Transcript “Google is user friendly… the library catalog is not.” Information-seekers’ Preferences Presented by Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D. Consulting Research Scientist OCLC Research Email: [email protected] www.oclc.org/research/staff/connaway.htm Tri-state College Library Cooperative Malvern,

“Google is user friendly…
the library catalog is not.”
Information-seekers’ Preferences
Presented by
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
Consulting Research Scientist
OCLC Research
Email: [email protected]
www.oclc.org/research/staff/connaway.htm
Tri-state College Library Cooperative
Malvern, Pennsylvania
June 5, 2007
Why Not Libraries?
“...faculty use a variety of strategies for
negotiating the digital morass. For most, the
path of least resistance is the one usually
taken – a Google search, a walk down the hall
or an email to a colleague, a visit to the
website of a trusted archive, or often one’s
own eclectic ‘collection’ of digital stuff.”
Harley, Diane, Jonathan Henke, Shannon Lawrence, Ian Miller, Irene Perciali, David Nasatir, Charis
Kaskiris and Cara Bautista. 2006. Use and users of digital resources: A focus on
undergraduate education in the humanities and social sciences.
http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu/report/digitalresourcestudy_final_report.pdf. (2 May
2006, 8-2)
Why Not Libraries?
Then: The user built workflow
around the library
Now: The library must build its
services around user workflow
•Get into the flow
•Disclose into other environments
Why Not Libraries?
Then: Resources scarce, attention
abundant
Now: Attention scarce, resources
abundant
•Competition for attention
Information-seekers’ Preferences

Two IMLS-funded projects


Individuals' preferences for finding and using
information sources and service
Why their first choices often do
not include library sources and services


Sense-Making the Information Confluence:
The Whys and Hows of College and University User
Satisficing of Information Needs
Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference
Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives
Focus Group Interviews

5 academic institutions
•
•

44 colleges and universities
100 mile radius from Columbus, Ohio
Total of 8 focus group interviews

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
31 faculty
19 graduate students
28 undergraduate students
Sense-Making the Information
Confluence: The Whys and Hows of
College and University User Satisficing
of Information Needs
Undergraduate Student Comments:
Quick Search

Human resources
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
Google




Dad
Friend
Roommates
Everything is current
Blogs
Discussion groups
Electronic databases

Lexis Nexis
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Undergraduate Student Comments:
Quick Search
“… the thing about Google is that I generally find the little
somethings under the search results and relevance to
anything to actually be fairly good… You know, if I use the
library catalog, it will give me a list of a thousand things,
but there is really no ranking that I can understand.”
“I stay away from the library and the library’s online
catalog.”
Graduate Student Comments:
Quick Search

Web and Google
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Quick
Easy
Personal library
Library
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Databases

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EBSCO
Online journals and abstracts
Human resources

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Friends
Advisors
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Graduate Student Comments:
Quick Search
“…you need to know which database with
abstracting, indexing… Google, I don't have to
know, I go to one spot.”
“I have been going to library web sites and
using their stuff…e.g., EBSCO… Library as
portal to online sources … will also go to
university library ... and search (for) articles I
need.
Faculty:
Quick Search



Personal library – “quicker than online”
Amazon
Google
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
Human resources

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“quick and dirty”
“first stop”
Colleagues
Electronic journal center
Library homepage
Databases
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Faculty:
Quick Search
“Google is my first place to find something quickly.”
“[Google] is user friendly… library catalog is not.”
“Yeah, well, actually I was going to be different and not say
Google. I do use Google, but… [I also] use two different
library homepages… and I will go into the research
databases… do a search there and then I will end [up]…
limiting myself to the articles that are available online.”
Undergraduate Students:
Did not use the library

Human resources
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Google
Online Encyclopedia
JSTOR
Academic databases

