Tefko Saracevic, Ph.D.
School of Communication, Information and
Library Studies
Rutgers University http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University 1

• 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
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University 2

• no neat answer - a number of conceptions with varying emphasis on:
– digital content, objects
• creation, management, representation, organization, preservation
– access
• availability, services, interfaces
– use, users, communities
– technical infrastructure, networks,
– institutional context, policies, cooperation
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• digital libraries support users in informational tasks and needs
– what are people doing?
– how are people engaging with d-library
• as yet, we are not sure
• what processes & variables to observe
• what context & effects to include
• what models, criteria, measures, methodologies to use
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• most done on
– 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
• here we surveyed some 50 studies
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• 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
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• surveys
• interviews
• observations
• think aloud
• focus groups
• ethnographic analysis
• log analysis
• record analysis
• experiments
• given task accomplishments
• economic preferences
• you named it!
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• 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?
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• 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?
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• 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?
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• access
– how? from where? how often? repeated?
• discovery
– how searched, navigated, browsed, retrieved?
• time, effort
– what does it take to use & find?
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• 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?
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• effectiveness
– how well are given user tasks accomplished?
• efficiency
– at what cost, effort, time?
• ease
– how easy are interfaces & features to use?
• barriers
– what hindrances? frustrations? lost?
• learning effort
– how much needs to be learned? how? errors?
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• downloads
– what & how much is downloaded?
• assessments
– what value? relevance? usefulness? satisfaction?
• effects
– what impact on activities?
• e.g. education, scholarly communication
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University 14

• users
– half are repeated users
• features
– many not used
• access
– varies by nature of desired materials
– users vary in skills & understanding
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• 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
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• outcomes
– many queries do not lead to viewing
– text materials not appealing
– valuing varies with age
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University 17

• 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
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users, tasks, contexts seeking inf features access use usability outcomes
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• why VERSUS?
– users and d libraries see each other differently
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vs
context task cognitive user affective competence digital library model of user user model of digital library context content digital library representation organization services
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what user assumes about digital library: how it works?
what to expect
?
digital library model of user user model of digital library what digital library assumes about user:
- behavior?
- needs?
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• human information behavior in dlibraries quite different then in traditional libraries
• behavior related more to technology side then library side
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• 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
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How to do it?
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University inf behavior digital library
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• URLs for the mentioned and other literature dealing with studies on:
– evaluation of digital libraries
– human information behavior in DL
– evaluation of metadata
– usability tests can be found on: http://scils.rutgers.edu/~miceval
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