Enhancing Library Accessibility for User Workflow

1. “The Library is a good source if you have several months.”Making the Library More Accessible Presented by Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist OCLC Research Email: connawal@oclc.org www.oclc.org/research/staff/connaway.htm Delaware Valley Chapter of ACRL Millersville, Pennsylvania November 2, 2007

2. Why Not Libraries? “...faculty use a variety of strategies for negotiating the digital morass. For most, the path of least resistance is the one usually taken – a Google search, a walk down the hall or an email to a colleague, a visit to the website of a trusted archive, or often one’s own eclectic ‘collection’ of digital stuff.” Harley, Diane, Jonathan Henke, Shannon Lawrence, Ian Miller, Irene Perciali, David Nasatir, Charis Kaskiris and Cara Bautista. 2006. Use and users of digital resources: A focus on undergraduate education in the humanities and social sciences. http://digitalresourcestudy.berkeley.edu/report/digitalresourcestudy_final_report.pdf. (2 May 2006, 8-2)

3. Why Not Libraries? Then: The user built workflow around the library Now: The library must build its services around user workflow • Get into the flow • Disclose into other environments

4. Why Not Libraries? Then: Resources scarce, attention abundant Now: Attention scarce, resources abundant • Competition for attention

5. Information-seekers’ Preferences • Two IMLS-funded projects • Individuals' preferences for finding and using information sources and service • Why their first choices often donot include library sources and services • Sense-Making the Information Confluence: The Whys and Hows of College and University User Satisficing of Information Needs • Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives

6. Sense-Making the Information Confluence: The Whys and Hows of College and University User Satisficing of Information Needs

7. Focus Group Interviews • 5 academic institutions • 44 colleges and universities • 100 mile radius from Columbus, Ohio • Total of 8 focus group interviews • 31 faculty • 19 graduate students • 28 undergraduate students

8. Situation 1: Quick Search • Think of a time when you had a situation where you needed answers or solutions and you did a quick search and made do with it.  You knew there were other sources but you decided not to use them. Please include sources such as friends, family, professors, colleagues, etc.

9. Undergraduate Student Comments: Quick Search “… the thing about Google is that I generally find the little somethings under the search results and relevance to anything to actually be fairly good… You know, if I use the library catalog, it will give me a list of a thousand things, but there is really no ranking that I can understand.” “I stay away from the library and the library’s online catalog.”

10. Graduate Student Comments: Quick Search “…you need to know which database with abstracting, indexing… Google, I don't have to know, I go to one spot.” “I have been going to library web sites and using their stuff…e.g., EBSCO… Library as portal to online sources … will also go to university library ... and search (for) articles I need.

11. Faculty:Quick Search “Google is my first place to find something quickly.” “[Google] is user friendly… library catalog is not.” “Yeah, well, actually I was going to be different and not say Google. I do use Google, but… [I also] use two different library homepages… and I will go into the research databases… do a search there and then I will end [up]… limiting myself to the articles that are available online.”

12. Situation 2: Did not use the library • Have there been times when you did not use a library and used other sources instead? 

13. Undergraduate Students:Did not use the library “The library is a good source if you have several months.” “Hard to find things in library catalog.” “Tried [physical] library but had to revert to online library resources.” “Yeah, I don't step in the library anymore… better to read a 25-page article from JSTOR than 250-page book.” “Sometimes content can be sacrificed for format.”

14. Graduate Students:Did not use the library “Also I just go ask my dad, and he'll tell me how to put in a fence, you know? So why sort through all this material when he'll just tell me” “Don’t use university online system. Don’t like it.” “…first thing I do, is, I go to Google… I don't go into the [library] system unless I have to because there's like 15 logins, you have to get into the research databases. Then it takes you out of that to OhioLink…”

15. Faculty:Did not use the library “If I have a student mention a book and I'm not familiar with that book, Amazon.com gives me a brief synopsis, … reader reviews of the book, so it's a good, interesting first source to go to for that kind of information.” “…before I came to the library to use the MLA database, I did a Google search and it turns out that there is a professor at Berkeley who keeps a really, really nice and fully updated… page with bibliographic references.”

16. Magic Wand • If you had a magic wand, what would your ideal information systems and services provide? • How would you go about using the information systems and services? • When? Where? How?

17. Undergraduate Student Comments:Magic Wand “Make library catalogs more like search engines or OhioLink.” “Make a universal library card that would work in all libraries.” “Space in the library to interact and collaborate - group study areas and areas to spread stuff out.”