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Dad
Parents
Professors
Lexis Nexis
Personal library
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Undergraduate Students:
Did not use the library
“The library is a good source if you have several months.”
“Hard to find things in library catalog.”
“Tried [physical] library but had to revert to online library
resources.”
“Yeah, I don't step in the library anymore… better to read a
25-page article from JSTOR than 250-page book.”
“Sometimes content can be sacrificed for format.”
Graduate Students:
Did not use the library

Internet and Google
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Databases
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Easy
Lexis-Nexis
OhioLink
Bookstores
Amazon.com
Personal library
Human resources
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

Professors
Dad
Peers
Other experts
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Graduate Students:
Did not use the library
“Also I just go ask my dad, and he'll tell me how to
put in a fence, you know? So why sort through all
this material when he'll just tell me”
“Don’t use university online system. Don’t like it.”
“…first thing I do, is, I go to Google… I don't go into
the [library] system unless I have to because there's
like 15 logins, you have to get into the research
databases. Then it takes you out of that to
OhioLink…”
Faculty:
Did not use the library

Human resources



Experts in academic community
Colleagues
Subscribed services and electronic databases
(Prefer to Google for credibility)
 PsychInfo


Amazon.com
Google for personal information
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Faculty:
Did not use the library
“If I have a student mention a book and I'm not familiar with
that book, Amazon.com gives me a brief synopsis, … reader
reviews of the book, so it's a good, interesting first source to
go to for that kind of information.”
“…before I came to the library to use the MLA database, I
did a Google search and it turns out that there is a professor
at Berkeley who keeps a really, really nice and fully
updated… page with bibliographic references.”
Undergraduate Students:
Thorough Search

Human resources



Google
Amazon.com


Librarians
Use Amazon.com first, then go to library
catalog
Television programs

Discovery Channel
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Undergraduate Student Comments:
Thorough Search
“I use OhioLink, but I don't really need to come into a library,
as long as I have a computer at home.”
“Discovered Lexis-Nexis, and those articles are brilliant, give
lots of information… get so much information going through
library and Lexis-Nexis, and articles are ten time’s better [than
web].”
“Go to Google… can [pinpoint]… I will find Google articles and
then [go] to library and find a couple articles...”
Graduate Students:
Thorough Search

Human resources
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
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Class members
Professors
Peers
Colleagues
Experts
Library
Internet
Online books
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Graduate Student Comments:
Thorough Search
“I'm not trust(ing) everything that's on the
Internet, but I will print off all the
information and I get ideas that I will also
go to the university library and search some
article I need.”
Faculty:
Thorough Search

Online resources



Library




Web sites ending in .ORG
Google for definitions
Academic journals
Journal databases
Books
Human Resources



Experts
Authorities in field
Personal information specialist
These are not listed in order of the number of occurrences.
Faculty Comments:
Thorough Search
“So if I have athlete that has low back pain and, and I have a question
about a particular exercise that would be helpful or, or not helpful or
that sort of thing, …
I'd rather get on the phone and talk with a therapist that works with
back people all the time, because you can cut right to the chase - ask a
specific question and there is some credibility there that you, that is
already built in. In talking to this regional expert about how they do
things that is directly applicable to what I need to do and it is, it is
immediate. It's credible, and it's very specific to what I am looking for.”
“I'm suspicious of people who are publishing on-line because usually the
peer review is much less rigorous.”
Undergraduate Student Comments:
Magic Wand
“Make library catalogs more like search engines or
OhioLink.”
“Make a universal library card that would work in
all libraries.”
“Space in the library to interact and collaborate group study areas and areas to spread stuff
out.”
Undergraduate Student Comments:
Magic Wand
“More staff, roaming personnel”
“Book delivery from library through campus mail”
“Drive-up pickup or drop off delivery service since
parking is a problem.”
“Make the library like a coffee house.”
Faculty Comments:
Magic Wand
“Lessen the intimidation factor”
“Better signage and other pathfinders”
“Bookstore environment”
Semi-structured Dialogue
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15 participants


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
6 faculty
4 graduate students
5 undergraduate students
Situations

Academic
Recall how you go about writing your most recent assignment or research.




