A Critical Evaluation on the User-Friendliness of Search Interfaces of Micro CDS/ISIS and INMAGIC

Abstract

The objective of t h i s experimental survey i s to study the User F r i e n d l i n e s s of search i n t e r f a c e s of two Text R e t r i e v a l Packages (TXT) used i n l i b r a r i e s in S r i Lanka, namely Micro CDS/ISIS (Version 3.0) and INAMGIC (Version 7.1). The Methodology followed to study the search i n t e r f a c e s was, end user behaviour by d i r e c t observation using True Comparison Group method. The user community was d i v i d ed i n t o three categories, Experts, Intermediates and Novices, depending on t h e i r competency l e v e l of computer l i t e r a c y , and equal number of representations were s e l e c t e d f o r the sample. Performance of each user group a t every stage of the search module during the f i r s t search was evaluated. The c e r t a i n t y l e v e l based on the clearness they showed, i n using the interfaces, and uncertainty l e v e l , based on the intermediary help used was measured i n terms of user f r i e n d ly features offered by the search modules. Two interfaces of CDS/ISIS and INMAGIC were compared i n order to evaluate User- F r i e n d l i n e s s . Search r e s u l t s were a l s o evaluated according to the exact number of h i t s obtained, false drop l e v e l s and zero number of h i t s obtained, w i t h i n the range of the search t r i es allowed. Factors a f f e c t i n g the performance of users were studied and r e l a t i o n s h i p s drawn t o user f r i e n d l i n e s s of search modules.