The object of this study is to examine the effective functionality of an OPAC-system while a few participants interacted with the catalogue. I’ve used Carl Martin Allwood’s (1998) four designed usability factors to be able to estimate the effective functionality of the online catalogue. Theoretic basis is Human Computer Interaction together with Allwood’s four defined usability factors. They are: adjustment, ease of use, user acceptance and user competence. This study is conducted with a verbal protocol method which encourages the seven participators to “think aloud” while performing tasks. The study shows that the participants interact most effective in those functions they’re accustomed with. Which indicate that the OPAC-system have a high grade of user acceptance. The end users with more experience of using Internet search engines requested similar search capabilities and settings in the online catalogue. They tend to lack a little bit of understanding to the limitations of the OPAC which therefore indicate their lack of user competence. Some task problems occurred while the participators interacted in steps and functions they weren’t familiar with. They also spoke of the difficulties with subject searching and that they would like to know the best way to make search queries. I estimate some need of more user friendly functions and services, especially in the help section. The study shows that it is essential to educate users in ways to interact with the OPAC-system in a more effective manner.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-20211 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Karlsson-Broström, Ingela |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap / Bibliotekshögskolan, University of Borås/Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Magisteruppsats i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap vid institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap, 1654-0247 ; 2010:38 |
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