online catalogs: what users and librarians want
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Prepared for the Charleston Conference
Karen CalhounJanet Hawk
Online catalogs: What users and librarians wantA review of market research data
Online catalogs: What users and librarians wantA review of market research data
7 November 2008
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With thanks to
Joanne Cantrell,
OCLC Market Research Analyst
Photo by allw3ndy
http://flickr.com/photos/allw3ndy/2757149584/
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What did catalog quality mean in 1989?
What did catalog quality mean in 1989?Davis, Carol C. 1989. “Results of a survey on record quality
in the OCLC database.” Technical Services Quarterly. 7 (2):43-53.
Duplicate records
Bad name headings
Bad subject headings
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The perception of “quality”: The eye of the beholderThe perception of “quality”: The eye of the beholder
Specialist’s view:
• Conformance to specifications
(rules)
• Priorities: Fullness and detail
Pragmatist’s view:
• Make as many materials as
possible available as quickly as
possible
• Priorities: speed and efficiency
End-user’s view:
• Easy and convenient
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30-second summary of online catalog user studies30-second summary of online catalog user studies
Keyword searching reigns
The default search is chosen most often
Number of terms in a query: 1 to 3
Search failure rate (zero hits) is very high: 20 to 40 percent
The latest study:Moulaison, Heather L. 2008. “OPAC queries at a medium-sized academic library: a Transaction log analysis.” LRTS 52 (4): 230-237.
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Will Google Books usurp the library catalog?Will Google Books usurp the library catalog?
Ludwig, Mark J. and Margaret R. Wells. “Google Books vs. BISON.” LibraryJournal, July 15, 2008. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6566451.html
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0
5
10
15
20
25
Num
ber o
f Uniq
ue W
ord
s
Unique words contributed successivelyby subject-rich fields: records with TOC and summary notes
LCSH
Title
TOC and Summaries
Series
Markey, Karen and Karen Calhoun.1987. “Unique words contributed by MARC records with summary and/or contents notes.” Proceedings of the 50th ASIS Annual Meeting (Medford NJ: Learned Information), p. 153–162.
LCSH: from 3 to 7 wordsper record
Assumptions and mindsets: Where do subject-rich index terms come from?
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Assumptions and mindsets: What is “full”?Assumptions and mindsets: What is “full”?
+ 3 more screens
Productdescriptionand purchaseinformation;‘More like this’
Editorialreviews andauthor info
‘Inside thebook’ tags, ratings,customerreviews,lists and more
With thanks to David Lankes: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALCTS.pdf
Bibliographicinformation
Library holdingsDetailsSubjectsEditionsReviews
Bibliographicinformation
Australianlibrary holdings
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What Is online catalog “quality”?What Is online catalog “quality”?
“A persistent shortcoming in the
decision-making process [about
library database quality] that needs
to be addressed is the lack of
serious research into user needs
and benefits, and the actual impact
on users of database quality
decisions.”
—Janet Swan Hill
Hill, Janet Swan. 2008. “Is it worth it? Management decisions related to database
quality.” CCQ 46 (1): 5-26.
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“You need more book descriptions. Telling me the author name and book title does not tell
me what a book is about.” -High school student-
“I would like to preview actual pages from the books. This would greatly help me educate myself on the
subject matter presented and get a
sense of what the book actually offers.” -College student-
“Please link me to the item i'm searching
for.”
-Graduate student-
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Objectives of our metadata quality researchObjectives of our metadata quality research
•Start over with a blank page
•Identify and compare metadata expectations
• End users
• Librarians
•Compare expectations of types of librarians
•Determine end-user satisfaction with WorldCat.org
•Define a new WorldCat quality program
•Considering the perspectives of all constituencies of WorldCat
• End users (and subgroups of end users)
• Librarians (and subgroups of librarians)
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How did we conduct the research?
Research methodologiesHow did we conduct the research?
Research methodologies
• Focus groups
• Conducted by Blue Bear, LLC
• Pop-up survey on WorldCat.org
• Conducted by ForeSee Results
• Librarian survey
• Conducted by Marketing Backup
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End-user focus groupsEnd-user focus groups
• Focus groups:
• College students, ages 18–24
• General public, ages 25–59
• Scholars, including academic faculty and graduate students
• Format:
• Individual usability tests: captured comments on-screen
• Facilitator-led, group discussion
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What did we learn?
End-user focus group resultsWhat did we learn?
End-user focus group results
Key observations:
• Delivery is as important, if not more important, than discovery.
• Seamless, easy flow from discovery through delivery is critical.
• Improved search relevance is necessary.
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Pop-up surveyPop-up survey
• Live on WorldCat.org: May 12
• 11,000+ responses through July 10
• Evaluates the metadata most helpful in identifying a needed item
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Who responded to the survey?Who responded to the survey?
