Starting a search: Exploring the differences in two digital libraries

We conducted an eye-tracking study in two digital libraries to examine how users orientate themselves on the digital library homepages, how fast and by which actions they initiate the search process. Results showed that participants typically started their task by querying. However, there were some differences in the elements they fixated on first, the way they started the search and the time they needed to orient on the page. These differences seem to have been caused by the homepage layout, especially by the search box position. This shows eye-tracking can be used to examine first actions in digital libraries and could be useful for designing better interfaces. © 2020, John Wiley and Sons Inc. All rights reserved.