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This article was downloaded by: [Memorial University of Newfoundland] On: 04 October 2014, At: 23:42 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Internet Reference Services Quarterly Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wirs20 Where Are We Going? Are We There Yet? Ed Tallent a a O'Neill Library , Boston College Libraries , Chestnut Hill, MA, USA Published online: 18 Mar 2010. To cite this article: Ed Tallent (2010) Where Are We Going? Are We There Yet?, Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 15:1, 3-10, DOI: 10.1080/10875300903543770 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10875300903543770 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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Page 1: Where Are We Going? Are We There Yet?

This article was downloaded by: [Memorial University of Newfoundland]On: 04 October 2014, At: 23:42Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Internet Reference Services QuarterlyPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wirs20

Where Are We Going? Are We There Yet?Ed Tallent aa O'Neill Library , Boston College Libraries , Chestnut Hill, MA, USAPublished online: 18 Mar 2010.

To cite this article: Ed Tallent (2010) Where Are We Going? Are We There Yet?, Internet ReferenceServices Quarterly, 15:1, 3-10, DOI: 10.1080/10875300903543770

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10875300903543770

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Where Are We Going? Are We There Yet?

Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 15:3–10, 2010Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1087-5301 print / 1540-4749 onlineDOI: 10.1080/10875300903543770

In Front of Your Nose

Where Are We Going? Are We There Yet?

ED TALLENTO’Neill Library, Boston College Libraries, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

Libraries need to make progress with user centered search anddiscovery work. Context specific resource and search recommen-dations, alternative approaches, efficient federated searching, andlive synchronous help must be a more vital part of the online land-scape which libraries present to users. Staff must view the virtualand physical presence as parts of the whole spectrum of service andbe comfortable in both environments.

KEYWORDS DIY, discovery, Recommender service

At the risk of using one of the more tired cliches related to the Internet—thehighway—here I go. As promised, this column will address issues that are infront of our noses and what can be more in front of our face than driving—while heading out one of my irregular trips to Rhode Island, I was struckby several concepts that are of interest when we ponder the relationshipbetween research and the Internet and our responsibility to make all optionsavailable to researchers.

INDEPENDENT DRIVING

It has been stated that the technology exists for the driving experience tobe completely automated. Why would people object (beyond the possiblecost of implementation)? Would this really be more unsafe than careeningdown a highway at 70 mph in a forest of oversized vehicles or navigatingthe streets of Boston?

http://www.rationallink.org/autodriv.htmhttp://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1072785&ucpg=2

There are, of course, the issues of control, independence, confidence inthe technology, and the cultural baggage that society constructs around thedriving experience.

Address correspondence to Ed Tallent, O’Neill Library, Boston College, 140 Common-wealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

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It is commonly stated that librarians like to search and students like tofind. Librarians are perhaps overly fixated on the process (to our detriment)and students on the end results (perhaps to their detriment). It seems to methat the Google experience has blown this dichotomy out of the water. Ithink students are OK with searching, but it had better be easy, intuitive,and the initial results must please. The reality is that the separation betweensearching and finding, or discovery and delivery, has disappeared. Studentsexpect that the two activities be one.

Let’s get back in the car. Driving down the real highway, there isboth old and new technologies in play to get folks to their destinations.I will grant you that the driver/researcher needs to have some backgroundinformation—need to know that Portland is to the north and Providence tothe South. In fact, the old technology demands that you do quite a bit ofindependent work before you head out—call AAA, use your atlas, ask yourparents (our knowledge of the stars disappeared ages ago I am afraid).

But, once you are on your way, there is a plethora of useful informationand guides to make sure that you get to where you are headed.

Route signs—yes, you are headed in the right direction. Mileage signs—how far do I have to go? Those flashing headlights tell me a police trap isahead and I had better slow down. What else is there to do in this area? Whatare the historical landmarks? Where can I sleep? Where can I eat? Where canI get fuel? The driver is continually kept updated on the progress. Some ofthis can be done in advance, but it is not always necessary. Billboards arestrategically placed for maximum viewing. The options change based on thedriving context. You get the point. A key here is that the driver has control(within limits, of course).

Given students prevalence for satisficing, what can we do to keep themmoving ahead, to keep them motivated to keep searching as well as havingconfidence in the results they have? Keep searching, there are more goodiesalong the way!

I have been involved in two LibQual + implementations, and one themethat came across strongly was that searchers wanted to be independent.They want to do as much as possible in DIY fashion. It would behoovelibraries to provide greater context for student searchers. They want to be incontrol of the process, take advantage of the options available to them, andtake advantage of the library (or vendor) support system, when necessary,in combination with the spirit of satisficing and path of least resistance.It’s a volatile combination and a huge challenge for the library to makehappen.

