© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University1 digital libraries and human information behavior Tefko Saracevic, Ph.D. School of Communication, Information and

© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University 1

digital libraries and

human information behavior

Tefko Saracevic, Ph.D.School of Communication, Information

and Library StudiesRutgers University

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko




digital libraries• global phenomenon

– many institutions & fields involved– many research efforts & programs– many practical developments in and

beyond libraries– large expenditures in research & practice– applications & use growing exponentially– huge effects, some unpredictable – but study of human aspects relatively

neglected


what are digital libraries?

• a number of conceptions with varying emphasis on:– technical aspects– content– organization– access– use– institutions

• research & practice differ in emphasis• technological imperative predominates


Institution, Context

Task, Context

A digital library service model

D iscoveryM ethods

D issem inationM ethods

S torage M ethods

Digital Library

C ontentP ackages

P reservationM ethods

M etadata

Acc

ess

Man

agem

ent

CollectionManagement

U sers

D iscovery Tools

D issem inationTools

Q ueries

R esu lt sets

R equests

D issem inations

Producers

Deposit Tools

Deposit

Selection

adapted from Donald Waters, Digital Library Federation


where do humans fit?• in all of these processes

– but when looking at information behavior in the context of digital libraries, we tend to restrict it to user and use end – left side of the model

– as yet, we are not sure •what processes & variables to observe•what context & effects to include•what models, measures,

methodologies to use


dl research

• most done on right side of the model– technical aspects, content handling,

organization, operations, access tools …

• in comparison human information behavior was investigated much less– still there are a number of studies in a

variety of countries


context of studies

• some studies indeed concentrated on human information behavior in d-libraries

• but, most were a part of d-lib evaluation– users used various features/processes– i.e. evaluation was goal and findings on human

information behavior were a byproduct• d-library evaluation & studies of human

information behavior are mixed together


methods used

• surveys• interviews• observations• think aloud• focus groups• ethnographic

analysis

• log analysis• record analysis • experiments• given task

accomplishments

• economic preferences

• you named it!


classes of variables studied

• users – who uses a d-library?• features – what features are used?• access – how is it used?• use – what content is used? for

what?• usability – ease? effectiveness?• outcomes – with what results?


users

• population, reasons– who uses a given d-library and why?

• tasks, queries– what is their nature?

• knowledge, understanding– what knowledge & learning needed?

• preferences, expectations– what is preferred? expected?


features• features

– what available features in a d-library are being used?

• frequency & amount– how much are they used? distribution?

• patterns– what may be patterns in use of any

feature?• individual differences

– how do individuals differ in use of features?


access• access

– how? from where? how often? repeated?

• discovery– how searched, navigated,

browsed, retrieved?• time, effort

– what does it take to use & find?


use

• distribution– how many items in collection used?

• application– for what were the items actually

used?

• social– what are social practices associated

with digital library use?


usability

• ease of use– how easy are interfaces & features to

use?• effectiveness

– how effectively are they used? • barriers

– what hindrances? frustrations?• learning effort

– how much needs to be learned? how?


outcomes

• downloads– what & how much is downloaded?

• assessments– what value? relevance? usefulness?

satisfaction?• effects

– what impact on activities? • e.g. education, scholarly communication


some interesting results

• users– half are repeated users

• features– many not used

• access– varies by nature of desired materials– users vary in skills & understanding


results …

• use– 80 – 20 rule seems valid – a small

proportion of collection is used– downloads are significant

• usability– many barriers to use– effectiveness varies greatly– frustration is easily triggered


results …

• outcomes– many queries do not lead to

viewing– text materials not appealing– valuing varies with age


studying inf behavior in d-library context

• impossible? not really• hard? very• mostly subsumed under d-library

evaluation• could not generalize yet• no theories• no general models emerged yet,

although some proposed– here is one


d-lib

rary

model for studying human inf behavior in digital

librariesusers, tasks, contexts

outcomes

features

access

use

usability

seeking inf


technological imperative

• human information behavior in d-libraries quite different then in traditional libraries

• behavior related more to technology side then library side


conclusions

• research on human information behavior in d-libraries still in infancy

• not funded much, if at all• but necessary for

understanding how to build better d-libraries and services


inf behavior

digital library

How to do it?


sources

• URLs for the mentioned & many other sites dealing with studies on d-library– evaluation – human information behavior– usability can be found on:

http://scils.rutgers.edu/~miceval





Documents

© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University1 digital libraries and human information behavior Tefko Saracevic, Ph.D. School of Communication, Information and