Discovery UX Assessments to Review

TitleInstitutionPublishedAuthorContributed byReviewed byReview completedHighlights and summary
Primo New User Interface: Usability Testing and Local Customizations Implemented in ResponseWashington State UniversityJune 2018

Blake Lee Galbreath

Corey Johnson

Erin Hvizdak

Alfredo Lafarga 
alafarga@cpp.edu 




  • Removed anchor links on the left
  • "Labels Citations. We observed confusion between the Citation icon of the Actions Menu and the section of the Full Display page labeled “Citations.” To differentiate between the two items, we changed the Actions Menu icon text to “Cite This Item” (see figure 4) and the heading for the Citations section to “References Cited” (see figure 5)."
  • "My Favorites. There was a mismatch among the tooltip texts of the My Favorites icons. We changed the tooltip language for the “Keep this item” pin to read “Add to My Favorites” (see figure 6) and the tooltip language for the “Unpin this item” pin to read “Remove from My Favorites” (see figure 7)."
  • "Availability Statuses. Per the design of the new interface, certain non-green links became green after opening the Full Display page of Primo New UI. We implemented CSS code to retain the non-green coloring of the availability statuses after opening the Full Display. In this case, “Check holdings” remains orange (see figure 8)"
  • "Links to Other Institutions. We observed participants attempting to use the links to other institutions to place resource sharing requests. Therefore, we removed the hyperlinking functionality of the links in the list, via CSS (see figure 10)."
Comparing Apples and Bananas? A/B Testing for discovery system optimization - [figures] (CSUMB)

from: CARL 2018 Conference Proceedings
CSUMBApril 2018

Sarah Dahlen 

Kenny Garcia (Unlicensed)

Kathlene Hanson

Ian Chan (Unlicensed)
ichan@csusm.edu



Finding Common Ground: Evaluating Primo UI Customizations in a Consortial Environment

CSUF

CPP

CSUSM

CSULA

CSUF

CSUN

August 2018

Mike DeMars (Unlicensed)
mdemars@fullerton.edu

Zacharry Williams (Unlicensed)
zdwilliams@cpp.edu

Ian Chan (Unlicensed)
ichan@csusm.edu



OneSearch UX - Chico StateCSUCFebruary 2019

Ryan Schwab (Unlicensed)
rwschwab@csuchico.edu

Irene Korber
ikorber@csuchico.edu

Ryan Schwab (Unlicensed)
rwschwab@csuchico.edu



Primo New User Interface—Not Just for Undergrads:A Usability StudyUniversity of HaifaOctober(?) 2018

Lynne Porat

Nir Zinger

Gabriel J. Gardner
gabriel.gardner@csulb.edu


  • "None of the participants realized they had to select a value of a facet and then click Refine..."
The A/B(C)s of Discovery System UsabilityCSUMB2018

Sarah Dahlen 

Kenny Garcia (Unlicensed)

Ian Chan (Unlicensed)
ichan@csusm.edu



Primo Usability with Diverse Populations in MindCSUEB2019

Annis Lee Adams

Andrew Carlos (Unlicensed)

Gabriel J. Gardner
gabriel.gardner@csulb.edu



A multi-campus usability testing study of the new Primo interfaceCSUDecember 2019

William Jacobs

J. Michael DeMars

Joanna Messer Kimmitt

Gabriel J. Gardner


Taking the Long Way Around: Improving the Display of HathiTrust Records in PrimoKansas State UniversityMarch 2019

Jason Alden Bengtson

Jason Coleman

Gabriel J. Gardner

  • "Beyond hathiGenius itself, the sideways development method provides a powerful tool for libraries to improve the tools they use by integrating additional functionality at the presentation layer level."
Primo on the Go: A Usability Study of the Primo Mobile InterfaceCSUEB, MaritimeJune 2020

Lee Adams

Margot Hanson

Gabriel J. Gardner

  • Recommendation 1: We recommend that the mobile interface have only one place to apply search limits. Most mobile users recognized and expanded the slider icon, which indicated the Advanced Search area in the top right corner, so we suggest that all mobile search limits be included under that area. Search limits are available in two locations, which have different and overlapping limits: Advanced Search and the filters area.

  • Rec 2: We recommend making it obvious that users need to take an additional step to save items for later. This could take the form of a prompt to log in or email records after pinning items.
  • Rec 3: We recommend the addition of a single filter to provide a comprehensive

    list of print books or ebooks.

  • Rec 4: We recommend using consistent language at the consortial level for record-level access labels that appear in the results list brief display.