Students: 19%
Teacher/professor: 15%
Other general searchers: 34%
Librarians/other library staff: 32%
End-user country:
USA: 56%
Canada: 4%
Mexico: 3%
United Kingdom: 3%
End-user language:
•English: 84%
•Spanish: 8%
•Other: 3%
•French: 2%End-user age:•18 & younger: 5%•19–30: 24%•31-40:17%•41-50:20%•51-60: 20%•61+: 13%
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What did we learn?
Pop-up survey resultsWhat did we learn?
Pop-up survey results
Information most essential in identifying the item needed?End users (n=7535)
5%
7%
7%
12%
14%
24%
5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Summary/abstract
Citations
Links to onlinecontent/full text
Item details
Author
Ability to see what isimmediately available
List of libraries that ownit
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Delivery
Delivery
Delivery
Delivery
Delivery
Delivery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
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What did we learn?
Pop-up survey suggestionsWhat did we learn?
Pop-up survey suggestions
Changes to help identify an item?
End users (n=7535)
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‘Item details’ in WorldCat.org‘Item details’ in WorldCat.org
The World Is Flat
Lots of detail
Not Quite the DiplomatNot much detail
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‘Subject information’ in WorldCat.org‘Subject information’ in WorldCat.org
6 subject-rich words:
Barack
Obama
Travel
Africa
Presidential
Candidates
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End-user recommendationsEnd-user recommendations
• Improve search relevance
• Add more links to online full text (and make linking easy)
• Add more summaries/abstracts: Make summaries more prominent
• Add more details in the search results (e.g., cover art and summaries)
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Librarian surveyLibrarian survey
• Currently in the field beginning September 2008 (U.S. and non U.S.)
• Preliminary data: 1,138 responses; North America (844) and 171 international as of 10/24/08
• Evaluates:
• The metadata most helpful in identifying a needed item
• Attributes liked most about WorldCat
• Recommended enhancements to WorldCat
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Librarian surveyLibrarian survey
Acquisitions: 28%
Cataloging : 65%
Collection development or selection: 32%
Interlibrary loan: 25%
Reference/public service: 46%
Library director/administration: 20%
Current areas of responsibility
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What did we learn?Librarian survey results: Reactions to WorldCat.org—compared to end users
What did we learn?Librarian survey results: Reactions to WorldCat.org—compared to end users
DISCOVERYMost essential information
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What did we learn?Librarian survey results compared to end-user results
What did we learn?Librarian survey results compared to end-user results
DISCOVERYRecommended enhancements
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What did we learn?End-user survey data compared to librarian survey data
What did we learn?End-user survey data compared to librarian survey data
DISCOVERYRecommended enhancements to WorldCat
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What did we learn?
Librarian survey resultsWhat did we learn?
Librarian survey results
TOP recommended enhancements to WorldCat
Top 5 total librarian responses
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What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat Top 5 acquisition librarian responses
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What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat Top 5 cataloging librarian responses
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What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
What did we learn?
Librarian survey results
Recommended enhancements to WorldCat Top 5 library director responses
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What did we learn?
Librarian survey resultsWhat did we learn?
Librarian survey results
TOP enhancements for WorldCatTOP 5 responses by academic librarians
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What did we learn?
Librarian survey resultsWhat did we learn?
Librarian survey results
TOP enhancements for WorldCatTOP 5 responses by public librarians
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What did we learn?
Librarian survey resultsWhat did we learn?
Librarian survey resultsTOP enhancements for WorldCat
TOP 5 responses among international librarians
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What did we learn?
Pop-up survey suggestionsWhat did we learn?
Pop-up survey suggestions
Changes to help identify an item?
End users (n=7535) – Bottom 8 mentions
2%
2%
2%
4%
5%
5%
6%
6%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Add editorial reviews
Add recommendations
Add ratings
More publisher information
More format/type information
Increase accuracy
Remove duplicate records
More selection of non-English items
Information Not Sufficient
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Recommendations from librarian survey (so far)Recommendations from librarian survey (so far)
• Merge duplicates
• Make it easier to make corrections to records (fix typos; do upgrades); “social cataloging” experiment—Wikipedia
• More emphasis on accuracy/currency of library holdings
• Enrichment—TOCs, summaries, cover art—work with content suppliers, use APIs, etc.
• Education about what users say they want
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A few ideas to discussA few ideas to discuss
• Catalogs have many audiences, inside and outside the library
• With respect to metadata “quality,” librarians’ and end users’ definitions generally differ
• Different groups of end users have different priorities, but there are some commonalities across groups:
• The end user’s delivery experience is as important, if not more important than the discovery experience
• Most important for analog materials: summaries, TOCs, etc.
• Most important for licensed e- and digital materials: the ability to link easily and conveniently to the online content itself
Different groups of librarians have different priorities, but there are some commonalities across groups:
• Merge duplicate records
• Add TOCs