This journey-mapping pilot study was designed to determine whether journey mapping is an effective method to enhance the student experience of using the library by assessing our services from their point of view. Journey mapping plots a process or service to produce a visual representation of a library transaction--from the point at which the…

This paper aims to present an alternative and simple method to improve the filtering of search results so as to increase the efficiency of literature searches, particularly for individual researchers who have limited logistical resources. The method proposed here is scope restriction using an impact-based filter, made possible by the emergence of…

The University of Michigan Library wanted to learn more about the kinds of searches its users were conducting through the "one search" search box on the Library Web site. Library staff conducted two investigations. A preliminary investigation in 2011 involved the manual review of the 100 most frequently occurring queries conducted…

The contributions in this volume represent a decade of OCLC's user behavior research findings that articulate the need for the design of future library services to be all about the user. Highlights include: (1) People associate the library with books and do not consider the library in relation to online resources or reference services; (2) People…

This study examines what the public search for in the catalogue of the State Library of Victoria (SLV). As well as indicating the type of content being accessed, this gives an indication of what catalogue users expect of the State Library collection. A content analysis was undertaken of a random, stratified sample of 4,000 search queries typed in…

As the use of the Ohio State University Libraries interlibrary services has increased, there have been more requests to borrow items that are already available to patrons locally, often in electronic format. Patterns relating to why patrons could not find locally available materials were identified in the record of canceled interlibrary requests…

Most academic libraries are seeking to provide electronic access to the very dynamic and changing field of technology related material. "Safari Tech Books Online" and "Books24x7" are the major e-book collections in this area. We compared the "Safari Tech Books Online" and "Books24x7" e-book packages as to…

In recent decades the literature dealing with graduate students and library use, including bibliographic instruction, information-seeking behavior, and information literacy has grown. However, there still appears to be a lack of research and resources available on the information-seeking behavior skills of graduate education students, which can…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how federated search engines are incorporated into the Web sites of libraries in the Association of Research Libraries. In 2009, information was gathered for each library in the Association of Research Libraries with a federated search engine. This included the name of the federated search service and…

Building on a prior investigation of users' formulations and needs in fiction, this study was conducted to determine dominant patterns in public library user-librarian search interactions. Based on analysis of 134 actual user-librarian conversations about fiction recorded under everyday library conditions in Danish public libraries in 1976, it was…

Twenty-three scholarly papers and eleven abstracts reflect the content of the seventh "Brick and Click Libraries Symposium," held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of…

Four public libraries participated in a two-year investigation of the provision of on line reference services in a public library setting. To evaluate the utility and cost of the service, data were collected about search statistics, usage patterns, costs, and impact on the library. This volume of the report contains the evaluation methodology,…

Because the general alphabetic arrangement of fiction in libraries is of little use to the ordinary reader, whose criteria for selecting books often relates to book content, a multi-dimensional and inexclusive fiction classification scheme was developed as a model for both book description and search strategy. Based on analysis of 160 actual…

This report addresses the objectives of a national survey of users and non-users of online catalogs (OPAC's) as they apply to MELVYL and its implementation in the University of California (UC) Libraries on nine campuses. These objectives were to collect information to enable libraries to improve implementation of support services for public access…

New York University (NYU) Libraries received a 1-year grant from the Association of Research Libraries to study users' responses to its recently installed Geac online catalog, Bobcat (Bobst Library Computerized Catalog). The survey instrument, developed for Council on Library Resources (CLR)-funded national study of responses to public access…