An early study of user
frustration in a library
Any relevance for present day brick &
mortar and digital libraries?
Tefko Saracevic, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
School of Communication and Information
Rutgers University
tefkos@rutgers.edu
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Reminiscences
• A long while ago Paul & I worked on a research
project
• Some interesting results came out
• Here is a recount
• And some implications
• And best wishes
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History:
Information utilities - Project INFUT
• NSF Grant to Complex Systems Institute, Case Western
Reserve Univ., Sept 1972 – March 1975
• Objectives (among others):
– methodologies for evaluation of the utilization of information
in a University
– experiments – involving real users requesting know items
(books) from a university library
• Results:
– 12 publications in various Proceedings & 9 journal articles
– model & data: availability of library resources for users
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Major publications
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Data collection
• Studied users in a science & technology library who
came with a request for a book (know item)
• And then analyzed how many of these requests were
actually satisfied
• And for those that were NOT satisfied, why not?
• On two occasions:
– 1972: library had a semester long loan policy
– 1974: library changed to a four week loan policy
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Model: Branching diagram
from no. of total (W) to no. of satisfied (S) requests
& what happened in between
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User requests for a specific book
(1972: book loan for a semester)
W = 423
(total requests)
V = 371
(acquired by libr. )
U = 286
Da = 52
Pa = 88% (V/W)
(libr. did not have)
i.e.12% NOT
actually acquired
(total available)
Dc = 85
(in circulation)
T = 255
Pc = 77% (U/V)
23 % circulating
(libr. operation)
Dl = 31 (library error missing, mis-shelved...)
S = 203
Du = 52
(satisfied requests)
Ps = 48% (S/W)
Tefko Saracevic
(of requested satisfied)
(user error)
Pl = 89% (T/U)
11% library error
Pu = 80% (S/T)
20% user error
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User requests for a specific book
(1974 change: book loan for four weeks)
W = 437
(total requests)
V = 399
(acquired by libr. )
U = 342
Da = 38
Pa = 91%
(libr. did not
have)
i.e. 9% NOT
acquired
(total available)
Dc = 52
(in circulation)
T = 299
Pc = 87%
13 % circulating
(libr. operation)
Dl = 48 (library error missing, mis-shelved...)
S = 245
Du = 54
(satisfied requests)
Ps = 56% (S/W)
Tefko Saracevic
(of requested satisfied)
(user error)
Pl = 86%
14% library error
Pu = 82%
18% user error
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Performance
1972
1974
semester loan
four weeks loan
Satisfaction
48%
56%
Acquisition
88%
91%
Circulation
77%
87%
lowest
Library
operations
User
performance
Tefko Saracevic
89%
86%
80%
82%
second lowest
lowest
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An application 30 years later
• Branching diagram applied
– but measures of performance called “barriers” - elaborated
– data analyzed pretty much the same way
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Can it be applied today?
To B&M libraries?
• Yes, definitely
• Same reasons for not finding known items pertain
today
• But should be modified to include all kinds of
information resources
Users still look for books & other resources in libraries
basically the same way.
But they also do now many different things
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Can it be applied today?
To digital libraries?
• Yes, but with modification to account for
new(er) information resources & capabilities
• Branching still exist
– we know that many additional variables now affect
performance & present “barriers” to users
– but we do not have, yet, good models & methodologies to
study them & get useful data
However, today users use great many information
sources in addition to libraries
But performance?????
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Conclusion
• Wide and constantly increasing diversity of digital
libraries & related collection & portals suggests several
issues
– traditional libraries are not traditional any more
• but come in many digital library forms; many/most are hybrid
– many new players have entered the arena
• particularly in subject areas
– but all need to account for performance
• A new branching model is needed
– old branching model may point the way for developing one
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Over the years ...
Conference
Libraries in the Digital Age
(LIDA)
Dubrovnik & island Mljet
Croatia
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