To verify the work so far, we recently employed usability experts to assess the website and suggest improvements before a final version is released in November. The results have just been released, and are presented below as well as in the full Usability Testing Report.

The main points to come out of the testing were as follows

• The browser was received positively. Users loved the diversity of content (many different titles, countries and libraries represented).
• Some features need to be made more intuitive or obvious. The advanced search options, for example, were often missed by testers.
• The most requested feature was the ability to download or save a newspaper. The report notes that “Much of the value of the site to participants was provided by the images of the documents. … As no download facility is provided, this led to some frustration and undermined the overall potential value of the site for some participants”

How The Tests Were Run
The usability tests were run with 12 researchers, who were recruited by colleagues in the following partner libraries: the British Library, the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library, the Austrian National Library, the National Library of Latvia and the National Library of Finland. The test users were asked to perform the following tasks:

1. Explore the landing page
2. Perform a basic keyword search and find material related to a specific topic (eg. investigate the history of a capital city)
3. Refine your search results using the options provided (eg. from your search results, find only newspapers that were published in a certain country)
4. Search within a date range (eg. find newspapers published between 1810 and 1820)
5. Search for a specific date (eg. newspapers published on the birth dates of your parents)
6. Find newspapers by title and region (eg. find all newspapers published in Austria)

Positive First Impression
Our testers were broadly positive about the historic newspapers browser, and understood the basic layout and functionality of the site. They valued the presentation of content from many sources and appreciated features such as the map overview, the ability to browse by date and title and the full-text content of individual newspaper pages.

When asked to highlight 3 things they liked about the website, common responses were:

• The breadth and depth of content
• Ease of performing a basic search
• Browse by title option on landing page
• Map view
• Ease with which the newspaper images could be rotated and re-sized

Most Tasks Easily Performed
Overall, the website received high marks, and users were easily able to complete the tasks asked of them. Only Task 4 (search within a date range) was found to be difficult because users found it difficult to locate the controls for searching within two specific dates.

Issues To Work On
The usability testing naturally highlighted areas that need improvement. Testers couldn’t quickly locate the ‘Further Search Options’ on the homepage. They were also confused by the purpose of the This Day In History carousel. Many assumed it was a static illustration, rather than an interactive element.

As they dug deeper into the site, the testers noted that they would like to be able to configure and re-order their search results. They expected to be able to download, save and print individual newspaper pages, whereas the current browser only allows people to view newspapers.

Requested Features
When asked which additional features the site should provide, the most common answer was the ability to download images or even entire documents. Other suggestions included a:

• Clear route for giving feedback about the site
• Description of the benefits and additional functionalities available to registered users
• Section highlighting recently added content

As part of our mission to make the historic newspapers browser the best it can be, we will be conducting a further round of usability testing. This will help ensure that any changes we make have had the desired effect.

We also welcome your thoughts. Have you used our newspapers browser? How would you improve it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Today, we’re taking a look at the content that will be contributed by the National Library of Finland. For a better look at each paper, simply click on the image and a gallery will appear.

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]This is the front page of Uusi Suometar, issue 142. The page is very typical of this title and the time period. There are a great number of ads on the first page. The paper also typifies the pro-Finnish and conservative line of the newspapers published in Finland. At various points in history, Uusi Suometar was Finland’s largest newspaper.[/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]This is the Finnish newspaper Pohjanmaa (No 34, date 24 March 1910). It was only published between 1909-1912 and was aimed at the local rural people in the areas of Vaasa and South Bothnia. This particular page centres around an illustrated article from Ilmari Kianto with the theme “Reindeer Sport”.[/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]Helsingin Wiikko-Sanomia was a weekly newspaper with a Christian-moral line, and this sample page comes from Issue 4, published on January 27th 1882. The newspaper aimed to promote popular education and usually included images in every issue – a rarity during that era. [/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]The Finlands Allmänna Tidning newspaper was published from 1820 to 1931. This front page comes from February 2nd, 1830. The newspaper’s focus was information and notifications from the government and authorities, as well as foreign news. Domestic news was scarce. Up until the 1840s, it had the largest circulation in Finland.[/ezcol_1half_end]

That’s why we’ve recently re-opened our survey on newspaper digitisation. We want as many libraries as possible to respond, so that we can build on the results of the first survey in 2012.

Please share your thoughts before the closing deadline of July 31st, 2013.

You can also view the results of the first survey. Any questions can be directed to Alastair Dunning and the Europeana Newspapers team: alastair.dunning@kb.nl

Photo credit: Jisc / Flickr