One of the (many) things that surprised me about our results was how seldom our library faculty/staff used the author headings browse (2.70%) or the subject headings browse (1.05%). Particularly given their preference for a nice, traditional, left-anchored title search (35.04%) over title keyword (6.06%).
Obviously when they're looking for a known item and have a title, they're quite comfortable using a traditional library search. Why don't they use other traditional searches more often? But then, heaven knows, I never use the author headings browse for a conference name even when I'm pretty sure I've got the name right. Life is too short.
Bennett
>>> On 2/7/2008 at 1:26 PM, Selden Deemer <libssd_at_EMORY.EDU> wrote:
> We can't break out staff vs public usage reliably, but I know
> from years of observation that the primary browsers here are
> librarians. I'd be willing to hazard an educated guess that
> the number of browses initiated by librarians exceeds all other
> users combined.
>
> On Feb 5, 2008 8:55 AM, Karen Coyle <kcoyle_at_kcoyle.net> wrote:
> >
> > And in that spirit, the first question that came to my mind when I
> > looked at Selden Deemer's stats was: I'd really like to know WHO did
> > those searches. Not individually, but in some grouping. In particular,
> > I'd like to see the stats for staff use separated from non-staff.
>
> --
> Selden Deemer, Library Systems Administrator
> Emory University Libraries
> Atlanta, Georgia
> EMAIL: libssd_at_emory.edu
> PHONE: 404-727-0271
> FAX: 404-727-0827
Received on Thu Feb 07 2008 - 18:49:36 EST