"It Feels Like I'm Receiving a Letter from the Past": Improving the Usability of an Indonesian Special Collections Repository to Enhance Library Users' Search Experiences

Abstract

Khasanah Pustaka Nusantara (Khastara) is a special collections repository built by the National Library of Indonesia to provide access for digitized special collections. The items of Khastara reflect the diverse ethnicities, languages, and histories of Indonesia. This constitutes a strength in Khastara, but it also comes with challenges in search experiences and discovery of content. Therefore, data gathering is required to provide accurate picture of user search experi-ences, focusing on user perceptions about usability of Khastara and their information search pro-cesses. A mixed-methods approach was employed, specifically convergent research design. The selection of procedures is informed by HCI research, with the quantitative part being System Us-ability Scale Questionnaires (SUS) distributed to Khastara users (n = 166). For the qualitative portion of the research, interviews based on contextual inquiry paradigm were conducted with users (n = 10), with additional interviews with librarians (n = 3). The aggregate SUS study score was 61.72, signifying lower than average usability perceptions in Khastara users. Interview data resulted in a list of usability problems for the Khastara platform. Interview data was also ex-plained using Kuhlthau’s (2018) information search process model, highlighting challenges that users faced at stages of their search experiences and their feelings throughout the search pro-cesses. The interview data was visualized through a user journey map, highlighting the usability problems and challenges in the search processes in a typical Khastara user. Both quantitative and qualitative data were joined in mixed-methods data displays. The results were then summarized in a list of design implications. Design deliverables were created to demonstrate these design implications in the form of low-fidelity wireframes for Khastara’s user interface and metadata application profile for Khastara’s metadata. The study results suggest that Khastara’s user inter-face should enable users to explore items through category displays instead of relying on user-typed queries. Metadata descriptions should be expanded with information about languages, top-ics/subjects, and collections, as well as additional physical descriptions, summaries/abstracts, notes, and relations with other documents. This research about Khastara demonstrates overlaps between human-computer interaction and information behavior, and further research needs to be conducted to achieve universal usability and accessibility in digital special collections and cul-tural heritage experiences.