Project 6 Undergraduate Activity Related to the UCI Libraries

1
Project 6 - Undergraduate Activity Related to the
UCI Libraries Task Analysis Early Results
Azia Foster . Andrew Zaldivar . Scott Roeder
2
Project Overview

• Interested in exploring the activity that
  undergraduates undergo when using the UCI
  Libraries system (and lack thereof)
• Initial Survey/Interview Results
• Most identify that they use a lot of online
  materials
• Location does not affect their ability to
  interact with UCI Libraries
• Some bypass UCI Libraries and tap directly into
  database of interest (e.g., PubMED, Google
  Scholar)
• Previous library training is not specific enough
• Most users are learning the system on their own
• Majors/Minors delegate their user experience

3
Task Analysis Overview

• Initial Task Analysis
• Consist of finding articles/references.
• One task unrelated to subjects major
• One task related to subjects major
• Problem
• Lack consistency
• Variance in task
• Difficult to measure results
• Challenging designing tasks for different majors
  outside of ICS (and Social Sciences)
• Revised Task Analysis
• Both tasks related to ICS, but performed by
  non-ICS students
• Allows for consistency
• Results are now comparable
• Easier to design tasks
• Inexperienced in ICS topics

4
Survey
5
Task Analysis (Currently Underway)

• Task Overview
• First task done without indication of using
  scholarly articles
• Second task done using ONLY scholarly articles
• Role-play as ICS undergraduate student
• No mention of UCI Libraries in both tasks
• All articles/reference copied/pasted into text
  document
• First Task
• - Search for 3 sources/references on the Social
  Analysis of Viral Videos
• - Research including references to YouTube,
  MetaCafe, and other such sites were permitted
• Second Task
• - Search for 3 sources/references related to the
  current trend and history of Ubiquitous
  Computing.

6
Interview Tools

• Interview
• Semi-structured
• Asked appropriate task-related questions
• Common questions included
• What are the top three reasons they would visit
  the Libraries web site?
• What are the reasons they dont?
• What would change their mind?
• Tools
• - Macbook mouse
• - Firefox or Safari
• - WebVPN (off-campus)
• - Silverback/Audacity for screen capture audio
• - Text Editor (references)
• - Handouts

7
Early Results

• Task Analysis
• Total goal of 12
• Currently 8/12
• Difficult to analyze amount of data collected
• Early Trends
• - Google and Google Scholar are King
• - Wikipedia is used for familiarization with
  topics
• - JSTOR is another popular choice
• - Many do not know how to use UCI Libraries
• - Many do not even know UCI Library Databases
  exist!
• - Those who know about UCI Libraries, learned
  via friends

8
Future Plans

• Due to changes with the Task Analysis and due to
  unforeseen length of Task Analysis, our schedule
  has been revised.
• Revised Schedule
• Finishing Task Analysis (Now May 15th)
• - Analysis and Discussion Over Results (May 15th
  - 19th)
• Trace Patterns/Mock-up of Task Analysis (May
  20th - 26th)
• Preparation for Final Presentation (May 27th
  June 3rd)
• - Final Presentation (June 4th)