How well do libraries provide researchers context about the success oftheir searching? Given that the database industry in competitive, it comes asno surprise that the major vendor interfaces do little to keep one informedabout the other resources available to students. Fair enough, by why dolibraries accept this online when it would be a major activity in face to face

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interactions? Here is what is not happening based on access that I have todatabases:

• Better search terms are not being suggested to the student.• Spell check is lacking (sorry to say this has become a necessity).• Other databases are not suggested based on the search entered.• Live help is not present (Even my new insurance company had that when

I was getting an estimate!). I do not want to fill out a form.• Relevance ranking is not the default display and, in some cases, is still in

development.• Links to help/support that are librarian focused.• Still too much jargon: Boolean, SmartSearch, ISSN.• Clunky searching: enter last name, first name.

So, it is possible to do a search on Eric Canal, as opposed to Erie, andnot be questioned about the spelling and actually retrieve records. It is notpossible to get any ideas about other databases to search. For some vendorsone can search a select group of databases to search, but this clustering isdone broadly—social sciences, humanities, etc. there is no guarantee that isa helpful approach as this is a vendor determined cluster and might serveonly to increase their database usage.

So, if we take the student’s desire to be independent, to satisfice, to usereference services as a last report, to turn to peers and professors first forhelp, to be full-text and Web directed, to be course focused, and to rely onfamiliar (and one could conclude somewhat successful) pathways, what’s alibrary to do? The physical library of the past represented one-stop shopping(O’Brien, 2007). In those days, however, I would argue that the librarianswere in control. Those days are gone, although we still put up the goodfight.

How do we become players since it looks like we hold a lot of mar-bles? Databases, e-journals, high-level support, materials easily acquired fromother libraries, data files, etc. By Jove, it’s Willy Wonka’s factory, right? Sure,libraries have created tutorials, drilled the process into students in instructionsessions, and created assignment calculators, but do students take advantageof these tools? I suspect not in the numbers we would like. Do studentscome in droves to non-class related instruction opportunities? Not where Ihave worked!

What are some of the questions we would like students to be askingthemselves or us?

• Who is doing research in my area of interest?• What is the best type of database for the work that I am doing?• Where do I begin?

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• Why am I not finding what I want?• Are there other databases that might be helpful?• What are the key journals in the field?• How do I evaluate the resources I have located?• How do I track down the key journal articles?

However, the question they mostly have and probably do not ask is“Why do I have to do the way that you say and the way you have organizedyour web site?” Ay, there’s the rub.

Obviously, there are many ways to approach this problem. I am able tocomment so knowingly on these user issues because I believe we have themall where I currently work! So, I would like to focus on a few initiatives weare in the midst of in our attempts to respond to these issues.

So, what do we need to do? We need to simplify our websites, em-bed search forms and live help, get the discovery/federated searching toolsworking, and address the internal and lingering library cultural perceptionthat federated searching is not a good thing. We need to connect students toa wider variety of databases (provide those ongoing options based on theircontext) and incorporate into our interfaces more interactivity—spell check-ing, recommendations for other headings (and ideally other databases andplaces to look though we are not there yet), and we need to push widgets,such as the LibX toolbar and mobile apps, all in the spirit of bringing thelibrary website to the user. For example, take a look at NYU’s database page:they offer the user an option to embed a search link to all of their federatedsearchable database quick sets.

Bottom line: we need to get back to that one-stop shopping concept,while providing the user with more control. We need the discovery anddelivery process to be seamless. No easy task, as development in accesstool creation occurs in a variety of constituencies: libraries, programmers,vendors. Libraries must be especially engaged with vendors, for example, sothat they do not create mobile versions of resources.

So, what are we up to?

RECOMMENDER SERVICE

Taking advantage of the searcher’s familiarity with the concept of usage-based recommendations (most notably from Amazon), we implemented theBx Scholarly Recommender service and BibTip (see Figure 1). bX mines datafrom SFX transactions around the world and imbeds the recommendationsinto the SFX interface. This service is easy to implement, intuitive to theuser, and based on our pre-testing, and makes good recommendations. Thistool has the potential to connect researchers with citations they might havemight never have come across, connecting to citations from other databases.

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FIGURE 1 Sample of other titles recommended via SFX menu.

BibTip is used in the OPAC and generates recommendations for a given titleby statistic analyses of OPAC user behavior. Recommendations are presentedin the form of a link list guiding the user to similar titles.

DISCOVERY TOOL

Discovery tools are all the rage, and the various options are well documented.The hope is that these tools will reflect the way users want to approach thediscovery process, at lease initially. This is the “where do I begin” stage ofthe process—before one hits the road. They certainly can be a hot buttonissue, based on the comments about an article in The Chronicle of HigherEducation. The promise of the new discovery tools is that they respondto many of the user issues that libraries are facing. Searching is simpleand direct, federated searching of databases is an option, facets make moreaccessible useful metadata, links to full-text take priority, spell check works,and a variety of 2.0 social networking options (reviews, tagging, etc.) are

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built in (although the jury is still out as to whether students care about socialnetworking in this context). Some faculty and librarians raise philosophicaland pedagogical issues, but one is left to wonder if the possibility of studentstruly using a wider variety of library resources is not a worthwhile goal.

