Finding Time at the Penn State Libraries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKvR0OC4nYc
I find this video interesting because it highlights what a user must go through to locate something as simple as Time magazine on a library web site. (And, of course, there is the play on words in the title.) The video is 1.12 minutes. I think the following comments are enlightening:
"You're joking right? You do realize that wasn't video of an end user, but rather someone from the library who knew the precise path to take to find the content, right?"
"Yes, it's fast; but the user knew exactly where to go, and it's *still* a confusing, nonintuitive interface. I suspect that, for a user who is computer-literate but untrained in The Cat, that the choice they face is not whether they're getting it in two minutes or going to the bound stacks (if Penn State has them available); I suspect many users, when confronted with such an interface, would not be able to find Time at all."
So, the point for me is that users really do find our interfaces, catalogs, web site, etc. confusing and we have to work harder to make them more like what they find easy to use -- amazon, google, etc.
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