Mashing Up:Studying People, Information and

Systems

Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.

Senior Research ScientistOCLC Research

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Towards a Profile of the Researcher of Today: What Can We Learn from JISC Projects?

• Digital Information Seekers: Report of findings from selected OCLC, JISC & RIN User Behaviour Projec

• Funded by JISC

• Analysis of 12 user behaviour studies• Conducted in US and UK

• Published within last 5 years

• Synthesis

• Better understand user information-seeking behaviour

• Identify issues for development of user-focused services and systems

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Introduction

•JISC-funded meta-analysis

•The Digital Information Seeker:

• Report of Findings from Selected OCLC, RIN, and JISC User Behaviour Projects

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“The majority of researchers in all disciplines have adapted readily to the widespread availability of digital content, accessible directly from their desktops.”

(Consortium of University Research Libraries, and Research Information Network. 2007. Researchers' use of academic libraries and their services: A report. London: Research

Information Network and Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL), p. 23)

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Common Findings:User Behaviors

• Convenience dictates choice between physical & virtual library

• Very little time using content• “Squirreling” of downloads• Prefer quick chunks of

information• Visit only a few minutes• Use basic search

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• Use snippets from e-books• View only a few pages• Short visits• Simple searching of Google-

like interfaces• Power browsing• Value human resources

Common Findings:User Behaviors

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Common Findings:The Library

• Desire Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI)

• More digital content = Better• Use less since Internet available

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Common Findings:The Library

• = Books

• School work or research

• Reliable information

• Breadth and depth of resources

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Common Findings:The Library

• Criticize physical library & traditional services

• Faculty praise physical collection

• Electronic databases not perceived as library sources

• Frustration with locating and accessing full-text copies

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Common Findings:User Literacy Skills

• Information literacy skills• Lacking• Not kept pace with

digital literacy• Researchers self-taught &

confident

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Common Findings:The Web

• Search engine first choice• Starting point • Easy and convenient to use• Quick searches to become

familiar with subjects• Rate search engines better lifestyle

fit than libraries• Trust Google to understand

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Common Findings:The Search

• Search strategies differ by context • Database interfaces hinder access• Desire enhanced functionality & content to

evaluate resources• Prefer natural language

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Common Findings:The Catalog

• “It is very clear that Google has emerged as a real force in the accessing and discovery of research content which is rivalling university library catalogues.”

(Hampton-Reeves, Stuart, Claire Mashiter, Jonathan Westaway, Peter Lumsden, Helen Day,

Helen Hewerston, and Anna Hart. 2009. Students’ use of research content in teaching and learning: A report of the Joint Information Systems Council

(JISC), p. 30)

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Common Findings:The Catalog

• Value databases & other online sources

• Do not understand what resources available in libraries

• Cannot distinguish between databases held by a library & other online sources

• Library OPACs difficult to use

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Common Findings:The Catalog• Search behaviors vary by discipline• Desire seamless process from D2D

• Sciences most satisfied• Social Sciences & Arts & Humanities have

serious gaps• Foreign language materials• Multi-author collections• Journal back files• Lack of specialist search engines

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Common Findings:Metadata

• Inadequately cataloged resources result in underuse

• Library ownership of sources essential data element

• Differences exist between the catalog data quality priorities of users & librarians

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Contradictory Findings

• “Google generation”• Search engine speed• Support for library OPAC advanced search options

& social features

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Conclusions

• Simple searches & power browsing • “Squirreling” of downloads • Natural language• Convenience very important• Human resources valued• D2D of full-text digital content desired• Transparency of ranking results• Evaluative information included in catalog• More robust metadata

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• Preference for Independent Information seeking• Confident in research abilities

Conclusions

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What Does This Mean for Libraries?

