Functional affordances pertain to “what the site can actually do”. One primary affordance that the website offers is the ability to look up the availability and locations of books and articles through the library catalog. Students can gain access to the library’s extensive collection of databases when doing research and have access to services such as room reservations. They can also find contact information about staff, and alums can view instructions on how to donate.
Cognitive affordances pertain to how “users know what a site can do”. Under the “Ask a librarian” text, there is a “Submit a Library Help ticket button” button. This implies that the faculty want students to understand that librarians are sources of assistance when needed.
The labels themselves are cognitive affordances. The “Research” navigation link turns blue when you hover over it, so the student knows they should click on it if they need research resources.
Sensory affordances pertain to the users’ “sensing something”. The website is organized, simple, and spread out, showing that the website is for people that need to find information, like students. Also, the navigation bar is right below the header in large font, making it more visible and demonstrating its importance. Additionally, if you click on “services”, the page has a panel on the left side that highlights the section’s title you are reading. This can help the website visitor understand what section they are on, how it connects to other sections, and can easily access them.
These affordances produce norms by making the website’s purpose obvious and placing importance on parts students may want to access quickly. The norms are that students quickly want to look up material in the library catalog or want research sources.
The sensory affordances could be more effective in the 2001 version of the library website. The website does not look visually appealing and is too clumped together. There is also no search bar, so the student would not immediately know he could look up books unless he clicked on the links. Overall, this page is more challenging to navigate, and its functionality is less evident than the current website.
