Usability of university library subject guides - The case of Çankırı Karatekin University

Subject guides are frequently used tools in library information services. Subject guides, which are a product of the concept of providing user-specific information services, aim to present information resources, tools, and other materials in a subject or discipline to the user in a systematic way. Subject guides should be useful and easy to use in terms of content, format, and interface. The purpose of this study is to test the usability of the subject guide service in Çankırı Karatekin University Library on different user groups, to discover the usability problems of the system, to identify features that do not meet user expectations, and to examine usability differences between groups. In this context, a user-based approach was preferred, and task-based usability tests were conducted with 16 participants (8 undergraduate and 8 graduate students) by considering ISO 9241-11 (1998) criteria (effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction). Data were collected through think-aloud protocol, observation, and interview techniques. As a result of the research, users' attitudes toward the topic guides were generally positive. User satisfaction levels (72.69%) and performance-related task completion success (88.20%) were found to be high. In relation to the research hypotheses, a positive correlation was found between performance and satisfaction values (H3). It was observed that there was no statistically significant difference between the user groups in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction levels, only in some tasks (H1, H2). In general, users' expectations from subject guides are listed under the main headings such as simplicity, content-title compatibility, consistency, absence of jargon, and adequacy of field guide content.