Focus Group Interviews: Findings from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network Project
30 May 2023
Chela Scott Weber, Merrilee Proffitt, Lesley A. Langa, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Brittany Brannon, Brooke Doyle
Investigates the needs of archivists and others who might contribute to a national archival aggregator through focus group interviews with archivists and archives administrators from across the United States.
User Interviews: Findings from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network Project
30 May 2023
Chela Scott Weber, Itza A. Carbajal, Lesley A. Langa, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Brooke Doyle, Brittany Brannon, Merrilee Proffitt
Details methods and summarizes findings from semi-structured individual interviews with end users of archival aggregation.
Students’ Perceptions of Preprints Discovered in Google: A Window into Recognition And Evaluation
1 January 2023
Tara Tobin Cataldo, Ixchel M. Faniel, Amy G. Buhler, Brittany Brannon, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Samuel Putnam
Preprints play an important role in scholarly conversation. This paper examines perceptions of preprints through the lens of students using a simulated Google environment.
Speaking on the Record: Combining Interviews with Search Log Analysis in User Research
6 April 2022
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Brittany Brannon, Christopher Cyr, Peggy Gallagher
This paper reports on a novel sequential mixed methods approach combining search logs and semi-structured individual interviews to study user search behavior within a library discovery system.
How real is real enough? Participant feedback on a behavioral simulation used for information-seeking behavior research
12 January 2022
This paper assesses the realism of a behavioral simulation used to study the evaluation behavior of 175 students from fourth grade through graduate school. We assess realism through the examination of targeted participant feedback about what would have made the simulated environment and tasks more realistic to these participants. Based on this feedback, we reflect on decisions made in designing the simulation and offer recommendations for future studies interested in incorporating behavioral simulation in their research design.
New Model Library: Pandemic Effects and Library Directions
28 October 2021
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ixchel M. Faniel, Brittany Brannon, Joanne Cantrell, Christopher Cyr, Brooke Doyle, Peggy Gallagher, Kem Lang, Brian Lavoie, Janet Mason, and Titia van der Werf
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted libraries of all types around the world, requiring library leaders to respond to rapidly shifting community and institutional needs. This briefing shares how leaders adapted during the pandemic and what they envision moving forward to help libraries plan strategically.
Genre Containers: Building a Theoretical Framework for Studying Formats in Information Behavior
26 October 2021
Brittany Brannon, Amy G. Buhler, Tara Tobin Cataldo, Ixchel M. Faniel, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Joyce Kasman Valenza, Christopher Cyr
Prior studies have shown high-level differences in people's perception and use of various information formats. However, the lack of a coherent and theoretically informed framework of elements of format has inhibited a nuanced understanding of the role that formats play in information behavior. This paper draws on theories from the field of rhetoric and composition to ground the study of information format in a social constructivist perspective that foregrounds action in context.
Backgrounds and behaviors: Which students successfully identify online resources in the face of container collapse
15 February 2021
Christopher Cyr, Tara Tobin, Brittany Brannon, Amy G. Buhler, Ixchel M. Faniel, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Joyce Kasman Valenza, Rachael Elrod, Samuel R. Putnam
This study of students from primary through graduate school looks at their ability to identify the containers of information resources, and how this ability is affected by their demographic traits, the resource features they attended to, and their behaviors during a task-based simulation.
I still go ask someone I enjoy talking to: The use of digital and human sources by educational stage and context
6 January 2021
Chris Cyr, Brittany Brannon, Lynn Silipigni Connaway
How does educational stage affect the way people find information? In previous research using the Digital Visitors & Residents (V&R) framework for semi-structured interviews, context was a factor in how individuals behaved. This study of 145 online, open-ended surveys examines the impact that one's V&R educational stage has on the likelihood of attending to digital and human sources across four contexts.
Mixed methods data collection using simulated Google results: reflections on the methods of a point-of-selection behaviour study
16 December 2020
Tara Tobin Cataldo, Amy G. Buhler, Ixchel M. Faniel, Brittany Brannon, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Christopher Cyr, Kailey Langer, Erin M. Hood, Joyce Kasman Valenza, Rachael Elrod, Randy A. Graff, Samuel R. Putnam, and Summer Howland
A multi-institutional, grant-funded project employed mixed methods to study 175 fourth-grade through graduate school students’ point-of-selection behaviour. The method features the use of simulated search engine results pages to facilitate data collection.