Tuesday, October 27, 2015

A complete redesign of Emory University's business library website incorporated virtually all of the enhancements that student and alumni usability tests indicated were necessary for a successful user experience. The business library team was thrilled with the new interface, but were the users? They had indicated what they came to the website to find, but did the new site make their "seek and find" process more successful? Google Analytics has been key to providing the library with ongoing insights as to precisely what its users look for and how they translate their information need into a search or browse action. An analysis of more than 15,000 unique keyword searches, conducted during the first 12 months of the new site, provided detailed insight for what the users expect to find on the library's website. Closely analyzing the specific words they searched for revealed valuable insights as to their assumptions on a more granular level than the usability studies and enabled the library to enhance the metadata to facilitate successful searches. Two key issues quickly rose to the surface: close-enough searches for database names and common journal titles held within databases needed to return successful search results. Hear more about the new insights this analysis is yielding.