User Research
Libraries are impacted by the ways in which individuals engage with technology; how they seek, access, contribute, and use information; and how and why they demonstrate these behaviors and do what they do. We're collaborating with librarians to shape their services around a set of expectations that have been influenced by consumer technologies and modern research and learning environments. By providing the library community with behavioral evidence about individuals’ perceptions, habits, and requirements, we can ensure that the design of future library services is all about the user. Our efforts are amplified by strategic partnerships and focus in these two areas:
Presentations
Snake News or Fake News? A Game Show About How Students Evaluate Scientific Information in Google Search Results
Charleston, SC, USA
This game show-style presentation gives an overview of a study that uses simulations of Google Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs), a think-aloud protocol, and interviews to capture student’s point of selection behavior and real-time cognition in judging the helpfulness, citability, and credibility of online resources.
Topics: Information Literacy
Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Community
Melbourne, Australia
This update on the project “Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities” reviews project goals and activities, methodology, and findings.
“I like interlibrary loans a lot. I don’t like that three- or four-days turnaround.” Academic Librarian and User Expectations for Accessing Resources and Perceptions of ILL
Melbourne, Australia
The presentation provides a detailed look at recent focus group research to assess resource sharing and interlibrary loan challenges and expectations. The effort aims to influence and guide strategic direction and product development of OCLC delivery services.
Topics: Resource Sharing
There is a Method to It: Making Meaning in Information Research through a Mix of Paradigms and Methods
Melbourne, Australia
Researchers share the prevalence of survey research, review qualitative and mixed-method studies, and provide real-world examples with Worldcat Discovery search log analysis.
Topics: Research Methods
Delivery Services: The Library On-demand (video)
OCLC Research and Product Services team up to share OCLC Delivery Services research interests and product strategy at the Library Futures Conference 2019.
Topics: Research Support
From Research to Reality: Transforming Libraries for a Global Information World
Athens, Greece
Lynn Silipigni Connaway details research methods and techniques used in library and information science, the most popular research methods used in LIS, what we’ve learned from mixed methods research, and why teaching research methods is important. This was a keynote presentation at IFLA 2019.
Topics: Research Methods
Authority, Context, and Containers: Student Perceptions and Judgements When Using Google for School Work
Athens, Greece
Two of the investigators of the “Researching Students’ Information Choices” project provide an in-depth update on this project that examines and compares the judgments and perceptions of students as they select resources for science-related school inquiry projects.
Topics: Information Literacy, Research Methods
Container Collapse and the Information Remix: Students' Evaluations of Scientific Research Recast in Scholarly vs. Popular Sources
Cleveland, OH (USA)
Learn how students from high school to grad school evaluate the citability and credibility of online resources. Discover the variety of uses students consider when selecting resources and consider new strategies for addressing student needs.
Topics: User Research
Beyond the Survey: Using Qualitative Research Methods to Support Evidence-based Practice
Sydney (Australia)
Lynn Silipigni Connaway reviews different forms of qualitative research and mixed research methods using examples from recent research projects.
Topics: Research Methods, User Research
New Ways of Seeing: Understanding Individuals on their Terms
Sydney (Australia)
This presentation provides a deep delve into information behavior research methods, qualitative research, and ethnographic data collection tools and methods.
Topics: Research Methods, User Research