18. Graduate Student Comments:Magic Wand “More staff, roaming personnel” “Book delivery from library through campus mail” “Drive-up pickup or drop off delivery service since parking is a problem.” “Make the library like a coffee house.”

19. Faculty Comments:Magic Wand “Lessen the intimidation factor” “Better signage and other pathfinders” “Bookstore environment”

20. Semi-structured Dialogue • 15 participants • 6 faculty • 4 graduate students • 5 undergraduate students • Situations • Academic Recall how you go about writing your most recent assignment or research. • What sources did you consult • How did you decide on using them • Where did you locate them? • Personal Show us one of your favorite websites, one you use frequently.

21. Why user looks for information:Motivations • Extrinsic Motivations • - imposed by others • -job-related • -assigned • Intrinsic Motivations • - personal interest • -day to day information needs • -hobbies

22. Emerging Themes:Internet • More than one-half use Google • More than one-third use other search engines • Familiarization tool • Convenient • Current information The findings are not generalizable because of the small, non-random sample.

23. Emerging Themes:Internet Internet as indispensable for familiarization Graduate student comments “Without Google it takes away that initial familiarizing yourself with what’s out there. We wouldn’t know what the good keywords were when we go to a more academic database.” “…but if I want more in-depth information then I would go to the library and find books or whatever.” Faculty comment “… I find Google really, really useful as a fast familiarizing tool.”

24. Emerging Themes:Internet Internet as convenient Graduate student comment “I obviously turn to electronics first, then library second… because it’s convenient. But if I want more in-depth info, then I go to the library.” Internet as current Faculty comment “They’re a bunch of sites I go to everyday. Now none of them are academic. I don’t go to any academic sites everyday.”

25. Emerging Themes:Library • Used for research • Desire ability to customize library portals • Inclusion of recommender services • Enhanced discovery services • Databases, abstracts, and indexes • 8% use electronic databases • Do not perceive as “library sources” • Unable to locate or access full-text copies of journals and books

26. Emerging Themes:Library Library as customizable: Recommender Services Undergraduate student comments “Oh people who liked these have also liked this. Maybe you should check this out.” “It would be more like Amazon than, say, the current library catalog.” “I’ll try to find something where I can search inside of a book… I would have descriptions, maybe, you know like, amazon.com has.” “Well, I have our library [web page] here open and… there’s a lot of information and there’s nowhere to search. This is the opening to the catalog but there’s no box tosearch.”

27. Emerging Themes:Library Graduate student comment “Ok. I definitely don’t like going to the library because I think it’s time consuming... They don’t have someone there that can have the journals and books out ready for you.” Faculty comment “The library is much less self-contained. It’s now connected to other libraries. So, interlibrary loan, shared electronic resources, Ohiolink, is much more important to us now.”

28. End Notes This presentation is one of the outcomes from the project “Sense-Making the Information Confluence: The Whys and Hows of College and University User Satisficing of Information Needs." Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Ohio State University, and OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., the project is being implemented by Brenda Dervin (Professor of Communication and Joan N. Huber Fellow of Social & Behavioral Science, Ohio State University) as Principal Investigator; and Lynn Silipigni Connaway (OCLC Consulting Research Scientist III) and Chandra Prahba (OCLC Senior Research Scientist), as Co-Investigators. More information can be obtained at:http://imlsosuoclcproject.jcomm.ohio-state.edu/

29. Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, & Librarian Perspectives

30. Focus Group Interviews • 8 Focus Group Interviews • 2 with VRS librarians • 4 with VRS non-users • Screenagers • Rural • Suburban • Urban • College students • Graduate • 2 with VRS users • College students • Graduate • Undergraduate • Adults

31. Participant Demographics:User Focus Group Interviews • Ethnicity-Users • 15 Caucasian (68%) • 4 Asian (18%) • 2 African- American (9%) • 1 Hispanic/Latino (5%) • Gender-Users • 13 Male (59%) • 9 Female (41%)

32. Participant Demographics:Non-user Focus Group Interviews • Ethnicity-Non-users • 18 Caucasian (45%) • 7 African- American (17.5%) • 6 Hispanic/Latino (15%) • 2 Asian (5%) • 7 Missing (17.5%) • Gender-Non-users • 23 Female (57.5%) • 17 Male (42.5%)

