Search (96 results, page 1 of 5)

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Abstract

Although technology can often correct spelling errors, the complex tasks of information searching and retrieval in an online public access catalog (OPAC) are made more difficult by these errors in users' input and bibliographic records. This study examines the search behaviors of 38 university students, divided into groups with either easy-to-spell or difficult-to-spell search terms, who were asked to find items in the OPAC with these search terms. Search behaviors and strategy use in the OPAC and on the World Wide Web (WWW) were examined. In general, students used familiar Web resources to check their spelling or discover more about the assigned topic. Students with difficult-to-spell search terms checked spelling more often, changed search strategies to look for the general topic and had fewer successful searches. Students unable to find the correct spelling of a search term were unable to complete their search. Students tended to search the OPAC as they would search a search engine, with few search terms or complex search strategies. The results of this study have implications for spell checking, user-focused OPAC design, and cataloging. Students' search behaviors are discussed by expanding Thatcher's (2006) Information-Seeking Process and Tactics for the WWW model to include OPACs.

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 61(2010) no.12, S.2461-2476

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Abstract

Thirty-one patrons, who were selected by Slone to provide a range of age and experience, agreed when approached while using the catalog of the Wake County library system to try searching via the Internet. Fifteen searched the Wake County online catalog in this manner and 16 searched the World Wide Web, including that catalog. They were subjected to brief pre-structured taped interviews before and after their searches and observed during the searching process resulting in a log of behaviors, comments, pages accessed, and time spent. Data were analyzed across participants and categories. Web searches were characterized as linking, URL, search engine, within a site domain, and searching a web catalog; and participants by the number of these techniques used. Four used only one, 13 used two, 11 used three, two used four, and one all five. Participant experience was characterized as never used, used search engines, browsing experience, email experience, URL experience, catalog experience, and finally chat room/newsgroup experience. Sixteen percent of the participants had never used the Internet, 71% had used search engines, 65% had browsed, 58% had used email, 39% had used URLs, 39% had used online catalogs, and 32% had used chat rooms. The catalog was normally consulted before the web, where both were used, and experience with an online catalog assists in web use. Scrolling was found to be unpopular and practiced halfheartedly.

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and technology. 53(2002) no.13, S.1152-1169

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Abstract

Traditionally, catalogue records have contained a complete description of the item to ensure retrieval by a wide variety of approaches. An alternative approach, user centered design, requires a study of user behaviour and cognition related to interaction with the catalogue to determine inform design decisions. To support known item searching, it is necessary to users' conceptions of the item being sought, what the users know about them, and which pieces of known information are viewed by the users as most appropriate for inclusion in a search. Reports results of a pilot study, at the Davis Library, North Caroline University at Chapel Hill, in which 103 catalogue users described 386 searches and any written information known by the searchers was photocopied. Searchers generally knew the title, publication date, and page numbers (particular for periodical articles). Results indicated that this approach to catalogue design was feasible and valid, and provided a preliminary picture of nkown item searching in 1 library's catalogue

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Abstract

Reports results of the work of the Transaction Logs Task Force, composed of public and technical services librarians charged with reviewing OPAC to identify library wide problems and issues. This OPAC transaction log analysis study compared data derived from 2 sets of logs within a 6 month period. Analysis of the first set of data revealed that users experienced difficulty with basic searching techniques. The OPAC introductory screens were simplified and clarified to help users improve search success rates. The second set of data, analyzed after screen changes had been made, showed statistically significant differences in search results. Concludes that regular monitoring of OPACs through transaction log analysis can lead to improved retrieval when changes are made in response to an analysis of user search patterns

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Abstract

This article reports research that explored children's information retrieval behavior using an OPAC in an elementary school library. The study considers the impact of a variety of factors including user characteristics, the school setting, interface usability, and information access features on children's information retrieval success and breakdown. The study reports the overall patterns of children's behavior that influence success and breakdown in information retrieval as well as findings about the intentions, moves, plans, strategies, and search terms of children in grades one through six

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 44(1993) no.5, S.245-264

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Abstract

This report presents the results of a survey of users who access the University of California's online union catalog, the MELVYL library system, via microcomputers with modems or connections carried through local or wide area networks. The report includes descriptive statistics on user location, status, subject interest, affiliation, in-library versus out-of-library usage patterns, need for assistance, and desire for new features

