Helsinki, Finland 12 August 2012
IFLA 2012 Conference
User-centered
Decision Making:
A New Model for Developing Academic
Library Services & Systems
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
Alison LeCornu, Ph. D.
Senior Research Scientist, OCLC
Academic Lead (Flexible Learning),
The Higher Education Academy
Donna Lanclos, Ph. D.
Associate Professor for Anthropological
Research, University of North Carolina,
Charlotte
David White
Co-manager, Technology Assisted Lifelong
Learning, University of Oxford
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Erin Hood
Research Support Specialist, OCLC
Then & Now
• Then: The user built workflow
around the library
• Now: The library must build its
services around user workflow
• Then: Resources scarce, attention
abundant
• Now: Attention scarce, resources
abundant
(Dempsey, 2008)
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Digital Visitors and Residents
The Study
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Visitors & Residents
(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
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Video: http://is.gd/vanrvideo
First Monday Paper: http://is.gd/vandrpaper
(White & Connaway, 2011)
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Triangulation of Data
• Several methods:
• Semi-structured interviews (qualitative)
• Diaries (qualitative)
• Online survey (quantitative)
• Enables triangulation of data
(Connaway et al., 2012)
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Diaries
• Ethnographic data collection
technique
• Get people to describe what
has happened
• Center on defined events or
moments
(Connaway & Powell, 2010)
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Interviews
• Allows for probing,
clarification, new questions,
focused questions, exploring
• Enables data collection for
extended period of time
(Connaway & Powell, 2010)
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Phase 1
• Individual Interviews
• Emerging (secondary school/1st year
undergraduates
•
31 (16 US, 15 UK)
• Establishing (2nd-3rd year
undergraduates)
•
10 (5 US, 5 UK)
• Embedding (postgraduates, PhD
students)
•
10 (5 US, 5 UK)
• Experiencing (scholars)
•
10 (5 US, 5 UK)
• Began data analysis
• Quantitative data:
•
Demographics, number of occurrences
of technologies, sources, & behaviors
• Qualitative data:
•
Themes & direct quotes
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(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
Phase I & 2: Participant Demographics
• 61 participants
15 secondary students
46 university students & faculty
34 females
27 males
38 Caucasian
5 African-American
2 Multi-racial
1 Asian
2 Hispanic
13 Unidentified
(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
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US vs. UK Emerging Participant University Majors
US (9 of 16)
UK (7 of 16)
• 5 Engineering
• 3 Teaching
• 1 Political Science
• 1 Chemical Biology
• 1 Business
• 1 Chemistry
• 1 Physics
• 1 History
• 2 Undeclared
• 1 Languages
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Participant Interview Questions
1. Describe the things you enjoy
doing with technology and the web
each week.
2. Think of the ways you have used
technology and the web for your
studies. Describe a typical week.
3. Think about the next stage of
your education. Tell me what you
think this will be like.
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Participant Interview Questions
4. Think of a time when you had a situation where you
needed answers or solutions and you did a quick search
and made do with it. You knew there were other sources
but you decided not to use them. Please include sources
such as friends, family, teachers, coaches, etc.
5. Have there been times when you were told to use a
library or virtual learning environment (or learning
platform), and used other source(s) instead?
6. If you had a magic wand, what would your ideal way of
getting information be? How would you go about using
the systems and services? When? Where? How?
(Connaway & Radford, 2005-2007)
(Dervin, Connaway, & Prabha, 2003-2005)
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Codebook
I. Place
II. Sources
III. Tools
IV. Agency
V. Situation/context
VI. Quotes
VII. Contact
VIII. Technology
Ownership
IX. Network used
(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
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Codebook
I. Place
A. Internet
1. Search engine
a. Google
b. Yahoo
2. Social Media
a. FaceBook
b. Twitter
c. You Tube
d. Flickr/image sharing
e. Blogging
B. Library
1. Academic
2. Public
3. School (K-12)
C. Home
D. School, classroom, computer
lab
E. Other
(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
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Emerging Educational Stage
Snapshots
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Snapshots of Emerging Findings
Residents
Visitors
>10 hrs
<6 hrs
Hours spent
online/ wk
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Characteristics of Visitors
See web as untidy
garden shed
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Characteristics of Residents
online
offline
persona
content
See web as place
where friends meet
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What We Learned
Themes
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Convenience is King
• Convenience dictates choices
• Is it readily accessible online?
• Does it contain the needed
information & is it easy to use?
• How much time will it take to
access & use the source?
• Is it a familiar interface and
easily navigable interface?
• Google
• Wikipedia
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The Learning Black Market
• Covert online study habits
• Wikipedia
• Don’t cite
• Widely used
• Guilt
• Perception that students &
teachers disagree
• Quality sources
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Sources
Major media
site
Other
University
websites
iPlayer/
TV
Photo
sites
Exam
board
(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
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University
databases
Textbook
websites
Retail
Dictionary Non English
Language
Syllabus &
discipline
based sites
Fan
sites
Disc Ch
Information Evaluation
• Information
evaluation
•Popular = correct
•Nervous about
which sources are
valid
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What does this mean for practice?
The Takeaway
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Making the Library More Attractive
• Library systems as search
engines & web services
• Advertise resources, brand &
value
• Provide search help at time of
need
• Chat & IM help during search
• Suggestions for misspellings
(Connaway & Dickey, 2010)
(De Rosa, 2005)
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Need help?
