Researchers at Work: Assessing Needs for Content and Presentation of Archival Materials

Abstract

In the past, systems that present digitized archival materials were often created with limited knowledge of their audiences' needs and greater focus on the materials. Organizations must ask whether digital delivery systems are sufficiently effective to merit financial support. As part of the planning process for a digital delivery system at the Orbis Cascade Alliance, the Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA) consortium conducted a study of its core researchers' needs for the selection and presentation of archival materials online. With the assistance of NWDA members, 19 subjects were recruited for hourlong interviews. Although the number of subjects meant that the conclusions should be regarded as preliminary rather than definitive, we were able to draw conclusions about these researchers' needs and desires that will shape the development of elements of the Alliance's digital delivery systems for unique locally held content.

La contribution actuelle de la recherche doctorale en archivistique à l’Université de Montréal

“…28 Les utilisateurs primaires étant ceux qui utilisent les documents d'archives sur place ou à distance, les secondaires étant ceux qui utilisent les documents d'archives indirectement, grâce au travail des autres (par exemple, dans des publications), et les passifs étant ceux qui occasionnellement -et peut-être sans le savoir -utilisent des documents d'archives indirectement (Wilson, 1995, p. 65-66;Katuu, 2015, p. 444 30 Voir entre autres Chapman (2010, p. 9), Charbonneau (1999, p. 380), Coeuré et Duclert (2011, p. 89), Katuu (2015, p. 444), Pugh (2009, p. 164-165), Sundqvist (2007, p. 637), Vilar et Šauperl (2014Vilar et Šauperl ( , 2015 et Yakel et Torres (2003). 31 Pour appuyer ce point, voir les articles d' Allison-Bunnell et al (2011), Craig (1998), Hill (2004) et Vilar et Šauperl (2014, p. 152-154). 32 Pour nous, les genres des documents sont, par exemple, les documents textuels, les documents sonores, les images en mouvement, etc.…”

Reflections on Archival User Studies

“…21 For instance, the Northwest Digital Archives consortium examined its core users' needs as it developed user-based digital delivery systems. 22 Anne J. Gilliland-Swetland investigated K-12 users' needs with respect to digital primary source materials. 23 Another such catalyst of user studies on information needs was a grant provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, which funded the Historical Documents Study in 1992.…”

Identity and User Preference in the Presentation and Content of Digital Archives

“…Online archives in general, and the creative approach to archival digitization in particular, are contentious both because they are much more demanding than straightforward processing and because they have not always found favor with experienced archival researchers. In a series of needs assessment interviews conducted in 2009, researchers were surprised to find their subjects expressed wariness about the reliability and credibility of web 2.0 features and frustration with themed collections (Allison-Burnell, Yakel, & Hauck, 2011). Proponents of online archiving argue that both the business of archives (i.e., the sources of and justifications for programmatic funding) and the potential user population are changing and that the profession must change in response to remain relevant.…”

“…This type of thinking spawned numerous studies and surveys in the decades that followed. Researchers have examined scholarly search behaviors, including structured interviews with users of specific collections or institutions (Duff & Johnson, 2002Yakel, 2002); formal needs assessments (Allison-Burnell, Yakel, & Hauck, 2011); user surveys administered both onsite and online (Krause, 2007); studies of archive professionals' perceptions about user studies (Duff, Dryden, Limkilde, Cherry, & Bogomazova, 2008); quantitative analyses of researcher search queries and reference requests (Bantin & Agne, 2010;Yakel & Bost, 1994), repository site traffic (Dembo & Custer, 2010), and citations from the published scholarly works of researchers who visited the archive (Groggin, 1886); broad cross sectional studies in which users were asked to describe their own search strategies and research habits (Stieg Dalton & Charnigo, 2004); and studies that examine and evaluate the various methodologies and research models available (Snow et. al., 2008).…”

“…The discrepancy between the scholarly participants' responses and those of other user groups are indicative of an "inherent divide between meeting the needs of researchers and those of the general public" (Roth-Katz, 2012, p. 124). This divide has been explicitly identified in the literature as well as intrinsically expressed in research designs that focus on particular groups to the exclusion of others, tacitly acknowledging these divisions (Allison-Bunnell, Yakel, & Hauck, 2011;Barth, 1997;Duff & Johnson, 2013;Goggin, 1986;McKay, 2002;Stieg Dalton & Charnigo, 2004;Tibbo, 2003;Yakel, E., & Bost, 1994). This also speaks to the need articulated by Peacock and Brownbill (2007) for more advanced market segmentation and a strategic, integrated approach to understanding "usability, motivation and demand.…”