User goals on an online public access catalog

Hert, Carol A.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(199607)47:7<504::aid-asi4>3.0.co;2-y

Cited by 34 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The previous results suggest that users' search goals change more between search sessions than within sessions. Hert (1996, 1997) has shown that the search goals of students searching a library's online catalog for their own tasks did not change within a search session. She defined a goal as “what the respondent intended to accomplish during the interaction”; that is, what they were looking for (Hert, 1996, p. 508).…”

Section: Tasks Information Needs and Search Tactics: Empirical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Hert (1996, 1997) has shown that the search goals of students searching a library's online catalog for their own tasks did not change within a search session. She defined a goal as “what the respondent intended to accomplish during the interaction”; that is, what they were looking for (Hert, 1996, p. 508). The findings of Vakkari (2000a) confirm previous claims, but Spink et al (1998) have found a positive correlation between change in end‐users' self‐reported personal knowledge or problem definition and the number of items judged partially relevant.…”

Section: Tasks Information Needs and Search Tactics: Empirical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Task‐based information searching

Vakkari

2003

Annual Review Info Sci & Tec

293

232

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IntroductionThe rationale for using information systems is to find information that helps us in our daily activities, be they tasks or interests. Systems are expected to support us in searching for and identifying useful information. Although the activities and tasks performed by humans generate information needs and searching, they have attracted little attention in studies of information searching. Such studies have concentrated on search tasks rather than the activities that trigger them. It is obvious that our understanding of information searching is only partial, if we are not able to connect aspects of searching to the related task. The expected contribution of information to the task is reflected in relevance assessments of the information items found, and in the search tactics and use of the system in general. Taking the task into account seems to be a necessary condition for understanding and explaining information searching, and, by extension, for effective systems design. Scope and ApproachIn this chapter, I shall review studies on the relationship between task performance and information searching by end-users. I focus mainly on 41 3 414 Annual Review of information Science and Technology information searching in electronic environments, especially in information retrieval (IR) systems. The process of information searching is cyclical, but it can be broken down into the following components:The kind of information that is needed and searched forThe query formulation process, including the choice of search terms and operators Search tacticsThe use of search support tools Relevance and utility judgments regarding the information found Several approaches to characterizing tasks in the literature are in use. In the studies I have found on information searching, tasks have been either characterized as a process consisting of several stages, or this aspect has been left open. In the latter case, the task has been treated as a given and left without characterization; only its context being described. A typical example is observing university students searching for information for study purposes without explicating those purposes. In these studies, the point of departure is searching, not the work task that produces it.Only a limited number of studies relate tasks to searching. Because of this, I take into account studies based on natural search goals, insofar as they further our understanding of task-based searching. I also review a few studies based on assigned search goals. In general, the models and findings are scattered and difficult to integrate into the framework of task-based searching.Ideally, a study should connect the task with the search process in order to analyze their interaction (Belkin, 1990). This sort of study typically requires a longitudinal research design. Due to the rarity of such process analyses, studies that analyze the relation between tasks and searching synchronously are also included. I focus principally on the literature published after 1990 simply because the number of empir...

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Section: Tasks Information Needs and Search Tactics: Empirical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Tasks Information Needs and Search Tactics: Empirical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Task‐based information searching

Vakkari

2003

Annual Review Info Sci & Tec

293

232

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“…Of particular interest to the current study, however, is situational relevance, wherein a user accepts or eliminates items during a search based on whether those items are germane to a particular circumstance (Barry & Schamber, 1998; Harter, 1992; Schamber, 1994; Schamber, Eisenberg, & Nilan, 1990). Hert (1996) maintains that what the user intends to accomplish on‐line, or the goal, is driven by situational elements in the user's life. The author concludes that, unlike information needs, which are likely to change during interaction with an information source, situational goals rarely change, but remain constant.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Taking into account both Xie (1999) and Hert (1996), mid‐level or low‐level goals are ones formed, however temporarily, to address situational or higher level goals. Within Xie's framework, Kim and Little's (1987) goals would be higher level because they were the motivating forces behind information seeking in the library.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of mental models and goals on search patterns during Web interaction

Slone

2002

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci.

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This article reports on a study that uses a new analysis and display tool to examine the influences of understanding the system and goals on end-user Internet searching. Thirty-one public library users were observed searching the Web and/or a Web-based on-line catalog. The study identified four user categories, distinguished by the number of search approaches employed. These included linking, use of search engines, URL use, on-line catalog searching, and searching within a specific Web-site domain. Results conclude that experience and motivation, elements of situational goals and mental models, work in tandem to determine search approaches, Web sites visited, and sources used. People who sought information for job-related or educational purposes were highly motivated. Thus, they were persistent. Those who had a great deal of Internet experience used an array of tools; while those with immature mental models of the Internet relied more heavily on the Web on-line catalog or off-line sources. People seeking information for recreational or personal use were not highly motivated. Whether experienced or not, they relied on serendipity, linking, and other tasks that were not cognitively overbearing. When searching became too difficult, they abandoned the Internet as an information source. Introduction and BackgroundThe growth of the Internet has greatly redefined and expanded access to electronic information in libraries. In particular, the change in technology from on-line catalogs with vendor front ends that only display library holdings to Internet capability represents what Dennis, Carter, and Bordeleianu (1997) deem a paradigm shift in library hosted access to information. This expansion, coupled with the increasing importance of the Internet as an information source, demands that care be taken to assure access to all citizens.Public libraries provide, to a great number of citizens, physical access to the Internet (Bertot & McClure, 1999; McConnaughey, Evenette, Reynolds, & Lader, 1999). However, because a different mental model is required for Internet use than for older library technology, effective use might be limited (Hill, 1997;Saxon, 1997). For instance, unlike older systems, the Internet is decentralized, consisting of a huge amount of information of varying quality from numerous sources with varied indexing rules (Ercegovac, 1997;Jackson, 1994;Walker & Janes, 1999). The effect of this on end-user access to information is not yet known, but in light of the complexities inherent in on-line searching (Borgman, 1996;Dickson, 1984;Lewis, 1987; Matthews, Lawrence, & Ferguson, 1983;Peters, 1989;Solomon, 1994;Tolle, 1983), it is imperative that we understand the elements that might affect Internet accessibility.This article reports results from a study that used Web on-line catalog users as a control group to determine factors influencing search and navigational patterns of Internet users. It focuses on user understanding of the system by looking at mental models, expectations, and experience. It also examines u...

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“…Other aspects contributing to the evaluation of information sources include time and costs considerations (Taylor, 1986; Marchionini, Plaisant, & Komlodi, in press) and knowledge of the system content (Hert, 1996).…”

Section: Decision Making Components In Information Seeking Behavior (mentioning

confidence: 99%

Decision making framework for thinking about information seeking behavior

Lopatovska

2007

Proc of Assoc for Info

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At the time of constantly emerging technologies, information professionals need frameworks for modeling users' preferences as well as understanding adoption and usability issues. One such framework, the decision making Expected Utility theory, is reviewed for its ability to offer the logic of mathematical modeling with graphical aids for analyzing information seeking decisions. Major information seeking decisions, including decisions to seek information, select information sources and search strategies, select relevant information objects, and decisions to stop seeking, are analyzed using the four expected utility components: alternatives, outcomes, likelihoods and values. Application of decision theoretic framework helps to identify under-studied areas of information seeking research, as well as offers new ways of analyzing information preferences.

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User goals on an online public access catalog

Cited by 34 publications

References 12 publications

Task‐based information searching

Task‐based information searching

The influence of mental models and goals on search patterns during Web interaction

Decision making framework for thinking about information seeking behavior

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