Source

Information technology and libraries. 11(1992) no.3, S.285-303

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Abstract

Purpose - This exploratory study sets out to describe the ways in which end-users exchanged information between the web and a web online catalog, how they searched one device based on what they knew about the other, and their experiences in navigating between the two devices. Design/methodology/approach - Thirty-one participants were observed searching the web or a web online catalog. After the observations, an interview guide was used to ask targeted questions. Findings - The findings suggest that people familiar with the use of traditional online catalogs were more comfortable using web tools than those who lacked online catalog experience. People who had recent web experience expected online catalog searching to be similar to web searching. However, drawing too close an association between the two systems sometimes caused difficulties when the searching protocols varied, like keyword searching versus selecting an index. Research limitations/implications - Some limitations of the study include a small sampling size, varied responses to interview questions, obtrusive procedures, and lack of generalizability to groups or settings dissimilar from the one in this study. Originality/value - This study provides a rare look into the challenges faced by a diverse group of public library users on the web. It is instructive for practicing librarians and researchers.

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Abstract

This article describes the findings of a research project that tested a new subject-access design in an experimental online catalog that had a wide range of subject-searching capabilities and search trees to govern the system's selection of searching capabilities in response to user queries. Library users at 2 academic libraries searched this experimental catalog for topics of their own choosing, judges the usefulness of retrieved titles, and answered post-search questions about their searching experiences. Mixed results from a quantitative analysis (i.e., precision scores) were supplemented with the more conclusive results from a qualitative analysis (i.e., failure analysis). Overall, analyses demonstrated that the new subject-access design that featured search trees was more effective in selecting a subject-searching approach that would prooduce useful information for the subjects users seek than users would select on their own. The qualitative analysis was especially helpful in providing recommendations for improving specific subject-searching approaches to increase their effenciency, increase user perseverance, and encourage browsing. It also suggested enhancements to the new subject-searching design to enable systems to respond to the wide variety of user queries for subjects

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 47(1996) no.7, S.519-537

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Abstract

An ongoing thread in information retrieval research has been the exploration of user goals (or information needs, or problems) on information retrieval systems. It has been suggested that an understanding of goals and their role in the information retrieval interaction can provide insight into appropriate retrieval strategies, relevant documents, and general system design. This article reports on empirical findings concerning goals of users searching an OPAC at a northeastern United States university. These findings were generated during a large inductive and qualitative study of users' interactions with the OPAC. It was found that respondents came to the OPAC to search for a variety of course- or degree-related projects in which they were engaged. Respondent goals were not greatly modified during the course of these interactions. A set of situational elements associated with the respondent's goal was also identified. The implications of these findings for OPAC design and the training of informational professionals are discussed

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 47(1996) no.7, S.504-518

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COMPASS

Information retrieval / Use of / On-line computers

Subject

Information retrieval / Use of / On-line computers

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Abstract

Searching information retrieval systems is a highly interactive, iterative process that cannot be understood simply by comparing the output of a search session (the 'search product') to a query stated in advance. In this article, we examine evaluation goals and methods for studying information retrieval behavior, drawing examples from our own research and that of others. We limit our review to research that employs online monitoring, also known as transaction log analysis. Online monitoring is one of few methods that can capture detailed data on the search process at a reasonable cost; these data can be used to build quantitative models or to support qualitative interpretations of quatitative results. Monitoring is a data collection technique rather than a research design, and can be employed in experimental of field studies, whether alone or combined with other data collection methods. Based on the the research questions of interest, the researcher must determine what variables to collect from each data source, which to treat as independent varaibles to manipulate, and which to treat as dependent variables to observe effects. Studies of searching behavior often treat search task and searcher characteristics as independent variables and may manipulate other independent variables specific to the research questions addressed. Search outcomes, time, and search paths frequently are treated as dependent variables. We discuss each of these sets of variables, illustrating them with sample results from the literature and from our own research. Our examples are drawn from the Science Library Catalog project, a 7-year study of children's searching behavior on an experimental retrieval system. We close with a brief discussion of the implications of these results for the design of information retrieval systems

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 47(1996) no.7, S.568-583

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Abstract

Research on the use and users of online catalogs conducted in the early 1980s found that subject searches were the most common form of online catalog search. At the same time, many of the problems experienced by online catalog users have been traced to difficulties with the subject access mechanisms of the online catalog. Numerous proposals have been made for methods intended to improve subject access to online catalog records. These commonly involve enhancing the catalog's bibliographic records with additional terms, or incorporating subject authority files or additional thesauri in the database. Another stream of research has concentrated on applying retrieval techniques derived from information retrieval (IR) research to replace the Boolean search methods of conventional online catalog systems. This study describes the results of retrieval tests using a variety of these search methods in the CHESHIRE experimental online catalog system.