• Keep talking• Keep moving• Keep the gates

open• Keep it simple

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• Market services• Better advertise library brand• Provide search help at time of

need• Chat & IM help during search

• Provide more authoritative, reliable digital sources

• E-journals, data sets, VREs, open source materials, multimedia objects, blogs

• Develop economic model for resources

Implications for Information Services

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Implications for Information Systems

• Make library experience more like the Web

• Google, Amazon.com, iTunes

• Build on & integrate search engine features

• Adopt user-centered development approach

• Longitudinal data

• Talk to and listen to users

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Implications for Research

• Investigate how and why people get information in different contexts and situations

• Theoretical research combining individual and social factors that influence information-seeking behaviors

• Longitudinal studies of users

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Why Visitors and Residents Project?

• If we build it, they will NOT come.• Shifting changes in engagement with information

environment• Effect of larger cultural changes influenced by Web?• New attitudes towards education?

• Gap in user behaviour studies – need for longitudinal studies

• Understand motivations for using and expectations of technologies and spaces in information environment

• Inform project & service design to improve engagement & uptake

http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/vandr/

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Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

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Old people just don’t get this stuff

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Research Addressing Digital Learners

• Need for a longitudinal study “to identify how individuals engage in both the virtual and physical worlds to get information for different situations” (Connaway & Dickey 2010, p.56).

• The information literacy of young people, has not improved with the widening access to technology: in fact, their apparent facility with computers disguises some worrying problems (Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research 2008).

• Academic staff perceive students as being more digitally capable than is really the case (Beetham, McGill, and Littlejohn 2009).

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Mark Bullen, Tannis Morgan, and Adnan Qayyum: http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/550/298

a. Institutional e-mail account No association

b. Personal e-mail account No association

c. Instant messaging No association

d. Text message (via phone) No association

e. Facebook/MySpace No association

f. Talking via phone No association

g. Talking in person No association

h. WebCT Association

Communication Mode with Instructors:Significant association between age & use?

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“I think that lots of like companies and people away from my generation think that we rely and we’re obsessed with gadgets and gizmos and everybody has to buy the newest iPhone and iPad and newest everything. At the end of the day, as a student, are you really know is that is what the internet is for. How you get to it – it doesn’t matter if you don’t own a computer and you have to come to the library to use it. Um…like it’s available to you and you don’t care like how you get it.”

(WorldCat.org Focus Group Interview UKU4th year university student)

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“…our generation isn’t technology orientated. I think it’s always a stereotype.”

(Participant UKS4)

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=

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http://is.gd/VqXHkT

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Visitors and Residents: What motivates engagement with the digital information environment?• Funded by

• JISC

• OCLC• Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.

• Oxford University• David White

• University of North Carolina, Charlotte

• Donna Lanclos, Ph.D.

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Visitors and Residents Study

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Objectives

• Eliminate assumed links between age and technological engagement

• Create a matrix of implementation options

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Research Questions

Do individuals develop personal engagement strategies which evolve over time and for specific needs and goals, or are the educational contexts the primary influence on their engagement strategies?

Are modes of engagement shifting over the course of time, influenced by emergent web culture and the availability of ‘new’ ways to engage, or are the underlying trends and motivations relatively static within particular educational stages?

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Phase 1 Pilot stage: Months 1-6

• Transitional educational stage• 31 participants

• 16 in the US• 15 in the UK

• Quantitative data: Demographics, number of occurrences of technologies, sources, and behaviors.

• Qualitative data: Themes and direct quotes.

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Phase I Participant Demographics

• 31 participants• 20 females, 11 males• 22 Caucasian, 3 African-American, 1

Caucasian-Thai, 1 Hispanic, 4 unidentified• 15 secondary, 16 university• 5 Engineering, 3 Teaching, 1 Languages, 1

Chemical Biology, 1 Chemistry, 1 History, 1 Undeclared, 1 Political Science, 1 Pre-Business, 1 Sociology/Gerontology

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US vs. UK Participant Genders

Female Male0

2

4

6

8

10

12

9

7

11

4

USUK

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US vs. UK Participant Ages

16 years old

17 years old

18 years old

19 years old

20-30 years old

30+ years old

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0

5

2

7

2

01

6

1

4

0

3

USUK

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US vs. UK Participant Ethnicity

African American

Caucasian Caucasian/Thai

Hispanic Undeclared0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

3

12

01

00

10

10

4

USUK

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US vs. UK Participant University MajorsUS (9 of 16)

• 5 Engineering

• 1 Political Science

• 1 Pre-Business

• 1 Sociology/Gerontology

• 1 Undeclared

UK (7 of 16)

• 3 Teaching

• 1 Chemical Biology

• 1 Chemistry

• 1 History

• 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, cont.

