In March 2016, the UX team conducted research with students to understand the value of including an AltMetric badge to the search results on the library’s website.
Research Questions
- What does the term Altmetric mean to students?
- Is there value in adding an Altmetric badge to search results in the library website’s discovery system?
- How do students respond to icons displaying Altmetrics information?
Methods
- 7 students (6 undergraduate and 1 graduate) participated in a usability study conducted by the UX team
- Participants were asked to conduct a search on a Primo staging site until they noticed the inclusion of the Altmetric badge
What did we Learn?
- Participants were unfamiliar with the term Altmetric before participating in this study
- Users wanted an optional pop-up box that they could click on to understand what the Altmetric badge was. Participants wanted the explainer written in simple language
- Participants stated that an Altmetric badge on Primo search results would be useful for some users as it highlighted article significance
- Participants who frequently used the library discovery system were more likely to notice the Altmetric badge, while infrequent users did not notice the new icon
- Participants did not find the Altmetric badge visually distracting. They tended to like the size, colouring and location of the badge
Our Recommendations
- Include Altmetric in the article search results on the library website
- Keep the aesthetics and badge location consistent
- Provide a more detailed description of Altmetric and its purpose
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