Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an academic library's implementation of a discovery layer (VuFind 1.0 RC1) as a next-generation catalogue, based on usability testing and an online survey.Design/methodology/approach We performed usability tests on ten students (eight undergraduates, two graduates), asking a set of fourteen task-oriented questions about our customized VuFind interface. Task completion was scored using a simple formula to generate a percentage indicating success or failure. Changes to the interface were made based on resulting scores and on feedback and observations of users during testing. We also ran an online survey for three weeks, to which seventy-five people responded. The results were analyzed, compared and crosstested with the findings of the usability testing.Findings Both the usability testing and survey demonstrated that users preferred VuFind's interface over the classic catalogue. They particularly liked the facets and the richness of the search results listings. Users intuitively understood how to use the deconcatenated Library of Congress Subject Headings. Despite the discovery layer's new functionality, known journal title searching still presents a challenge to users and certain terms used in the interface were problematic. Practical implicationsIt is hoped that our findings will assist implementers of VuFind and other next-generation catalogues to improve their own systems. The questions add to the body of knowledge about usability testing of library catalogues.Originality/value There are no previous papers published documenting VuFind usability testing. Findings will be relevant, not just to VuFind, but will also add to the growing body of literature on next-generation catalogues.