Recommendations

After analyzing the data presented in the data page, we've compiled a list of six recommendations that the Library of Congress could utilize to improve its usability and heuristics. While only three suggestions were required, we felt that loc.gov could drastically improve its overall user experience in a multitude of ways and documented an extra three suggestions that would improve how users navigate the site.

*Note: The red rectangular outlines on the figures presented below are to emphasize the changes made between the "Before" and "After" of the website design and are not an actual part of the website.

While all of our participants completed task 3, the task which involved finding a digital collection with several photos from the American Civil War, many participants were unable to find the full collection of photos outside of the 5 images featured on the main page of the digital collection.

In order to fix this issue, and to make it easier for users to find primary sources that are readily and freely available from the Library of Congress website, we recommend that the secondary navigation bar featured in the digital collection be made more prominent with larger text and a tab-like design that mimics the look of file folders. These small changes can make the navigation of the digital collection more apparent to users, and thus making them more likely to find the full collection of items. 

Additionally the change from "collection items" to "collection media" may help for users to more easily understand that this is where any media within the collection can be found, including photos, audio, maps, etc. Text inserted in the "featured content" of the main page that guides users to click the "collection media" tab to find all of the photos in the digital collection could also be used as a safeguard to make sure that users know where to go to make full use of the primary sources at their disposal.

While these changes aren't present in Figure 11b, the conciseness of items in the search results page and the consistency of usage labels across items would drastically improve users' confusion when searching for primary sources. Within loc.gov, there is a library, or digital, catalog that users can use to find the availability of an item and request it for use at the physical library itself. Digital collections feature items that can be viewed or, depending on the item, freely used, online for anyone. When using the home page search bar, both the library catalog and digital collections are provided in the search results with no clear label as to which is which. Adding a clear label, as well as a description distinguishing the two items at the top of search results would greatly reduce confusion. 

In addition, as seen with many of our participants, users would click on the correct collection or digital item but not realize it for due to the lack of conciseness of the item's description in the search results. The block of text would make it so users would skim and overlook pertinent information, and thus providing a bolded one sentence statement under the title of the item that describes it, along with the date of the item, would make it easier for users to quickly find what they are looking for.  A label indicating the usage rights for the item, and whether it is downloadable, would also be a beneficial feature for users to quickly determine if they could download something, such as in audio clip, like in task 4.

With these suggestions, loc.gov would improve its heuristics in regard to consistency in its labeling across its different items and the conciseness of information, making it more efficient to search and browse primary sources.

A common theme across the board for all participants was that the search bar in the homepage was the most used feature on the website. While the search bar, and additionally its filter for different mediums, were highly useful for all of our participants, the glaring issue was the fact that it only was able to search for items in either the library catalog or in digital collections, leaving out the ability to search for major components in the website. 

An example of this is trying to search up information on the "exhibition" section. Most participants thought they would be able to just search it up and find information on it but failed to find it, which caused frustration for the user, leading them to not even want to be on the website anymore. By changing the search bar on the home page to a search bar that can search the entirety of the website, users would be able to easily find information that is separate from the catalog or primary sources. 

Additionally, having separate search bars for the library or digital catalog and for digital collections and items would make it easier for users to understand the distinction between the readily available digital items and the catalog that only works to reserve items in person. Having a link to the separate search bars above or below the main search bar would efficiently let users know where to search depending on their needs. Having non-intrusive text within the home page search bar would also help further cement that it can in fact be used to find any kind of information on the website. This improvement would vastly help the heuristic of consistency by following in the convention of home page search bars allowing for anything on a site to be looked up. 

During our testing, many users did not scroll down the homepage at all and relied on the hamburger menu to navigate the website. Despite knowing to look in the hamburger menu for relevant subpages, many of our participants still managed to overlook key sections, such as "visit" or "shop." Furthermore, while there is a navigation bar provided on the home page, it is placed below the image carousel, meaning that many users missed it entirely, and tried to rely on either the search bar or hamburger menu to find information relevant to their task.

In order to improve user experience on loc.gov, switching from a hamburger menu and lowered navigation bar to a navigation bar that is placed right below the site ID and stays at the top as the user scrolls would make it less likely for people to miss key sections relevant to whatever they may be searching. This way, regardless if a user manages to overlook something like the "visit" section, the fact that the navigation bar is stationary at the top of screen makes it more likely for them to eventually find the section on their own. By having the navigation bar with the most commonly visited sections at the forefront, users will be able to more easily find what they are looking for, helping with the learnability, and thus, usability of the website. Less prominent or commonly used sections could be placed in a hamburger menu on the right side of the navigation bar so that users can still quickly access these less-visited sections in the website. 

When it came to our participants needing assistance or assurance from the test facilitator, a common question posed by users was "What, exactly, is the Library of Congress?"

Based off this finding, it is possible that many people may not even be aware of what the Library of Congress is or what could be done on its website. If this is the case, even with loc.gov providing hundreds of thousands of free, digitally available primary sources in the form of several types of mediums, is lost to the masses. With no indication on the home page of what a user could expect from being on the Library of Congress website, the useful features provided by the site are more than likely neglected. 

In order to better the overall usability of the site, the Library of Congress could insert an image to their carousel on the home page that highlights the features of the website. Having a small description of the role of the Library of Congress, as well as information about the digital catalog or finding primary sources for free online, would let a user feel more equipped and prepared when navigating the website. A button on this image could lead to a separate "about" or "services" page that would go into more descriptive detail about the many features available on the site for users.

When completing the 4th task, our participants encountered a problem when trying to find the exhibition information on the website. We discovered that to find this important information, users had to go through multiple steps to accomplish said task, which impeded the user experience. To improve engagement, The Library of Congress should feature their current exhibitions more prominently on the homepage, where it is easily accessible and eye catching for users seeking information to visit the library. Our recommendation for this problem would be to add a "Current Exhibition" section to the existing carousel located on the homepage. By having this featured there, users can easily find out information about the current exhibitions and will encourage users to visit the library more. This change would not only enhance user interaction, but will also create a more dynamic and user-friendly environment for users trying to find information to plan a future visit, or encourage users to visit the library in the future. 

When completing the tasks, some of our users tended to avoid the secondary menu on the left side of the page, a good example of this menu could be found in the "Visit" page. We believe this menu should be redesigned into a secondary navigation bar. By doing this we aim to reduce user confusion as in some of the pages, instead of having a menu on the left-side of the screen, there is a filter. According to the Consistency and Standards heuristic, users expect websites or interfaces to follow industry conventions. By changing the left-side menu into a secondary navigation bar, we ensure our users will recognize that they can browse through it, and have a more intuitive experience. This will help users understand how to navigate the Library of Congress website and find the desired information. This change will improve navigation and ensure our users can easily find the desired information in a more efficient way.