tefko saracevic an early study of user frustration in a library any relevance for present day brick...
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Tefko Saracevic
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 InformationRutgers University
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Tefko Saracevic
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)
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W = 423 (total requests)
V = 371 (acquired by libr. )
U = 286 (total available)
T = 255 (libr. operation)
S = 203 (satisfied requests)
Da = 52 (libr. did not have)
Dc = 85 (in circulation)
Dl = 31 (library error -
missing, mis-shelved...)
Du = 52 (user error)
Pa = 88% (V/W)i.e.12% NOT actually acquired
Pc = 77% (U/V) 23 % circulating
Ps = 48% (S/W)(of requested satisfied)
Pl = 89% (T/U) 11% library error
Pu = 80% (S/T) 20% user error
Tefko SaracevicTefko Saracevic
User requests for a specific book(1974 change: book loan for four weeks)
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W = 437 (total requests)
V = 399 (acquired by libr. )
U = 342 (total available)
T = 299 (libr. operation)
S = 245 (satisfied requests)
Da = 38 (libr. did not have)
Dc = 52 (in circulation)
Dl = 48 (library error -
missing, mis-shelved...)
Du = 54 (user error)
Pa = 91% i.e. 9% NOT acquired
Pc = 87% 13 % circulating
Ps = 56% (S/W)(of requested satisfied)
Pl = 86% 14% library error
Pu = 82% 18% user error
Tefko Saracevic
Performance
1972 semester loan
1974 four weeks loan
Satisfaction 48% 56%
Acquisition 88% 91%
Circulation 77%lowest
87%
Library operations
89% 86%
User performance
80%second lowest
82%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
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Users still look for books & other resources in libraries basically the same way.
But they also do now many different things
Tefko Saracevic
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
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However, today users use great many information sources in addition to libraries
But performance?????
Tefko Saracevic
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 ...
ConferenceLibraries in the Digital Age (LIDA)Dubrovnik & island MljetCroatia
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