WorldCat Local and WorldCat.org: Usability research

Feedback from the librarians who attended the ALA presentation where Bob Schulz gave an overview of WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local usability findings was overwhelming: you want us to share more information!

We hear you. In response, Arnold Arcolio from OCLC San Mateo is working on putting together a high-level, cross-test summary of what we're seeing, our conclusions, and how we're responding to what we've discovered during our user research. We're trying to determine the best way to discuss and collaborate on these topics, so right now, we're looking into making it a wiki-like page where OCLC and other libraries can share their findings and experiences as well.

We expect the summary to include information about the differences we're seeing in the kinds of users of WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local and how that informs the different personas we're developing for the two products.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in our process of evaluation and user research, you can visit our OCLC usability website.

Stay tuned!