There is a large body of literature available on library user behavior. F.W. Lancaster's work is classic, but there is much recent work as well.
Some starting points available on the Web:
Thomas Mann's Survey of Library User Studies
October 2005
http://www.guild2910.org/google.htm
OCLC's Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want
http://www.oclc.org/reports/onlinecatalogs/fullreport.pdf
and several citations for her own work on information retrieval from a Web page maintained by Christine Borgman (UCLA, dept. of Info. Studies)
http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/cborgman/PubsISR.html
Matthew
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of B.G. Sloan
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 1:16 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Cataloging Matters Podcast #12
Janet Hill noted: "...we should be very very careful about generalizing about 'what users actually want or need.'"
Point well taken. But it does make me wonder: what DO we know about what users actually want or need? Isn't it in our best interests to be well versed in users' true wants and needs? But do we actually know? If yes, where is this documented? If no, why don't we know?
Dumb question, maybe. But I'm curious.
Bernie Sloan
--- On Thu, 8/11/11, Janet Hill <janet.hill_at_COLORADO.EDU> wrote:
> From: Janet Hill <janet.hill_at_COLORADO.EDU>
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Cataloging Matters Podcast #12
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Date: Thursday, August 11, 2011, 12:52 PM
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU]
> On Behalf Of Ross Singer
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 11:53 AM, Janet Hill <janet.hill_at_colorado.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > As I write this, I can hear the voice of Ben Tucker
> (Principal Descriptive Cataloger at the Library of Congress
> when I worked there) in my mind, saying in his gentle
> Carolina accent ... "The catalog is not an encyclopedia, and
> it is not a dictionary. It's a
> catalog." It can lead you to the
> encyclopedia or the dictionary (or biographies, films, works
> of fantasy, maps, etc.), where you may find the answers to
> your questions, but it's not there to answer those all of
> life's questions itself.
> >
> This is an interesting point, but it raises two other
> questions:
>
> * If a catalog doesn't do those things, but that's want our
> users
> actually want or need, does the catalog make sense?
>
> Yes, I think it does. Many things take multiple
> steps. We don't just "be dressed" in the
> morning. We have to put the clothes on, one
> item at a time, and we have to obtain the clothes in the
> first place. It's not an "I dream of Jeanie"
> world out there where we can twitch our nose and suddenly
> Waldorf salad appears. And not a Star Trek world in
> which we can get from where we are to where we want to be in
> a transporter.
>
> There is a limit to how much magic the catalog/discovery
> tool/whatever can perform. (There may even be a
> philosophical argument to be made that there should be a
> limit to how much magic it SHOULD perform -- it is through
> the process and the journey that real discoveries are
> made). There should be no limit to our imagination, of
> course, and no limit to our wanting to make finding things
> .... useful, relevant, serendipitous, frivolous, beautiful,
> dreadful, authoritative, free-wheeling things ..... easier
> and more powerful.
>
> But there should also be some understanding when
> perfection, nirvana, utopia, or whatever is not
> realized.
>
> (And we should be very very careful about generalizing
> about "what users actually want or need." Just think
> of all the politicians who bloviate about "what the American
> people want" and how different that is from politician to
> politician. Each one perceives that "want"
> through her/his own filter, bias, understanding,
> expectation, and preference)
>
>
> Janet Swan Hill, Professor
> University of Colorado Libraries, CB184
> Boulder, CO 80309
> janet.hill_at_colorado.edu
>
> *Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding
> its way
> through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the
> false notion
> that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as
> your
> knowledge.*
> - - Isaac Asimov
>
Received on Thu Aug 11 2011 - 15:00:27 EDT