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 43(1992), S.34-53

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Abstract

Jansen and Pooch review three major search engine studies and compare them to three traditional search system studies and three OPAC search studies, to determine if user search characteristics differ. The web search engine studies indicate that most searchers use two, two search term queries per session, no boolean operators, and look only at the top ten items returned, while reporting the location of relevant information. In traditional search systems we find seven to 16 queries of six to nine terms, while about ten documents per session were viewed. The OPAC studies indicated two to five queries per session of two or less terms, with Boolean search about 1% and less than 50 documents viewed.

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and technology. 52(2001) no.3, S.235-246

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Abstract

Reports on the factor analysis of affective data gathered from a study of searching behaviour in 2 library catalogues. 20 subjects were assigned information problems to solve through searching a university card catalogue and 20 were assigned the same problems to solve in a comparable online catalogue. After searches were completed, subjects were asked to evaluate their search results and to respond to attitude measures about the search experience. The 11 attitude itmes were constructed to tap a variety of affective responses to the attitude measures. Factor patterns in the data can serve to identify the dimensions on which search experiences are evaluated by users, to direct further investigation into user evaluations, and to suggest features for inclusion in information retrieval systems accessed directly by users

Source

Library and information science research. 14(1992) no.2, S.167-181

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Abstract

Explores the variety of user behaviour exhibited by users of information retrieval systems over time and the effort of differences between expert and novice searchers on an understanding of information searching dynamics and on the design of information systems. Based on a naturalistic case study. Points out some of the dynamic patterns of behaviour of children's use of online catalogues (OPACs)

Imprint

Medford, NJ : Learned Information Inc.

Source

Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science, Pittsburgh, 26.-29.10.92. Ed.: D. Shaw

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Abstract

This is the first part of a two-part article that reviews 25 years of published research findings on end-user searching in online information retrieval (IR) systems. In Part 1 (Markey, 2007), the author seeks to answer the following questions: What characterizes the queries that end users submit to online IR systems? What search features do people use? What features would enable them to improve on the retrievals they have in hand? What features are hardly ever used? What do end users do in response to the system's retrievals? Are end users satisfied with their online searches? Summarizing searches of online IR systems by the search features people use everyday makes information retrieval appear to be a very simplistic one-stop event. In Part 2, the author examines current models of the information retrieval process, demonstrating that information retrieval is much more complex and involves changes in cognition, feelings, and/or events during the information seeking process. She poses a host of new research questions that will further our understanding about end-user searching of online IR systems.

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 58(2007) no.8, S.1071-1081

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Abstract

This article reports on a model and patterns of use of a library catalog that can be accessed through the Internet. Three categories of users are identified. individuals who perform a search of the catalog, tourists who look only at opening pages of the library catalog's site, and Web spiders that come to the site to obtain pages for indexing the Web. A number of types of use activities are also identified, and can be grouped with the presearch phase (which takes place before any searching begins): the search phase, the display phase (in which users display the results of their search), and phases in which users make errors, ask the system for help or assistance, and take other actions. An empirical investigation of patterns of use of a university Web-based library catalog was conducted for 479 days. During that period, the characteristics of about 2.5 million sessions were recorded and analyzed, and usage trends were identified. Of the total, 62% of the sessions were for users who performed a search, 27% were from spiders, and 11% were for tourists. During the study period, the average search session lasted about 5 minutes when the study began and had increased to about 10 minutes 16 months later. An average search consisted of about 1.5 presearch actions lasting about 25 seconds, about 5.3 display actions, and 2.5 searches per session. The latter two categories are in the range of 35-37 seconds per session each. There were major differences in usage (number of searches, search time, number of display actions, and display time), depending upon the database accessed

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and technology. 52(2001) no.2, S.137-148

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Abstract

Presents a pilot study for an Internordic project to monitor the use of online catalogues in the Nordic technological university libraries. Focuses on the use of classification in subject searching, how the UDC is used and the extent of its use. Studies user interaction with the OPACs and improvements to information retrieval in the catalogues using the transaction log method to gather data. The pilot study examnines the TENTTU Books database which is the online union catalogue of the Helsinki Univ. of Technology Library, a multilingual database with true information retrieval. The Internordic study itself will make comparisons between the TENTTU system and the new Virginia Tech Library System. Discusses the users monitored, method of analysis, subject searching in the database, results and how the UDC codes were used. Compares this to other studies conducted in Finland and evaluates the project

Theme

Klassifikationssysteme im Online-Retrieval

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Imprint

Oxford : Learned Information

Source

Online information 95: Proceedings of the 19th International online information meeting, London, 5-7 December 1995. Ed.: D.I. Raitt u. B. Jeapes