PROJECT SUMMARY Our group has chosen to conduct a usability study over

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1 LS 560 GROUP 2 Edmund Balzer Michelle Eisele Beth Keene Christine Remenih Usability Study PAGE 4 - CONSENT FORM: REMOTE USABILITY TEST PAGE 5 - SURVEY: QUESTIONS AND GRAPHED RESULTS PAGE 10 - REPORT: OBSERVATIONS, INTERPRETATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS PROJECT SUMMARY Our group has chosen to conduct a usability study over This web site is the internet presence of a self-described grassroots movement that began as a Twitter hashtag #weneeddiversebooks, also abbreviated as #wndb. It began as a protest to the lack of diversity in children's literature and seeks to bring awareness and solutions to this issue. WEB SITE AUDIENCE The web site targets authors, publishers, librarians, teachers, and book stores. The message is to publish books by non-white authors featuring non-white children, put these books on your shelves, and promote these books. In addition to skin-color-diversification, they also advocate for the faces of LBGTQIA people being positively represented in authorship and in literature. The site has campaign materials, links to lists of diverse books, information on writing contests, author profiles, and more. If you are interested in diversifying your children's collection, this would likely one of your first, if not the first, stops to familiarize yourself with the movement and issues and gather resources and guidance.

2 USABILITY TEST We considered a number of sites, but settled on this one because we believe in its mission, We felt that its design was really lacking and ultimately we are concerned that could be influencing its ability to accomplish its purpose. We designed several questions that were meant to find out what the user thinks of its goals, how easy it is to use, and at the end we gave our participants the opportunity to give open-ended feedback. We are hoping this survey could provide constructive feedback for the creators and owners of WNDB.com so that they could reach more people with a more user-friendly site. We decided to conduct our survey online. This was the easiest and quickest way to complete our data and it also provided a way for people to give honest, anonymous responses in their own time. This was important to us because we realize that participation in our survey is completely voluntary. We wanted to make it as easy and painless as possible so that people would want to give us their feedback. We created our questions during a group meeting while looking at the website. We specifically chose questions that were aimed at the parts of the website that we thought could probably use improvement. We tested our questions on two test subjects before putting them out to all our test subjects and made a few corrections for clarity. After we created our questions as a group, Edmund designed a survey in Google Forms and Michelle posted it to a FB group called ALAThinkTank. This group has 26,5000+ members who are library professionals, library students, and some are simply library hopefuls who value the profession. We were able to get the responses we needed in a short amount of time. In the end, we received responses from 21 participants. Of our participants, two were from school libraries, five were from academic libraries, nine were from public libraries, and five did not work at libraries. When asked what was the primary goal of the website and given the options (a) To connect authors of diverse books with one another (b) To provide resources for libraries to diversify library collections (c) To provide resources for parents looking for diverse books or (d) other (this was a blank where they could fill it in themselves), the majority (13 people) chose B. Everyone reported being able to find contact information. Participants used a range of web browsers, but Google Chrome was the most popular choice with fifteen users. Coming in

3 behind Chrome was Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. And while most people used a computer to take this survey, we did have some people use tablet or smartphones. The only technology required for this usability test would have been a computer, smartphone, or tablet. Participants needed to be able to access the internet both so they could visit WNDB.com and so they could take the survey. Our survey should have taken between 5-15 minutes to complete, depending on reading speed and how much depth and time the participant needed to complete the requests.

4 LS 560 GROUP 2 Edmund Balzer Michelle Eisele Beth Keene Christine Remenih Consent Form: Remote Usability Test Please read and sign this form. The purpose of this study is to understand how librarians use Your participation will help us analyze the functionality of this website. Participation involves completing an online survey with a computer or other internet-capable device. During the session, you will be asked to find information or complete tasks using the website and to complete an online questionnaire about the experience. At no time will your name or any other identification be used. You may withdraw your consent and stop participation at any time during the session. If you have any questions please contact Christine Remenih at CMRemenih@crimson.ua.edu By signing this consent form, I agree to the following: I am 18 years or older I understand and consent to the use and release of the survey results by LS 560 Group 2. I understand that participation is voluntary and I agree to immediately raise any concerns I might have. I understand that the survey is for research purposes only and that my name and image will not be used for any other purpose. I relinquish any rights to the results and understand they may be copied and used by LS 560 Group 2 without further permission. Please sign below to indicate that you have read and understand the information on this form and that any questions you might have about the session have been answered. Date: Please print your name: Please sign your name: Thank you! We appreciate your participation. Please return the signed document to cmremenih@crimson.ua.edu

