On May 4, 2007, at 10:31 AM, Karen Coyle wrote:
> Don't users tell us what they want by their actions? If you create an
> index and no one uses it, or if you create a catalog and no one
> uses it,
> that's a strong message that they don't want that. But if you study
> their workflow, where they DO go and what they do there, then you are
> seeing what they want.
BTW, in the latest issue of Information Technology and Libraries
there is an article entitled "Information Seeking in Academic
Research: A Study of the Sociology Faculty at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison" by Yi Shen. In this article Shen outlines the what
a few sociologists DO to find information and conduct research.
Essentially they seem to network with their colleagues in conferences
and via email, search the Internet, and exploit data sets.
--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame
Received on Fri May 04 2007 - 08:43:38 EDT