to the catalog, easy layout for getting to my account, dartdoc, etc. without having to go through several menus.
  10. Very nicely designed! A little grey, but I think it works.
  11. Looks a little darkish and very much similar to the Dartmouth homepage, but I like it.

What do you typically use a library website for?

  1. Finding info like hours for the libraries or locating online resources and doing research.
  2. searching the catalog, checking library hours, borrowdirect, search 360
  3. For searching for research materials for class and various personal and organizational projects as well as materials for leisure especially movies and web journal articles and materials (it would be nice if especially the web materials became easier to search by itself besides e-resources which I never seem to be able to figure out and search360 which always takes too long or brings back too few results).
  4. searches- library catalogue
  5. I typically use the library website for search 360 and to look up books on DartDoc or BorrowDirect. I find it rare that I check out a book. Instead, it's more often that I grab textbooks or research articles.
  6. searching catalog, using eresources, accessing dartdoc, and renewing materials
  7. I search for books and DVDs.
  8. books, eresources, course reserves
  9. seaching the catalog, finding and downloading journal articles
  10. searching for library materials/search 360
  11. Search for materials, find library hours, access online resources, dartdoc/borrow direct

Were you able to do the things (or find where you would do them) you listed in the previous question using the new Library website?

  1. Yes.
  2. yes! and much more easily!
  3. For the most part, yes, although I don't use many features.
  4. yes. i didn't think i would be able to- but it's much easier. way less clicking around to get where i want.
  5. Like I said earlier, a lot of times I use the library in order to use search 360 or to use DartDoc or BorrowDirect.
  6. yes
  7. Yes. The DVD search is much easier with the listing of all DVDs in Jones Media Center.
  8. yes
  9. yes, easily from the opening page
  10. yes, very easily
  11. More or less yeah.

If you could make one change in the new Library website, what would it be?

  1. Make the top banner thinner. Just a little though-- like just moving or eliminating the three links in the top right corner so that the "Dartmouth College Library - Beta" would be closer to the top and there would be more space for the actual info, which is below the banner. Especially on my small laptop screen, this is wasted space.
  2. (no answer)
  3. Supporting Zotero if not explicitly at least implicitly. Many other universities including Stanford, Yale and Michigan have already started to encourage it's use. It worked really well with the website before a recent change, and now it's a little more cumbersome to use (although, still better then the outdated Endnote program offered and the restricted Refworks). It's a free researching tool (supported by the Institute od Museum and Library Services as well as the Mellon Foundation) much like those referencing tools(could be use in conjunction with them, down to being able to import any Endnote reference) that loads into Firefox and will soon have an online database with the Internet Archive. The link is 2. Having better access to direct tools that one uses consistently. Whether making your own library page like one can do with the home page or by simply having direct links to important tools (with a secondary information icon link beside it that will take you to the help/explanation of the tool), especially tools that perhaps students don't take advantage of but would be really helpful (eg. reference tools, Jones tools, library maps, hours, etc). 3. Making everything much more stream-lined by being able to access things easily with as few clicks as possible (eg. using the same web login as Blackboard or something similar so one can just log on once and not accidentally log off, making DartDoc a little easier, etc)
  4. (no answer)
  5. I would like it if there was some way to include an options tree for some of the bullet items; that is, you can click on a link to take you there, but if you click next to it on the button, a few more sub-options get expanded out.
  6. center the text on the page - my browser is high-res so everything is on the left except the bar on the right... there is a wide white space in the middle
  7. The Jones Media Center DVD list is great - very helpful (I only want to take out DVDs, not VHS') However, it's such a long list it's hard to scroll through all of it. I suggest having a live-link alphabetical list at the top where, for example, pushing "T" would bring the user to the beginning of the "T" listings. Mon, 3/3/08 1:58 PM
  8. make the catalog match the look of the homepage. Fri, 2/29/08 11:51 AM
  9. get rid of the purple in the catalog search pages Fri, 2/29/08 6:01 AM
  10. by the off campus access and ask a librarian buttons there should be one also for the information about the library search thing that they have us use at info desks. or, just make the info search portal obvious + accessible. Tue, 2/26/08 8:56 PM
  11. When I come to the front page, I should be able to either hit "Tab" once to get to the search box or have it focus on the box right away. Also, I should be able to sweet between the various search categories with a hotkey of some kind (e.g. <Ctrl>+<Left Arrow>). You can use a library like jQuery or Prototype to do that easier.

What would you expect to find when searching the "Library Site" category?

  1. hours, help locating resources, personnel bios--everything that's not actual materials.
  2. library hours, other information about the library
  3. Anything referring to the actual library instead of the catalog like maps, how to use tools, different departments, help with research, history, etc.
  4. (no answer)
  5. I would imagine that the search engine anticipates a library-related query and thus privileges links that contain URL prefixes or meta-content tags that are related to the library.
  6. (no answer)
  7. I would expect to find search results related to the entire library website. Mon, 3/3/08 1:58 PM
  8. the dartmouth library homepage
  9. Everything I wanted was there and then some.
  10. no idea what thats for, I guess library information?
  11. information on the library itself, not materials

Any other comments?

  1. great job!
  2. great work!
  3. I understand that you probably can't put back whatever OPAC and IP accessing features you had previously that allowed Zotero to work, but if there was any way that you use an OPAC and web standards compatible with this and other referencing tools, it would be much appreciated. Thanks, and sorry if this is long.
  4. (no answer)
  5. Not really. I think the library site is improving, but I would like to maybe see a layout that distinguishes it from the rest of the website; it looks like partial copy of the homepage. It's way better than the current library website, but I'd like to see it take that farther aesthetically.
  6. looks good!
  7. Great! I can't wait for this to go live. Thanks for asking for suggestions! Love the grey color. You might add a touch of green striping here and there to remind us we are here at Dartmouth, not Northwestern as now.
  8. (no response)
  9. looks so much better than the old one.
  10. Overall, very nice. Sometimes, however, the picture on the front page doesn't reach all the way around so I would suggest maybe centering the picture and then filling the rest of the space with a solid color. It's just annoying when you're on a high resolution screen.
  11. Not really. I think the library site is improving, but I would like to maybe see a layout that distinguishes it from the rest of the website; it looks like partial copy of the homepage. It's way better than the current library website, but I'd like to see it take that farther aesthetically.