This website is sponsored by the University of Michigan University Library's Usability Working Group which is a sub-committee of PARC (Public Access Resource Committee) and ERSC (Electronic Resources Steering Committee). The usability studies represented here have been conducted by various groups throughout the UM Libraries as well as by the Usability Working Group. Only a select group of reports are included here, and more will be added as they are completed.

The goal of this website is to provide open access to our reports and working documents in order to share our findings with the University of Michigan libraries as well as the community-at-large. We hope that sharing our findings will benefit and inform others in their research.

The Usability Working Group guides and implements usability testing of the Library's web resources and services. This includes the Library's locally generated web pages and DLPS (Digital Library Production Service) resources, as well as customizable vendor supported resources, such as MetaLib (SearchTools), Aleph (Mirlyn) and SFX. This group works with PARC and ERSC to set priorities for usability testing shared Library web sites and services, with a focus on testing interfaces and concepts that are broadly implemented across the Library's web environment.

Current Members:

• Suzanne Chapman (committee chair) - Interface & User Testing Specialist, Digital Library Production Service
• David Carter - EECS Librarian; Web & Reference Services Coordinator, Art Architecture & Engineering Library
• Mike Creech - Web Content Manager, MLibrary
• Shevon Desai - Social Science/Humanities Librarian, Reference Department Hatcher Graduate Library
• Karen Downing - Foundation & Grants Librarian, Reference Department Hatcher Graduate Library
• Anne Karle-Zenith - Special Projects Librarian, University Library IT & Technical Services
• Shana Kimball - Electronic Projects Editor, Scholarly Publishing Office
• Molly Kleinman - Associate Intellectual Property Specialist and Special Projects Librarian

Past Members:

• Kat Hagedorn (past committee chair) - Metadata Harvesting Librarian, Digital Library Production Service
• Suzanne Gray - Library Web Services Manager
• Jennifer Nardine - Public Services Librarian, Shapiro Undergraduate Library
• Gurpreet K. Rana - Clinical Education Librarian, Health Sciences Libraries
• Bob Tolliver - Engineering Librarian, Art Architecture & Engineering Library

Past & Present Interns:

• Jacob Solomon - School of Information (Spring/Summer 2008)
• Matt Schulz - School of Information (Spring/Summer 2008)
• Pratibha Bhaskaran - School of Information (Winter 2008)
• Krystle Williams - School of Information (Winter 2008)
• Julie Piacentine - School of Information (Fall 2007)
• John Suciu - School of Information (Fall 2007)
• Xiaomin Jiang - School of Information (Spring/Summer 2007)
• Josh Morse - School of Information (Spring/Summer 2007)
• Natasha Sant - School of Information (Winter 2007)
• Cora Bledsoe - School of Information (Fall 2006)
• Tonya McCarley - School of Information (Fall 2006)
• Cathy Lu - Web Developer & Analyst, Library Web Services (Spring 2005)
• Kavitha Reddy - School of Information (Spring 2005)

The Usability Working Group frequently employs student interns from the University of Michigan School of Information. If you are interested in working with us, please contact us for more information.