The e-Library website serves as an electronic gateway to the ISU Library's extensive collections and services. Although the content of the e-Library has been continuously expanded and updated since it was first unveiled in 2001, the website's basic design and organization have remained largely unchanged. In 2004, Library staff conducted formal usability testing with ISU students and faculty, to see how successful they were in using various features of the website. Preliminary findings and recommendations from this testing are available in the "Report on the 2004 Usability Study of the e-Library at Iowa State University."

In 2005, based on this report, several changes were made to the e-Library. These included:

• Adding a prominent Find articles link to the e-Library header, visible from all high-level pages.
• Revising the Indexes & Abstracts page to clarify its purpose and to streamline the presentation of the title list of indexes and abstracts.
• Providing the library's federated search engine (formerly Find it!) with a more descriptive name (Multi-search), and moving it to a less prominent position on the home page, given its experimental status.
• Changing the name of "e-Reserve" to Reserve, to emphasize the integration of physical and electronic course reserves.
• Creating a composite A-to-Z list of all courses for which the library provides some type of support or collaboration (including Reserve and the Instruction Commons).
• Revising context pages to Increase the visibility of navigation options, and expanding the use of these context pages within the e-Library (e.g., for Branch Facilities, How do I?..., Library Information).

In the spring of 2006, library staff will continue their review of the e-Library's usability through focus group discussions (again involving students, faculty, and staff), and will begin developing prototypes for a revised e-Library. It is expected that the new, improved website will be ready for fall semester in 2006.

Iteration between web design and usability testing will continue to provide better experiences and services for the students, faculty, staff, and visitors who access the Iowa State University Library via the Web.