Investigating User Search Tactic Patterns and System Support in Using Digital Libraries

This study aims to investigate users\u27 search tactic application and system support in using digital libraries. A user study was conducted with sixty digital library users. The study was designed to answer three research questions: 1) How do users engage in a search process by applying different types of search tactics while conducting different search tasks?; 2) How does the system support users to apply different types of search tactics?; 3) How do users\u27 search tactic application and system support for different types of search tactics affect search outputs? Sixty student subjects were recruited from different disciplines in a state research university. Multiple methods were employed to collect data, including questionnaires, transaction logs and think-aloud protocols. Subjects were asked to conduct three different types of search tasks, namely, known-item search, specific information search and exploratory search, using Library of Congress Digital Libraries. To explore users\u27 search tactic patterns (RQ1), quantitative analysis was conducted, including descriptive statistics, kernel regression, transition analysis, and clustering analysis. Types of system support were explored by analyzing system features for search tactic application. In addition, users\u27 perceived system support, difficulty, and satisfaction with search tactic application were measured using post-search questionnaires (RQ2). Finally, the study examined the causal relationships between search process and search outputs (RQ 3) based on multiple regression and structural equation modeling. This study uncovers unique behavior of users\u27 search tactic application and corresponding system support in the context of digital libraries. First, search tactic selections, changes, and transitions were explored in different task situations - known-item search, specific information search, and exploratory search. Search tactic application patterns differed by task type. In known-item search tasks, users preferred to apply search query creation and following search result evaluation tactics, but less query reformulation or iterative tactic loops were observed. In specific information search tasks, iterative search result evaluation strategies were dominantly used. In exploratory tasks, browsing tactics were frequently selected as well as search result evaluation tactics. Second, this study identified different types of system support for search tactic application. System support, difficulty, and satisfaction were measure in terms of search tactic application focusing on search process. Users perceived relatively high system support for accessing and browsing tactics while less support for query reformulation and item evaluation tactics. Third, the effects of search tactic selections and system support on search outputs were examined based on multiple regression. In known-item searches, frequencies of query creation and accessing forwarding tactics would positively affect search efficiency. In specific information searches, time spent on applying search result evaluation tactics would have a positive impact on success rate. In exploratory searches, browsing tactics turned out to be positively associated with aspectual recall and satisfaction with search results. Based on the findings, the author discussed unique patterns of users\u27 search tactic application as well as system design implications in digital library environments

Public libraries’ resources and children’s use: preliminary results of imls public library survey data analysis

This study analyzed IMLS Public Library Service data to examine the relationships between library resources and children’s public library use. Libraries were categorized into three groups according to service population size. Two groups of variables were selected from the dataset which represent “resources” (i.e. expenditures, staff, and materials necessary for providing services to library patrons) and “children’s use” (i.e. circulation of children’s materials and attendance at children’s programs), and all variables were standardized by service population size. Correlation analysis, multiple regression, and analysis of variance were employed for data analysis. Results show that most of the selected resources variables are significantly associated with children’s use across all three groups, and staff size, collection expenditures, and print volumes significantly influenced children’s material circulation. Children’s material circulation accounted for 33.7% out of the total library circulation, and proportions of program attendance were higher than 70% across the three groups

Identifying Facets of Reader-Generated Online Reviews of Children’s Books Based on a Textual Analysis Approach

With the increasing popularity of social media, online reviews have become one of the primary information sources for book selection. Prior studies have analyzed online reviews, mostly in the domain of business. However, little research has examined the content of online book reviews of children’s books. Book reviews generated by book readers contain different aspects of information, such as opinions, feedback, or emotional responses, from the perspectives of readers. This study explores what aspects of the books are addressed in readers’ reviews, and then it intends to identify categorical features or facets of online book reviews of children’s books. We employed a textual analysis approach including the latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling to analyze the content of book reviews. The results indicate that online book reviews exhibit different facets of the books, which can be used as access points by potential readers to help them select relevant books

Exploring the Structure of Library and Information Science Web Space Based on Multivariate Analysis of Social Tags

Introduction. This study examines the structure of Web space in the field of library and information science using multivariate analysis of social tags from the Website, Delicious.com. A few studies have examined mathematical modelling of tags, mainly examining tagging in terms of tri-partite graphs, pattern tracing and descriptive statistics. This study is one of the few studies to employ multivariate analysis in investigating dimensions of Web spaces based on social tagging data. Method. This study examines the post data collected from a set of library and information science related Websites bookmarked on Delicious.com using a Web crawler. Post data consist of the URL, usernames, tags and comments assigned by users of Delicious.com. The collected tag data were analysed based on multivariate methods, such as multidimensional scaling and structural equation modelling. Analysis. Collected data were first analysed using multidimensional scaling to explore initial relationships amongst the selected Websites. Then, confirmatory factor analysis based on structural equation modelling was employed to examine the hierarchical structure of the library & information science Web space. Results. Social tag data exhibit different dimensions in the Web space of the library and information science field. In addition, social tags confirmed the hierarchical structure of the field by showing significantly stronger relationships between the sites with similar characteristics. That is, the structure of the tagging data shows similar connections to those present in the real world. Conclusions. This study suggests a new statistical approach in social tagging and Web space analysis studies. Tag information can be used to explain the hierarchical structure of a certain domain. Methodologically, this study suggests that structural equation modelling can be a compelling method to explore hierarchal structures of nodes on the Web space

