Usability testing for libraries - possible research topic?

Moira Fraser Says: June 19, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I like this idea. Another idea that I have advocated to public libraries before is the use of usability testing which is also commonly used for websites. At the core – you create 10 common tasks that people come to the Library for – things like find a book about …; read today’s newspaper from another main centre etc. and then you measure whether they can complete the task satisfactorily. You also observe them undertaking the task and ask some open-ended questions at the end to understand more about their experiences. It’s very useful at uncovering the things that we don’t notice because we are familiar and comfortable in libraries, but which cause library users real difficulties.
from http://diligentroom.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/what-would-rodney%e2%80%99s-mum-think/