B.G. Sloan wrote:
> Shawne Miksa said:
>
> "Seriously, we need some hard evidence of this --again, too much generalization across the board on what we think people like or don't like. I agree with Mr. Eversberg--case studies of actual query pursuits."
>
> Isn't there already a heck of a lot of this sort of thing in the library literature...studies of library catalog use, library database use, etc.? And isn't there also a large body of literature dealing with extra-library information seeking behavior?
>
What I had in mind was not behavior but case studies looking at the
actual questions: What types of questions, what tools have been used,
was the search successful (or good enough), what other tools might have
been used. And esp., was a search done in GB or GS, was it successful,
or if not: was the search not clever enough or was it the wrong tool. Etc.
Maybe one should set up a project that invites users to ask for help
if they have been unsuccessful or less than satisfied with search
results. Those users might be interested to help improve services.
Haven't seen studies along these lines, but they should enlighten us
a bit about the necessity of catalogs and library collections and what
they should be able to do. For indeed, right now there is too much
generalization and speculation.
B.Eversberg
Received on Thu Oct 29 2009 - 04:37:24 EDT