Investigation of Factors That Influence Public Librarians’ Social Media Use for Marketing Purposes: An Adoption of the Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior

This study aims to explore multiple factors that are associated with social media use by public librarians for marketing purposes. Based on the technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior, the effects of five factors—usefulness, ease of use, attitude, subjective norms, and behavioral control—on social media use intention were examined. A survey was conducted, and 462 valid responses were collected from public librarians across the United States. The findings revealed that all five factors have a significant impact on librarians’ intention to engage in social media activities for library marketing. Perceived behavioral control factors were the most influential on social media use intention. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed based on the findings of this study

Exploring Topics and Genres in Storytime Books: A Text Mining Approach

Objective – While storytime programs for preschool children are offered in nearly all public libraries in the United States, little is known about the books librarians use in these programs. This study employed text analysis to explore topics and genres of books recommended for public library storytime programs. Methods – In the study, the researchers randomly selected 429 children books recommended for preschool storytime programs. Two corpuses of text were extracted from the titles, abstracts, and subject terms from bibliographic data. Multiple text mining methods were employed to investigate the content of the selected books, including term frequency, bi-gram analysis, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis. Results – The findings revealed popular topics in storytime books, including animals/creatures, color, alphabet, nature, movements, families, friends, and others. The analysis of bibliographic data described various genres and formats of storytime books, such as juvenile fiction, rhymes, board books, pictorial work, poetry, folklore, and nonfiction. Sentiment analysis results reveal that storytime books included a variety of words representing various dimensions of sentiment. Conclusion – The findings suggested that books recommended for storytime programs are centered around topics of interest to children that also support school readiness. In addition to selecting fictionalized stories that will support children in developing the academic concepts and socio-emotional skills necessary for later success, librarians should also be mindful of integrating informational texts into storytime programs

Using Digital Libraries Non-Visually: Understanding the Help-Seeking Situations of Blind Users

Introduction. This study explores blind users\u27 unique help-seeking situations in interacting with digital libraries. In particular, help-seeking situations were investigated at both the physical and cognitive levels. Method. Fifteen blind participants performed three search tasks, including known-item search, specific information search, and exploratory search, using the selected digital library. Pre-questionnaire, pre- and post-interviews, transaction logs and think-aloud protocols were used to collect data. Analysis. Open coding analysis was used to identify help-seeking situations the physical and cognitive levels. Results. The study identified seventeen help-seeking situations that blind users encountered while using digital libraries, including nine at the physical level and eight at the cognitive level. To be more specific, physical help-seeking situations were categorised into 1) difficulty accessing information, 2) difficulty identifying current status and path, and 3) difficulty evaluating information efficiently. Cognitive help-seeking situations were classified into 1) confusion about multiple programs and structures, 2) difficulty understanding information, 3) difficulty understanding or using digital library features, and 4) avoidance of specific formats or approaches. Conclusion. The identified help-seeking situations reveal a gap between current digital library design practices and special needs of blind users. Practical implications for the design of help features for more blind-friendly digital libraries are suggested based on the findings

Supporting School Readiness through Librarian-Child Interactions in Public Library Storytimes: An Analysis of Assessment Scores and Influential Factors

A recent trend in public libraries′ children’s services emphasizes the role of promoting school readiness. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the school readiness efforts present in storytime programs, this study observed and scored 68 public library preschool storytime sessions presented by 35 storytime providers across three states using the CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System) measure. The CLASS evaluates adult-child interactions in learning environments within three domains related to positive outcomes in children’s school readiness: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Additionally, the study examined whether differences among CLASS scores were influenced by the population density of the library community, the storytime provider’s degree status and educational level, the provider’s prior teaching experience, the provider’s years of experience in children’s services, and the number of children participating in the storytime session. Results revealed that storytime providers score well in the CLASS’s emotional support and classroom organization dimensions but have room for improvement in the content-focused instructional support domain. Of the factors examined, only years of experience in children’s services was found to influence a provider’s CLASS score. These findings suggest that professional development programs should focus on preparing librarians to teach and model school readiness skills during storytime