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?

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Participant Interview Questions, cont.

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?

7. What comments or questions do you have for me? Is there anything you would like me to explain? What would you like to tell me that you’ve thought about during the interview?

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Facebook is for administration & social communication

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EnglishThe Free Encyclopedia3 642 000+ articles 

日本語フリー百科事典750 000+ 記事

DeutschDie freie Enzyklopädie1 233 000+ Artikel 

EspañolLa enciclopedia libre761 000+ artículos 

FrançaisL’encyclopédie libre1 106 000+ articles 

РусскийСвободная энциклопедия

714 000+ статей 

ItalianoL’enciclopedia libera

803 000+ voci 

PortuguêsA enciclopédia livre685 000+ artigos 

PolskiWolna encyklopedia

802 000+ haseł 

NederlandsDe vrije encyclopedie688 000+ artikelen 

Don’t mention Wikipedia!

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Are they as confident as they say?

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Diaries

•6 US and 6 UK transitional stage students•Share information-seeking situations each month•Communicate them in any format

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Diaries

All selected EMAIL

Why? “It’s for formal communication”

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Current Project Status

•Completed 31 interviews Transitional Stage students•Collected 12 diaries for 4 months•Developed code book•Analyzed 31 interviews•Begun 30 interviews

• Establishing Stage students• Embedding Stage students• Experienced scholars

•Collecting 30 diaries for 6 months

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Future Phases

• Phase 2: Months 7-12• Establishing, Embedding, and Experienced• Add 30 to original 31 = 61 participants

• Phase 3: Months 13-24• Track 24 participants• Online survey of 400 students and scholars

• Phase 4: Months 25-36• Transitional • 6 students

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Selected Readings

Beetham, Helen, Lou McGill, and Allison Littlejohn. Thriving in the 21st Century:

Learning Literacies for the Digital Age (LLiDA Project). Glasgow: The Caledonian

Academy, Glasgow Caledonian University, 2009.

http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/LLiDAReportJune2009.pdf.

Bullen, Mark, Tannis Morgan, and Adnan Qayyum. Digital Learners in Higher

Education: Generation is Not the Issue. Canadian Journal of Learning and

Technology, 37, no. 1 (Spring 2011).

http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/550/298.

Calhoun, Karen, et al. Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want: An OCLC

Report. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, 2009.

http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.htm.

Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research. Information

Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future: A CIBER Briefing Paper. London:

CIBER, 2008.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmemes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf

.

Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, and Timothy J. Dickey. The Digital Information Seeker:

Report of the Findings from Selected OCLC, RIN, and JISC User Behaviour

Projects. 2010. London: HECFCE.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/reports/2010/digitalinformationseekerreport.pdf

.

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Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, Timothy J. Dickey, and Marie L. Radford. “‘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,

no. 3 (2011): 179-90.

Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, Chandra Prabha, and Timothy J. Dickey. Sense-making

the Information Confluence: The Whys and Hows of College and University

User Satisficing of Information Needs. Phase III: Focus group Interview Study.

Report on National Leadership Grant LG-02-03-0062-03, to Institute of

Museum and Library Services, Washington, D.C. Columbus, Ohio: School of

Communication, The Ohio State University, 2006.

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/imls/default.htm.

Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, and Marie L. Radford. Seeking Synchronicity:

Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference. Dublin, OH: OCLC

Research, 2011. http://www.oclc.org/reports/synchronicity/full.pdf.

Selected Readings

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Consortium of University Research Libraries, and Research Information

Network. Researchers‘ Use of Academic Libraries and Their Services: A

Report. London: Research Information Network and Consortium of University

Research Libraries (CURL), 2007.

http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/using-and-accessing-information-resources/researchers-use-academic-libraries-and-their-serv

.

