OPAC Queries at a Medium-Sized Academic Library

Moulaison, Heather Lea

doi:10.5860/lrts.52n4.230

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 2 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…In recent years, a variety of transaction log studies have been done in a library context (e.g. Han, Jeong, & Wolfram, 2014;Lown et el., 2013;Meadow & Meadow, 2012;Moulaison, 2008;Niu et al, 2014). Most of these studies found, in concordance with earlier log-based studies in a web context, that users issue two to three query words on average, have short sessions, and made little use of Boolean logic in their queries.…”

Section: Previous Literaturesupporting

confidence: 79%

“More than Meets the Eye” - Analyzing the Success of User Queries in Oria

Huurdeman

Aamodt

Heggø³

2018

NORIL

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Discovery systems allow academic library users to locate a wider range of resources than previous OPACs. However, actual usage of these systems may still be challenging. The main aim of this research is to get a better understanding of the hurdles users face while searching contemporary library systems.This study utilizes a transaction log analysis approach, using popular and zero result queries datasets gathered from the statistics module of a library discovery system. It explores what types of queries users perform, how successful the queries are, and examines underlying reasons for unsuccessful queries. To our knowledge, this is the first academic paper to use data originating from built-in transaction logs of the Oria library discovery system.The analysis shows that queries are often curriculum-related: we could pinpoint a relation with curriculum for 58% of the popular queries, and 28% for the zero result searches. A vast majority of popular queries refer to books, databases and journals, and over half of the queries used the title to locate a resource. 20% of the popular queries turned out to be unsuccessful. Zero result queries typically involve long queries, and in many cases consist of pasted reference citations.Our conclusion is that the examined discovery system is rather sensitive. Whilst this suggests the importance of increasing users' information search skills, it also points to the need for enhancing discovery systems and their underlying metadata. Furthermore, due to the prominence of curriculum-related queries, a better integration of curriculum materials ought to be achieved.

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Section: Previous Literaturesupporting

confidence: 79%

“More than Meets the Eye” - Analyzing the Success of User Queries in Oria

Huurdeman

Aamodt

Heggø³

2018

NORIL

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“…38 Moulaison studied transaction logs and analyzed queries by the users of a college online public access catalog and indicated that the number of terms included in a search (a query length) and the number of search limits can serve as "measures of search complexity" and a way of "documenting the sophistication of the queries." 39 Transaction log analysis is frequently used in qualitative analysis. Several studies categorized web search queries into topical categories applying qualitative methods of research.…”

Section: Transaction Log Analysis Studies Of User Searchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Information Needs of Large-Scale Digital Library Users

Zavalina¹,

Vassilieva²

2014

LRTS

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A growing number of large-scale digital libraries, portals that aggregate millions of digitized or born-digital items of historical, cultural, or educational value that are organized into digital collections, have been developed in recent decades. While many of these large-scale digital libraries have been created for the general public, some serve more specific audiences of scholars and educators in different disciplines or domains, for example, history, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), etc.To improve user interaction with large-scale digital libraries and to make sure they successfully meet their users' information needs, the design and development of large-scale digital libraries' discovery and access systems should be informed by general user tasks such as finding, identifying, selecting, and obtaining information as well as by the needs and information-searching patterns of their specific intended user communities.1 Various groups of users (e.g., researchers, educators, and enthusiasts) may use digital libraries differently because of their varying information needs; moreover, users' information-searching strategies may differ in the large-scale digital libraries that function in distinct domains, or subject areas. These differences may require specific policies regarding the organization and description of information objects in large-scale digital libraries.The extensive digitization and organization of large-scale digital libraries require in-depth research of current trends in use of these emerging and rapidly developing resources. However, systematic investigation into the user searching Dr. Oksana Zavalina (oksana.zavalina @unt

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“…Misspellings constituted the largest number of suggestions from Easy Search and, in most cases, students ignored the suggestions that would have corrected their spelling errors. Though not in the context of a class setting, Moulaison (2008) and Holman (2011) both noted similar findings in their studies. Moulaison observed typographical errors resulted in students not finding results and, as in our study, the failed search was rerun a second time, with the incorrect typing (Moulaison, 2008, p. 236).…”

mentioning

confidence: 65%

“…The number of studies that focus on real-time student searching and transaction log analysis is small. Moulaison (2008) used transaction logs to examine how users searched in the OPAC at an academic institution. She primarily sought to discover two things: how users employed advanced search features and what users did when they encountered a failed search.…”

Section: Student Search Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using transaction log analysis to assess student search behavior in the library instruction classroom

Avery

Tracy

2014

Reference Services Review

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1. Introduction Librarians have many tools at their disposal for assessing library instruction, but it is rare to assess each individual student as they search for information. Through the analysis of search transaction logs the authors of this article were able to observe this key student behavior for 29 sections of a general education communication course taught in the spring semester of 2011. This study includes a total of 1,636 unique searches performed by 579 students using Easy Search, the federated search system developed at the University of Illinois. The results and analysis provide suggestions for librarians teaching undergraduates to construct more relevant, targeted searches. These lessons can help librarians both in the classroom and at the reference desk. As libraries increase options for student searching, ranging from native databases to federated search tools to web-scale discovery systems, we must remain cognizant of how students search in order to determine how best to help them construct searches that provide quality, relevant results. The primary purpose of this study was to observe how students searched during a library instruction session. The authors were interested in assessing several things: whether students followed the teacher librarian and put into practice search strategies taught during the class, what resources the students selected, how they interacted with automated suggestions from the search tool, and whether they were persistent in revisions to their own searches. In each instruction session, students first participated in a

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OPAC Queries at a Medium-Sized Academic Library

Cited by 19 publications

References 2 publications

“More than Meets the Eye” - Analyzing the Success of User Queries in Oria

“More than Meets the Eye” - Analyzing the Success of User Queries in Oria

Understanding the Information Needs of Large-Scale Digital Library Users

Using transaction log analysis to assess student search behavior in the library instruction classroom

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