This paper presents the findings from a usability study on the redesign of the finding aid Web display at the Southern Historical Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill. The study focused on how users interact with help and navigational features, stumbling blocks presented by finding aid structure and archival terminology, how users seek information, and what users want for the future of finding aids. Findings show that Internet proficiency is slightly more important than archival expertise when navigating online finding aids; novice users are able to attain a fairly high level of archival intelligence without the help of mediators; archival terminology proves a significant barrier only when presented without context; and users rely heavily on the browser function ctrl + F and series titles when searching. Interest in Web 2.0 was low for features involving modification of the finding aid or requiring trust in other users, but relatively high for features helping users to organize information