De Rosa, Cathy. College Students‘ Perceptions of Libraries and Information

Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online

Computer Library Center, 2006.

http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/perceptionscollege.htm.

De Rosa, Cathy. Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to

the OCLC Membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online Computer Library Center,

2005. http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/2005perceptions.htm.

Dervin, Brenda, CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, Zack Y. Kerr, Mei Song, and Fei C. Shen,

eds. Sense-making the Information Confluence: The Whys and Hows of

College and University User Satisficing of Information Needs. Phase II: Sense-

making Online Survey and Phone Interview Study. Report on National

Leadership Grant LG-02-03-0062-03 to Institute of Museum and Library

Services, Washington, D.C. Columbus, Ohio: School of Communication, Ohio

State University, 2006.

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/imls/default.htm.

Selected Readings

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Selected ReadingsHampton-Reeves, Stuart, Claire Mashiter, Jonathan Westaway, Peter Lumsden, Helen

Day, Helen Hewerston, and Anna Hart. Students’ Use of Research Content in

Teaching and Learning: A Report of the Joint Information Systems Council (JISC).

2009.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/aboutus/workinggroups/studentsuseresearchcontent.pdf

.

JISC and UCL. JISC National e-Books Observatory Project: Key Findings and

Recommendations: Final Report. 2009.

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/imls/default.htm.

Nicholas, David, Ian Rowlands, and Paul Huntington. Information Behaviour of the

Researcher of the Future: A CIBER Briefing Paper. London: CIBER, 2008.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf

.

Prabha, Chandra, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, and Timothy J. Dickey. Sense-making the

Information Confluence: The Whys and Hows of College and University User

Satisficing of Information Needs. Phase IV: Semi-structured Interview Study.

Report on National Leadership Grant LG-02-03-0062-03, to Institute of Museum

and Library Services, Washington, D.C. Columbus, Ohio: School of Communication,

The Ohio State University, 2006.

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/imls/default.htm.

 

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Selected ReadingsRadford, Marie L., and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating

Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-user, and Librarian Perspectives: IMLS

Final Performance Report. Report on Grant LG-06-05-0109-05, to Institute of

Museum and Library Services, Washington, D.C. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online

Computer Library Center, 2008.

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/default.htm.

Research Information Network. E-journals: Their Use, Value and Impact. London:

Research Information Network, 2009.

http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-disseminating-research/e-journals-their-use-value-and-impact

.

Research Information Network. Researchers and Discovery Services: Behaviour,

Perceptions and Needs. London: Research Information Network, 2006.

http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/using-and-accessing-information-resources/researchers-and-discovery-services-behaviour-perc.

Warwick, Claire, Isabel Galina, Melissa Terras, Paul Huntington, and Nikoleta Pappa.

“The Master Builders: LAIRAH Research on Good Practice in the Construction of

Digital Humanities Projects.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 23, no. 3 (2008):

383-96. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/13810/.

 

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Selected ReadingsWhite, David , and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. Visitors and Residents: What Motivates

Engagement with the Digital Information Environment. 2011. Funded by JISC,

OCLC, and Oxford University. http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/vandr/.

White, David S., and Alison Le Cornu. “Visitors and Residents: A New Typology for

Online Engagement.” First Monday 16, no. 9 (2011).

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049.

Wong, William, Hanna Stelmaszewska, Nazlin Bhimani, Sukhbinder Barn, and Balbir

Barn. User Behaviour in Resource Discovery: Final Report. 2009.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/inf11/userbehaviourbusandecon.aspx

.

 

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The researchers would like to thank Dr. Alison LeCornu for her assistance in keeping the team organized, scheduling and conducting interviews, analyzing the data, and disseminating the results of the Digital Visitors and Residents project.

Questions & Comments

Lynn Silipigni Connawayconnawal@oclc.org

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Image Credit

• Slide 20: Implications for Information Services: Peter Nijenhuis: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peternijenhuis/199686509/