33. Non-User (Screenagers):Stereotypes and Independence “Because, I mean, once they do their famous point, it’s just like… you don’t want to go near them again.” “I wouldn’t really trust my librarian. I trust Google.” “Plus I think the IMing kind of gives it a cold feeling to it… when you can actually sit and talk to someone face-to-face you kind of can see if they care or not…”

34. Non-User (Screenagers):Security, Accuracy, and Speed “I don’t usually like to talk to like people I don’t know on the Internet.” “I’m not going to go get tutored on the Internet by somebody… who might be some psycho serial killer out there when I could get personal help from my home and people in my community.” “A librarian’s trying to do like 15 of those conversations at once they’re going to mix up replies…” “I don’t really want to take the time actually to type out, like explaining what I’m doing, what I need it for, what type of sources I need.”

35. Non-User (Screenagers): Factors to Influence Use of VRS “I don’t think [I would use VRS] because I like going to people I know. I would probably try it as a last desperate resort…I’d” Moderator: “Consensus. So if [your librarian]recommended it, you would all try this service?” Multiple Participants: “Yes…” “Yup..”

36. Non-User Graduate Students:Preference for Face-to-Face “Just generally, I would talk to somebody in person.” “I prefer to interact with a librarian that I know.” “I would just go, um, to the library website…” “I go to Google Scholar as well and Inquestia.com which I belong to.”

37. Non-User Graduate Students:Misperceptions “…I don’t know if I felt I might be annoying them. Or felt like I might be blown off.” “I guess my reluctance would because I said I do research at odd hours like at two o’clock in the morning. What are the chances that I’m going to be able to have a chat with a librarian?”

38. Non-User Graduate StudentsPrivacy and Technology Concerns “And there could be a chance that [the librarian might say] ‘This guy’s teaching these classes and he doesn’t know this?!’” “I was worried that in some way, you know, if the Department would get a report about what questions [I was asking], you know what I mean…” “Would the connection be good enough to facilitate real-time chat?”

39. Non-User Graduate Students:Factors to Influence Use of VRS “I would want to know that they wanted me to use it.” “Big sign in the library or around campus saying “Have you tried instant messaging your librarian?”

40. VRS Users:Convenience and Independence “I’d rather go two feet to my computer than a couple of miles to the library.” “I always want to do everything myself – I don’t want help.”

41. VRS Users:Collaboration “It’s helpful to have another person looking for you so you get twice as much information – which is quicker.” “…they know how to do it and know where to look and you don’t necessarily know.”

42. VRS Users:Personalized Service “I was on the site at 2 or 3 in the morning and it felt personalized.” “Instead of having to write everything down… you have the transcript of the conversation and all the links from the conversation in a permanent email.”

43. VRS Users:Ability to Multi-Task Moderator: “Okay, so there’s some consensus on that that it allows you to multitask?” Multiple Participants: “Yes.”

44. VRS Users:Distrust “To me it wasn’t that much more than any other search engine.” “I’m not sure how much attention the person… was paying attention to the actual question or the key words in the actual question.” “…they were just Googling stuff as far as I could see.” “I feel like I get better results when I’m, like with the person.”

45. VRS Users: Technology Issues “A tutorial would be nice, for non-computer savvy people.” “Make the chat window bigger.” “Have the chat in one window and have opened up all the links they send you in a separate window.”

46. VRS Librarians: Expand Client Base “We’ve been able to reach people we know we’d never reach otherwise, they’d never come in the building, wouldn’t pick up the phone. And we’ve actually had people tell us that, they say that reference librarians are scary.” “We saw a lot of kids who struggled, wouldn’t feel comfortable asking for help. But with the on-line connection, seemed to be more comfortable asking for help.”

47. VRS Librarians: More Challenging Questions “…the face-to-face reference supervisor is envious when I tell them about the questions that we do get and how much fun we have finding the information.”

48. VRS Librarians: Suggestions for Improvement “Visibility is an asset but… somebody… showed that their virtual reference statistics had gone up markedly after they added a link…” “We have to be able to accompany a broader array of browsers and operating systems and things like that.”

49. End Notes • This is one outcome from the project “Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, & Librarian Perspectives,” Marie L. Radford & Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Co-Principal Investigators. Project website: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/ • Funded by IMLS, Rutgers University and OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc. • Special thanks to Patrick Confer, Timothy Dickey, Jocelyn DeAngelis Williams, Susanna Sabolcsi-Boros Julie Strange, & Janet Torsney.

50. Yes, libraries! A library experience like the experience available on the web