5 LS 560 GROUP 2 Edmund Balzer Michelle Eisele Beth Keene Christine Remenih QUESTIONNAIRE ENTRY QUESTION What Type Of Library Do You Work At? 24% 43% 9% 24% Public Library Academic Library School Library Do not work at a library NINE-QUESTION SURVEY What Do You Think Is The Primary Goal Of The Website 29% 14% 5% 52% To connect authors of diverse books with one another To provide resources for libraries to diversify library collections To provide resources for parents looking for diverse books Other

6 Were You Able To Find Contact Information Yes No How Easy Was It To Locate A List Of Diverse Books Very Difficult Difficult Somewhat Difficult Somewhat Easy Easy Very Easy

7 The Website Is Easy To Navigate Strongly Disagree Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree Does The Design Of The Website Reflect The Organization's Mission? Yes No Other Would You Recommend This Site As A Resource To A Friend Or Coworker? Yes No Maybe

8 What Type Of Device Did You Use To Access The Website? 19% 19% 62% Computer Smartphone Tablet What Browser Did You Use To Access The Website? 5% 10% 14% 71% Safari Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Other

9 EXIT QUESTION Are there any changes you would suggest to make this web site more user friendly? Are there any changes you would suggest to make the website more user friendly? It would be nice if contact information was maybe in different format or organized differently. Maybe more in a table or chart format or something similar. I would love to see a top 20 most popular book suggestion on the main home page. Easier than looking through so many lists. Then have the book title with like to more information and the list that it can be found on maybe. Seeing cover art would be awesome too. Even if it was a scrolling list across the page somehow. It would draw readers to it. I love the summer reading suggestion page. If you liked this... then read this... Very nicely done! I could never figure out how to get back to the home page without going to the URL bar. The colors in the word diverse (at the top) make it somewhat hard to read for people who don t see well (like me). The navigation on mobile is lengthy. A site map would be beneficial Make navigation headers stand out better (larger font? Bolder color font?) The drop-down menus were a little touchy if I moved my mouse just a little, they went away completely and I had to start over. A small explanation on the home page of the purpose of the organization and what one might find on the site. No. I like that it was easy to find info. I also like that it wasn t too busy with a lot of flashy graphics I would make it more clear on your dropdown menus which links can and cannot be clicked on. For example, under About Us, when you hover over Our Team, you have to select a specific committee/group. But first, I tried clicking on the general our team link. By either greying those out, or actually offering a main page for that section, that could be more accessible. This is especially frustrating in the contests section, where I have to go through multiple expansions before being able to click something. It seems like having a landing page for contests in general could benefit you. Also, I that there is a lot of text on some pages, including Contact Us and the FAQ. It makes sense to have the content you need there, but making the the headers a little larger and more emphasized could make it easier on the eye. Note: Not all 21 participants answered this question.

10 LS 560 GROUP 2 Edmund Balzer Michelle Eisele Beth Keene Christine Remenih RECOMMENDATION TO #WNDB WEB DEVELOPMENT TEAM Upon review of the survey results, the following are changes we feel are necessary to increase usability. NAVIGATION The navigation lacks organization and clarity. The submenus easily disappear when the user attempts to navigate to underlying pages. There is also an excess of expired content. We suggest the following menu. This requires relocating, deleting, and synthesizing some content. HOME ABOUT US FUNDING GET INVOLVED RESOURCES MEDIA BLOG Mission Statement Walter Award Book Talk Kit Book Lists Press Kit Move all non-static content to the blog History Grants Volunteer Writing Tools Press Releases Our Team Contests Fundraising Social Media Cue Cards Executive Committee Team Members Liaisons Friends Advisory Committee FAQ Contact Us Mentorships Newsletter - i.e. information about recommended apps, transcripts of roundtables, sightings and appearances.

11 HOME PAGE The home page should display the mission statement, which should be made consistent across the site. The header is too large and the bright colors in the word diverse, while clever, can cause eye strain and focusing issues. We suggest making the header smaller into a logo, move it to the top left and have it link back to the home page from each underlying page. BOOKLISTS We suggest developing a searchable database of book recommendations. Include: title, author, main character ethnicity, inclusion of LGBTQIA characters, appropriate age group, awards. SOCIAL MEDIA Move Social Media Icons to the top of the page in a row above the logo and header area to increase awareness and follower base. DONATE Change donation graphic to Support #WNDB and a PayPal logo and link. Move to the top right. If you make the logo smaller, you will have room to the right of the logo. SUBSCRIBE Move the subscribe field to the top right so it is easy to see.