Perhaps more exciting options to investigate in a future column is thenext stage in discovery tool, such as Summon and Primo Central, true single-search starting points to pre-harvested library content. No, I have not hadthe opportunity to test these tools but the concept of search offering a wideswath of library resources and then refining these results via a single searchbox is certainly an inspiring vision.

I make the case when I talk with students about federated search optionsthat it presents options to search databases that makes them independentfrom vendor lists, there is a true bringing together of databases of potentialinterest, not of commerce. Of course, there will always be a need to searchthe native interface, so we need to push vendors to continue to improvethe searching interface and provide useful data, such as is happening nowwith some vendors: times cited, cited by links, links to images. Hopefully,this will get students more engaged with the searching. Some vendors arealso providing visual search options, something that does not appeal muchto this writer but might be worth looking into in a future column.

RESEARCH GUIDES

Another tool that is all the rage is LibGuides, implemented at last countin over 1,000 libraries. While I understand that librarians like the capacityto write directly to the Web and the freedom and flexibility in the work,a general concern I have is that they are often designed from a librarian’sperspective. Very rarely are search forms used for searching catalogs anddatabases, and there is a lot of text. The lack of links to discovery toolssearch form in guides that, in most cases, are introductory is counterintuitiveto me, but perhaps most striking is that course-related guides are seeminglyrare. Along with the lack of search forms, I did not see enough use of video,tutorials, and live help. All of these are necessary if we want to take forservice to the next level.

These are the early days of LibGuides and they continue to evolve, es-pecially as user assessment is gathered. Remember, students want to search.They want to come to a site and get started, not read about how to get started.Not to read a LibGuide about a database, but to get into the database. WhileI would not describe LibGuides as portals, I count myself among thosewho agree with the work done at Oregon State University that confirmsthat students want course-specific pages (Nichols, 2007). That is the studentperspective and their priority: the course. There is still an obsession in li-brary land with the correct process and research strategy as a focus. A recent

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report on customer service in the commercial world states that “organizationsthat recognize they need not be all things to all people and, consequently,deliver differentiated service experiences when and where it matters mostwill be best positioned to outperform their competitors and achieve highperformance in the upturn”(Start Making Sense, 2009). This is good advicefor libraries. This speaks to the need and out of desire to create Web ser-vices based on students’ academic profile and linking them to appropriateresources and services.

EVERYTHING WE HAVE IS ON THE SHELF

On a recent shopping experience, I asked a salesperson if they had a par-ticular item in another size. Even in this economy, I got that famous retort“everything we have is on the shelf.” Since I was not sure that I really wantedthe item, this response decided it for me. It was not worth the hassle. Still,it was mind boggling to me. I should add that this was in a major nationalchain. There are several issues with this response, which may be relevant forlibrary services and how we combine on-site and Internet reference services.

The sales person did not go to the shelf with me to see if I missedanything: this is not brain science. People miss things. Researchers entersearch incorrectly, garble citations, and look in the wrong resource. Themissing ingredient here is the reference interview. Someone approaches youwith a need, perhaps feeling you might be able to do something or, mostimportant, that you might care about their need. The key is to care and toengage.

The sales person did not look around to see if items were mis-shelvedor left in the dressing room area. The library parallel here is that the item isin the re-shelving area, course reserves, etc. You are being asked to use yourknowledge of the organization, the potential pitfalls, and your experiencewith previous encounters of the same kind to solve the problem. Imaginehow often a user walks away without expressing their need. When the needis expressed, you had better care.

Even though there were several other branches in the Boston area, thesales person never offered to search online to see if perhaps other storeshad the size I needed. This is perhaps the most amazing fact. I encountereda sales person who actually interpreted the shelf to be in that one physicallocation. Was there a training gap here? Was she driving me to the Web?It’s risky. I might go to the Web of a competitor (library lesson). The samereport mentioned above on customer service in the commercial environmentreports that younger consumers are less patient about customer service issuesand problems and more likely to switch providers. Libraries take note.

Given that libraries are still a distance away from a complete DIY service,this potential dynamic is very instructive. What is the relationship between

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the onsite user and the virtual user? Clearly the virtual users are there dueto preference and libraries pushing anytime, anyplace access and a richcollection of electronic resources. Are there virtual users who have beendriven there by similarly poor or apathetic library services and a lack ofresponsiveness to their needs? The potential synergy between onsite andoff-site use is an interesting service question and addressing this balance is asignificant challenge for all libraries. If younger users, who are not pleasedwith the onsite services, migrate to online, and meet services there that donot meet their needs, they are potentially lost for good. Down the road,where do we put our most valuable resource—the person?

REFERENCES

Nichols, J. and Mellinger, M. (2007). Portals for undergraduate searching: Are theyworth it?. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 7(4):481–490.

O’Brien, H. L. and Symons, S. (2007). The information gathering behaviors andpreferences of undergraduate students. Research Strategies, 20:409–423.

Parry, M. (2009, September). After losing users in catalogs: Libraries find better searchsoftware. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Start making sense: Defining customer service experiences that enable high perfor-mance: Accenture 2009 Global Consumer Satisfaction Report.

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