Personal
What sources did you consult
How did you decide on using them
Where did you locate them?
Show us one of your favorite websites, one you use frequently.
Emerging Themes:
Internet





More than one-half use Google
More than one-third use other search engines
Familiarization tool
Convenient
Current information
The findings are not generalizable because of the small, non-random sample.
Emerging Themes:
Internet
Internet as indispensable for familiarization
Graduate student comments
“Without Google it takes away that initial familiarizing yourself with
what’s out there. We wouldn’t know what the good keywords were when
we go to a more academic database.”
“…but if I want more in-depth information then I would go to the library
and find books or whatever.”
Faculty comment
“… I find Google really, really useful as a fast familiarizing tool.”
Emerging Themes:
Internet
Internet as convenient
Graduate student comment
“I obviously turn to electronics first, then library second… because it’s
convenient. But if I want more in-depth info, then I go to the library.”
Internet as current
Faculty comment
“They’re a bunch of sites I go to everyday. Now none of them are
academic. I don’t go to any academic sites everyday.”
Emerging Themes:
Library


Used for research
Desire ability to customize library portals

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Inclusion of recommender services
Enhanced discovery services
Databases, abstracts, and indexes


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8% use electronic databases
Do not perceive as “library sources”
Unable to locate or access full-text copies of
journals and books
Emerging Themes:
Library
Library as customizable: Recommender Services
Undergraduate student comments
“Oh people who liked these have also liked this. Maybe you should check this
out.”
“It would be more like Amazon than, say, the current library catalog.”
“I’ll try to find something where I can search inside of a book… I would have
descriptions, maybe, you know like, amazon.com has.”
“Well, I have our library [web page] here open and… there’s a lot of
information and there’s nowhere to search. This is the opening to the catalog
but there’s no box to search.”
Emerging Themes:
Library
Graduate student comment
“Ok. I definitely don’t like going to the library because I
think it’s time consuming... They don’t have someone
there that can have the journals and books out ready for
you.”
Faculty comment
“The library is much less self-contained. It’s now connected to other
libraries. So, interlibrary loan, shared electronic resources, Ohiolink, is
much more important to us now.”
End Notes
This presentation is one of the outcomes from the project “SenseMaking the Information Confluence: The Whys and Hows of
College and University User Satisficing of Information Needs."
Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Ohio
State University, and OCLC Online Computer Library Center,
Inc., the project is being implemented by Brenda Dervin
(Professor of Communication and Joan N. Huber Fellow of
Social & Behavioral Science, Ohio State University) as Principal
Investigator; and Lynn Silipigni Connaway (OCLC Consulting
Research Scientist III) and Chandra Prahba (OCLC Senior
Research Scientist), as Co-Investigators. More information can
be obtained at: http://imlsosuoclcproject.jcomm.ohiostate.edu/
Seeking Synchronicity:
Evaluating Virtual Reference
Services from User, Non-User,
& Librarian Perspectives
Focus Group Interviews

8 Focus Group Interviews


2 with VRS librarians
4 with VRS non-users

Screenagers

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College students
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Rural
Suburban
Urban
Graduate
2 with VRS users

College students
Graduate
 Undergraduate
Adults


Participant Demographics:
User Focus Group Interviews
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Ethnicity-Users

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15 Caucasian (68%)
4 Asian (18%)
2 African- American (9%)
1 Hispanic/Latino (5%)
Gender-Users


13 Male (59%)
9 Female (41%)
Participant Demographics:
Non-user Focus Group Interviews

Ethnicity-Non-users


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
18 Caucasian (45%)
7 African- American (17.5%)
6 Hispanic/Latino (15%)
2 Asian (5%)
7 Missing (17.5%)
Gender-Non-users


