An Assessment of the ULS Homepage

Written by Tyrica Terry on December 4, 2017

Design

The design of the University of Pittsburgh’s Library System’s (ULS) homepage is clean, plain, and simple. The color scheme isn't particularly interesting, but it looks “collegiate” (whatever that means) and, most importantly for the designers (I imagine), it reflects the University’s colors. The header banner incorporates an image of the Cathedral of Learning, which is sort of misleading, but I understand that it’s the most iconic building of the University. Except for the banner text, the fonts are all sans-serif, increasing readability. However, the text can get pretty small, which may make it difficult to read for those with less than ideal vision. The text of the main navigation is actually kind of blurry—the weight of the font seems too bold for the size. Other than the font, the horizontal navigation menu is fine in its design, though item-heavy in the drop-down menus. The subtle background of the Pitt Panther statue is a nice touch.

The layout of the content makes sense to some extent, but it is a bit awkward because the boxes are unbalanced: the column on the right has a significantly greater height compared to the left column, which creates too much white space and requires the reader to scroll more than necessary. If there were, instead, three columns, with the “Today’s Hours” box on the far left, the layout of the webpage would be much better balanced and the space would be used more efficiently (see image below).

Organization/Navigation & Content

The database search function, which ChanLin and Hung (2016, 642) state is “the most important and core part of the library mobile Web service,” is, accordingly at the top of the page, right below the navigation menu. Directly to the right of the search bar is a box containing a slideshow of flyers and blurbs for upcoming events, interesting news and resources, etc. sponsored by or related to the ULS. This is a nice feature, as it highlights the library’s programming and its public-facing side, which offers some sort of ethos for the library. Below the search bar is a box containing “Quick Links,” which is a helpful feature. However, there are probably too many links included here, making the box text-dense. The items also don’t seem that prioritized for the library’s largest user demographic: undergraduate students. For example, information on the “reinvention” of the library is at the top—I don’t think undergraduates care a whole lot about the library’s renovations at this point. Another note regarding the contents of the “Quick Links” box is that it, as many other aspects of the website, assumes that users know what these items refer to (meaning, they know what they’re looking for when they come to the website) or that less-informed browsers are curious enough to follow the links. For example, the “One Button Video Recording Studio” is a really cool service/resource that the library provides, but it is in no way highlighted on the website, attracting the attention of the user and calling them to action—to find out more about the studio (which you can do by following the link). That is to say that the ULS website could use some improvement in guiding users in discovering information on the website.

Each search tab should have a brief description to inform the user of what type of items are searchable. The tab for PittCat+ is a decent example:

However, following the link to the “full PittCat+ site” leads to an incredibly unattractive page with no thought to aesthetic design whatsoever. It seems as though the designers didn’t expect anyone to actually follow that link. Beyond the lack of color (almost entirely white with the exception of the PittCat+ logo directly above the centered search bar), images, or any other aesthetic features, the content of the page seems quite useless. Besides a search bar with an “Advanced” search option, the page includes a paltry menu that isn’t properly formatted (see image below).

But I digress. The other tabs, except for the “Subject Specialists” tab and maybe the “Guides” tab, should provide clarifying information for users. Take the “PittCat Classic” tab, for example. It would, mostly likely, only be used by those who have a fairly good sense of how it works, while most will use PittCat+. However, there are legitimate reasons for using PittCat Classic that might be helpful for the average user to know. A short description with its purpose (e.g., how it’s distinct from PittCat+) would be useful, as well as a link to the full site with a more in-depth explanation of how it works.

There’s a lot more I could say about the ULS homepage, but you get the idea. It’s not the worst, but it could definitely be improved.

REFERENCE

ChanLin, Lih-Juan, and Wei-Hsiang Hung. 2016. “Usability and evaluation of a library mobile web site.” The Electronic Library 34 (4): 636-50.