Although Karen's list is fine as far as it goes, it deals only with
explicit search types offered at the "front end" of a search. "Follow
on" searches carried out using hypertext links available within
retrieved records also need to be considered. Just because users make
very little use of a particular search as their starting point doesn't,
of course, mean that they don't use that same index in following on from
something they're already found.
Simple example: once I've stumbled across an item in a series, I might
follow that up by using the link offered to find all the other items in
that series. In a count of front-end search types, series has a count of
zero. In a count of index use, series has a count of one. To my mind,
both figures are valuable, not just the first. Both contribute to my
catalogue "design".
It would be interesting to know from Michele (or anyone else, for that
matter) whether system stats make this distinction (or can make it).
--
Hugh Taylor
Head, Collection Development and Description
Cambridge University Library
West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR, England
email: jrht3_at_cam.ac.uk fax: +44 (0)1223 333160
phone: +44 (0)1223 333069 (with voicemail) or
phone: +44 (0)1223 333000 (ask for pager 036)
Karen Coyle said - in whole or part - on 21/02/2007 01:16:
> I posted about this on my blog, but it didn't get any response so I
> figure I need to ask it here. I want to see some catalog use stats; not
> a full-blown scientific study, nor an in-depth study of usability. What
> I want is to see what features of online catalogs get used, and to what
> degree. I know this is tricky because different catalogs have different
> offerings, and that defaults have a huge influence on what features
> actually get used. But I would like to create some way for people to
> easily submit use stats to a common pool, for our general edification.
> What I have in mind are things like:
>
> * What search types are available? Which of these search types is a
> default? How often is each search type used?
> * If there is an advanced search page, how often is it used?
> * If there are sort options, what is the default and how often are
> all of them used?
> * What is the default display, and how often is each display option
> used?
> * How many records/screens are displayed on average?
> * If there are facets, how often is each facet type selected?
> * What system are you using? (Vendor, brand)
> * What type of library is it? (public, academic, special)
>
> It seems to me that we need some hard data before we start talking in
> any detail about design options. My personal experience in working on
> OPACs is that most features are used rarely, and that user behavior is
> not always what you would expect. My best example of this latter was the
> data that we got on screen displays in MELVYL. When MELVYL was a telnet
> catalog, you got about 1-2 records per screen, and people looked at an
> average of 2.5 screens. There was a review display with 20 items, and
> people looked at an average of 2.5 screens of that. When it became a
> web-based catalog, you got about 10 records per screen, and people
> looked at an average of 2.5 screens. I saw somewhere that on Google
> people look at an average of about 2.something screens. So what people
> look at seems to have little to do with the amount of whatever it is on
> the screen, but is based on some other factor that we can observe even
> if we can't explain it. That's the kind of data I'm looking for.
>
> kc
>
> --
> -----------------------------------
> Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
> kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
> ph.: 510-540-7596
> fx.: 510-848-3913
> mo.: 510-435-8234
> ------------------------------------
Received on Wed Feb 21 2007 - 03:36:28 EST