23 Female (57.5%)
17 Male (42.5%)
Non-User (Screenagers):
Major Themes


Librarian stereotypes
Preference for independent
information seeking




Google
Web surfing
Trust own ability to evaluate web
resources more than librarians’
Preference for face-to-face
interaction

Value interpersonal interactions in
Face-to Face
Non-User (Screenagers):
Major Themes

Privacy/Security concerns



Concern for accuracy of information


Librarians as “psycho killers”
Fear of cyber stalkers
Chat takes too long
Factors influencing future VRS use



Recommendation
Marketing
Ability to choose a trusted librarian
Non-User Graduate Students:
Major Themes

Most students prefer face-to-face
librarian interactions



Reliable
Developing a personal relationship
with a librarian
Utilize internet tools for
information

Library website, Google, other
internet resources
Non-User Graduate Students:
Major Themes

Negative perceptions about VRS:



Sounds like a chat room, not
professional, fear of question
unsuitability, technology/learning
curve
Fear of appearing stupid, or being
negatively evaluated by the librarian.
Privacy concerns/ transcripts
revealed to professors
Non-User Graduate Students:
Major Themes

Factors influencing future VRS use



Recommendation by
librarian/colleague
Developing confidence in service’s
use, speed & access
Promotional campaign
VRS Users:
Positive Major Themes
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


Convenience
Research/Information retrieval
independence
Collaborative – share work
Knowledgeable service provider
VRS Users:
Positive Major Themes
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



Pleasant interpersonal
environment
Transcript of chat session
Anonymity of VRS
Immediacy of chat vs. email
Allows multi-tasking
VRS Users:
Negative Major Themes
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


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Just another search engine
Generic responses
Distrust in information provided
Technical improvement suggestions
Face-to-face interaction preferred
Fear of overwhelming the librarian
Concerns about librarians’ lack of
subject expertise
End Notes

This is one outcome from the project Seeking
Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services
from User, Non-User, & Librarian Perspectives, Marie L.
Radford & Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Co-Principal
Investigators. Project website:
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/

Funded by IMLS, Rutgers University and OCLC, Online
Computer Library Center, Inc.

Special thanks to Jocelyn DeAngelis Williams, Patrick
Confer, Julie Strange, Susanna Sabolcsi-Boros, &
Timothy Dickey.
Yes, libraries!
A library experience like the
experience available on the web
Yes, libraries!
Comprehensive: unified discovery: its all there (e.g.
Google, Amazon)
In the flow: disclosed into research and learning workflows
(e.g. toolbars)
Telescopic: a personal to global traverse (e.g. delicious)
Low transaction costs: A short path between discovery and
fulfilment (e.g iTunes, Google, Amazon, ..)
Network: navigable knowledge patterns: a rich texture of
suggestion
Reflexive: adapt based on aggregate intention/attention
(e.g. page rank, people who read this, personalize, ..)
Lorcan Dempsey, presentation at the University of Virginia Libraries, April 26, 2007
Implications for
Library Services


Patrons lack patience to wade through content
silos and indexing and abstracting databases
Libraries should be “…providing patrons with
what they want when and how they want it,
and providing patrons with the means to
uncover what they want when they aren’t sure
what exactly that may be.”


Good search and discovery tools
Better meta-discovery tools than currently offered by
federated technology
Andrew Pace, presentation at the Charleston Conference, November 1, 2006.
Implications for
Library Services

Integrate library search and
discovery tools into the campus
environment

Course management systems


Share discovered resources in the
classroom
Bursar’s and registrar’s systems

Access and order resources with an
automatic debit to the user’s account
Andrew Pace, presentation at the Charleston Conference, November 1, 2006.
Questions and Comments
Links


This presentation
www.oclc.org/research/presentations/connaway/2007
0605-tsclc.ppt (.ppt: 5MB/76 slides)
OCLC Research projects
www.oclc.org/research/presentations/