Making the Library More Attractive
• Convenience
• Instant gratification at a
click
• Accurate answers to
questions
• Access to full-text
sources
• User-centered development
approach
• Metadata creation
• Interface design
• Services & systems
• Digital platforms
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Making the Library More Attractive
Amazon.com
Westerville
Public Library
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Librarians’ Role
•Meet practice & authority
• Include Wikipedia & Google within
larger search strategy
• Correct Wikipedia inaccuracies
•Educate
• Provide information & digital
literacy instruction
• Identify critical evaluation skills
• Teach early in educational stage
•Expert curation of links
• Add accurate links to authoritative
sources
(Connaway, Lanclos, White, Le Cornu, & Hood, 2012)
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Selected Bibliography
Connaway, L. S., & Dickey, T. J. (2010). The digital information seeker: Report of the findings from selected OCLC, RIN, and
JISC user behaviour projects. Retrieved from
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/reports/2010/digitalinformationseekerreport.pdf
Connaway, L. S., Dickey, T. J., & Radford, M. L. (2011). "If it is too inconvenient I'm not going after it": Convenience as a critical
factor in information-seeking behaviors. Library & Information Science Research, 33(3) 179-190.
Connaway, L. S., Lanclos, D., White, D. S., Le Cornu, A., & Hood, E. M. (2012). User-centered decision making: A new model
for developing academic library services and systems. IFLA 2012 Conference Proceedings, August 11-17, Helsinki, Finland.
Connaway, L. S., & Powell, R. R. (2010). Basic research methods for librarians. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
Connaway, L. S., Radford, M. L., & OCLC Research. (2011). Seeking synchronicity: Revelations and recommendations for
virtual reference. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Research. http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/synchronicity/default.htm
Connaway, L.S., White, D., & Lanclos, D. (2011). Proceedings of the 74th ASIS&T Annual Meeting, 48. “Visitors and residents:
What motivates engagement with the digital environment?” Silver Spring, MD: Richard B. Hill.
Cool, C., & Spink, A. (2002). Issues of context in information retrieval (IR): An introduction to the special issue. Information
Processing and Management: An International Journal, 38(5), 605-611.
Dempsey, L. (2008). Always on: Libraries in a world of permanent connectivity. First Monday, 14(1). Retrieved from
http://www.firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2291/207
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Selected Bibliography
De Rosa, C. (2005). Perceptions of libraries and information resources: A report to the OCLC membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC
Online Computer Library Center (p.1-8).
Dervin, B., Connaway, L. S., & Prabha, C. (2003-2005). Sense-making the information confluence: The hows and the whys of college
and university user satisficing of information needs. Funded by the Institute for Museums and Library Services (IMLS). Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/past/orprojects/imls/default.htm
DeSantis, N. (2012 January 6). On Facebook, Librarian Brings 2 Students From the Early 1900s to Life. Chronicle of Higher
Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/on-facebook-librarian-brings-two-students-from-the-early-1900sto-life/34845
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures: selected essays. New York: Basic Books, 6.
Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. New York: Wiley.
Glaser, B.G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory; strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co.,
273.
Helsper, E. J. & Eynon, R. (2009). “Digital natives: Where is the evidence?” British Educational Research Journal, 36(3), 503–520.
Holton, D. (2010, March 19). The digital natives/digital immigrants distinction is dead or at least dying. [Web log
comment]. EdTechDev . Retrieved from http://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/the-digital-natives-digital-immigrants-distinctionis-dead-or-at-least-dying/
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Selected Bibliography
Kennedy, G., Judd, T. & Dalgarno, B. (2010). “Beyond natives and immigrants: Exploring types of net generation students,” Journal
of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5), 332–343.
Kvale, S. (1996). IntervVews: an introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 133135.
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (Eds.) (2008). Digital literacies: Concepts, policies and practices. New York: Peter Lang.
Margaryan, A. & Littlejohn, A. (2008). Are digital natives a myth or reality?: Students’ use of technologies for learning. Retrieved
from http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/anoush/documents/DigitalNativesMythOrReality-MargaryanAndLittlejohn-draft-111208.pdf,
accessed 15 August 2010.
McKenzie, J. (2007). Digital nativism, digital delusions, and digital deprivation. From Now On: The Educational Technology Journal,
17 (2). Retrieved from http://www.fno.org/nov07/nativism.html\
Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). Retrieved from
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001b). “Do they really think differently?” On the Horizon, 9(5). Retrieved from
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
Radford, M. L., & Connaway, L. S. (2005-2007). Seeking synchronicity: Evaluating virtual reference services from user, non-user,
and librarian perspectives. Funded by the Institute for Museums and Library Services (IMLS). Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/synchronicity/default.htm
Radford, M. L., & Connaway, L. S. (2010). “I stay away from the unknown, I guess.” Measuring impact and understanding critical
factors for millennial generation and adult non-users of virtual reference services. In online proceedings of the Fifth Annual
iConference. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, February 3-6, 2010.
http://nora.lis.uiuc.edu/images/iConferences/2010papers2_Page-Zhang.pff
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Selected Bibliography
Stoerger, S. (2009). The digital melting pot: Bridging the digital native–immigrant divide. First Monday, 14(7). Retrieved from
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2474/2243
Wasserman, S. (2012, June 18). The Amazon effect. The Nation. Retrieved from http://www.thenation.com/article/168125/amazoneffect
White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9). Retrieved
from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/3171/3049
White, D. (2008, April 23). Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents. [Web log comment]. TALL Blog: Online Education
with the University of Oxford. Retrieved from http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-natives-immigrants-butvisitors-residents/
White, D. S., & Connaway, L. S. (2011-2012). Visitors and residents: What motivates engagement with the digital information
environment. Funded by JISC, OCLC, and Oxford University. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/vandr/
Whyte, W.F. (1979). On Making the Most of Participant Observation. The American Sociologist 14 , 56-66.
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The researchers would like to thank
Alyssa Darden for her assistance in
team activities and preparing this
presentation.
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Lynn Connaway
connawal@oclc.org
Questions and
Discussion
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