Library Users

1
Library Users

• Libr 244
• Lecture 19
• Daniel Stuhlman

2
Patrons 1

• Library patrons, readers, students, are those
  people who actually need the information. They
  supply the reason to do a good and relevant
  search.
• People are in general curious beings. We like to
  have answers to our questions whether they are
  part of our work life or part or our non-work
  life.
• Mary Brown of Drexel describes information
  seeking as goal drive that is dynamic and
  multidimensional. We may be driven by curiosity,
  decision making, problem solving, or a simple
  need for stimulation.

3
Patrons 2

• As we seek information and learn more about our
  topic we often change our goals. Needs, roles,
  and environment are dynamic structures as is our
  information seeking. When you guide someone
  through a complex search, using print or
  electronic resources you have probably watched as
  their search changed, during the search process.
  This is influenced by the context of the search
  and by the searcher and the librarians own
  cognitive state of the moment. We are also
  influenced by factors such as cost, resource
  availability, the expected value of the
  information, the amount of information available
  and how useful we think it may be.

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Influence 1

• Readers must be aware of a resource before they
  are likely to try to use it to solve a need. One
  of the jobs of a library is to gather resources
  The job of the librarian is to guide readers in
  the use of resources. People, even librarians,
  generally turn to personal resources first
  relatives, friends, or colleagues. If personal
  resources do not seem to help them we will
  probably try to find a printed or electronic
  source. Only after we have no success with these
  types of resources are we likely to turn to an
  institution such as a library and often, even
  well educated clientele have no idea of the
  variety and types of resources that exist

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Influence 2

• Of course this is actually great for us as it
  keeps us in business. As librarians we need to
  let people know about our skills and our
  resources, but that is material for another
  course. There is relationship between culture
  and cognition in information seeking.
• The degree to which a person has a cultural frame
  of reference of recognizing or using information
  resources and, the degree of language
  proficiency a person has, especially a person who
  is not part of the dominant culture affect the
  search.

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Interviewing Intangible Components 1

• Style -- That quality that makes each person
  unique. It is the combination of experience,
  attitudes, appearances and other factors that are
  hard to describe.
• The librarian has an image to project. That
  image may be businesslike, straightforward,
  relaxed, chummy or any combination.

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Interviewing Intangible Components 2

• A difficult lesson for the beginning librarian is
  conduct an interview without thinking of the
  reference source that may answer the question.
  The librarian first needs to concentrate on the
  interview and use verbal and non-verbal to
  determine exactly what the reader wants.

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Interviewing Intangible Components 3

• Remember -- what the reader wants and asks is not
  always what they need. Many successful
  interviews may conclude without giving the
  answer. The success of the interview may just be
  a clarification what the reader had in mind. The
  reader may have been satisfied to just discuss
  the question.

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Tangible Components 1

• Non verbal skills
• Eye contact
• Gestures
• Relaxed posture
• Facial expression
• Tone of voice

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Tangible Components 2

• Verbal Skills
• Remembering
• Avoiding premature diagnoses
• Reflecting feelings verbally
• Using encouraging remarks
• Restating or paraphrasing
• Closure
• Opinions and suggestions
• Open ended questions

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Information seeking 1

• Carol Kuhlthau is another researcher who has
  given us a lot of insight into the human act of
  information seeking. She has defined the stages
  we generally pass through on our way from
  uncertainty to understanding. She also is one of
  the few who recognized that humans are emotional
  beings and you just cant separate how we are
  feeling from what we are doing.
• As she describes the process, we first have to be
  aware of a need and then be able to determine if
  information would help us solve that need. At
  this stage we normally feel apprehensive and
  confused about what to do and where to look and
  who to talk to.

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Information seeking 2

• Once we identify that we need information we
  usually have a feeling of readiness to begin
  which is often quite exhilarating. Then as we
  begin to explore our need, thinking about it and
  trying to understand the problem we generally
  return to feelings of confusion and uncertainty.
  At this stage we may not even be able to clearly
  state what the problem is and there is little
  that anyone can do to help us except trying to
  provide very general information that may allow
  us to focus.

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Information Experience 1

• As we gain experience finding the information we
  need, we become familiar the authors or same
  topics within particular bodies of knowledge.
  This familiarity helps us focus and decide how to
  approach recurring and new problems. We learn
  about the structure of knowledge itself and we
  can find the information we need much easier.
  Later in the process people become involved and
  interested in the information seeking process.

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Information Experience 2

• The collection of needed information is the stage
  in which an information professional and
  information system can be the greatest help.
  But, we have to be careful not to inundate the
  seeker with more information than they need, and
  not to keep leading them down side paths that
  relate to the issue but are not really about the
  issue. If the search for information is
  productive and relevant then the user feels an
  increased sense of confidence and control of the
  need.

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Simple Advice

• If the search is not working
• Check the spelling
• Correct the logic
• Break the search smaller into parts
• Keep track of previous searches and sources
• Dont waste time and money looking twice in the
  wrong place
• Search an synonym, antonym, related, or
  associated term
• Stop when getting nowhere