Youth services in the global learning community

The Youth Services SIG proposes a panel of six presentations focusing on youth, learning, and information in a global context. The purpose of the SIG session is (a) to present a diversity of current research that investigates youth learning in a global context, and (b) to engage the audience in discussing to what extent our teaching, research, service efforts account for the global context and exploring future directions for youth services in equipping contemporary young people for this diverse and global world. The peer-reviewed projects featured in the panel demonstrate youth services librarianship plays a critical role in youth learning in a global context, whether through public library story time, new literacy and fake news curriculums, community engagement and informal learning programs, graphic novels, or young adult literature on or for LGBTQAI+ (an inclusive term that refers to most all sexual and gender identities). Each presentation addresses this year’s conference theme, Exploring Learning in a Global Information Context, in a different, yet significant manner. These projects highlight how youth-centered librarianship promotes learning, global citizenship, global literacy, and cultural understandings and diversity—key competencies in the global information context. The panel will begin with a brief introduction by the moderators (5 minutes). A presentation on each project will follow (maximum 10 minutes per project—total 60 minutes). Finally, the panelists will engage the audience, opening the floor to questions and discussions on the implications for LIS educators and researchers (25 minutes)

A Web Link Structure of the American Library & Information Science Field: A Pilot Study

1. INTRODUCTION Web link analysis has become one of the methods to delineate a communication structure among different scholars or organizations with the advent of the Web. This study represents a pilot investigation of the Web space in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field using social network analysis techniques. By relying on collected in- and out-link data using a hyperlink crawler and analyzing the directed hyperlink data between Web sites in the LIS field using different techniques, this study tried to explore the structure of the Web space in the field of LIS. Also, this study investigated which Web sites play a central role in communication in the Web space, along with the dependency between Web sites. As an exploratory study, the entire breadth of LIS-related Web sites was not covered. 2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study attempts to address three research questions in relation to Web space analysis of the LIS field: 1) Which sites will be located in the central region of the LIS Web space, as measured by link analysis? 2) What types of dependency patterns emerge among the Web sites? 3. METHODOLOGY 3.1 Data collection Twenty-four Web sites were selected, which include relevant scholarly and professional organizations, government institutions, and American LIS schools. For scholarly and professional organizations, representative organizations were chosen such as the American Library Association (ALA), the American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T), and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). Fourteen LIS schools accredited by ALA were also selected. Table 1 shows the 24 research objects in this study, and the ID (code) used in an italic font to represent the Web site of the institution. The list of 24 research objects In- and out-link data for the 24 Web sites were collected using a Web crawler that was designed to collect the hyperlinks to external domains. The data collection was conducted in February 2009. The crawling depth was set to the fourth level in the study. Even though the fourth level of depth did not necessarily reflect the whole structure of Web site, it would be acceptable for an initial investigation of this topic. 3.2 Analysis techniques For this pilot study, two approaches were identified. 1)In-link and Out-link Visualization: First, to understand the overall Web space structure of the LIS field, the in- and out-link data were visualized using Netdraw software (http://www.analytictech.com/Netdraw/netdraw.htm), which was developed for social network studies. 2)Degree Centrality Test: For more detailed investigation of the characteristics of each node, a degree centrality test was included. Centrality in network analysis can be used to quantify an individual node?s prominence, influence or dependency using in-degree and out-degree measures. In-degree refers to the number of in-links, whereas out-degree refers to the number of out-links. In network analysis, in-degree represents how prestigious a node is because it indicates how many links a node receives from other nodes[1]. 4. RESULTS An in- and out-link matrix was creating using the external link crawler. The total number of hyperlinks (in-links and out-links) among the twenty four nodes up to the fourth level of each site was 7,898. Table 2 summarizes the descriptive statistics of the asymmetric in- and out-link matrix. The average number of hyperlinks between two nodes was 14.31 with a standard deviation of 41.39. The ala node had the largest number of in-links and out-links, totaling 2,156 and 1,147 links, respectively. This reveals that the ALA site is the most frequently linked with others in the LIS Web space. The second largest node was loc , with 1,247 in-links and 1,122 out-links. Third was asis&t with a total of 1,096 in- and out links. The matrix revealed that the average number of in- and out-links was larger in organizational nodes rather than in school nodes. The average number of links of each organizational node was 474.13, whereas the average links of each school node was 212.65. From this we can deduce that the organizational nodes have more in-links (6,683) than out-links (4,222), while the school nodes have more out-links (3,676) than in-links (1,215). Descriptive statistics of in- and out-link asymmetric matrix data Figure 1 shows the visualization of the links among the twenty-four nodes. For the layout of nodes, the spring embedding algorithm, which provides an easily legible layout based on node repulsion concept, was applied with equal edge lengths. Since the spring embedding algorithm method considers distance as dissimilarity between nodes, we could interpret similarity among nodes from the output. In this figure, the red node indicates the organizational node and the blue node indicates the school node, and the size of node suggests the number of in-links. The arrow line indicates the link and its direction, and the width of the line reflects the frequency of links between two nodes. The most notable finding was that most organizational nodes such as ala , asis&t , oclc , loc and ifla were located at the center of the space, whereas most school sites such as slis.cua , ci.fsu , slis.kent , lis.simmons , sis.utk and is.pitt were located at the periphery. A relatively distinct core/peripheral structure was apparent, where the core area consisted of organizational sites and the peripheral area consisted of school sites. Then the most prominent node was ala which had the largest size of node and the most frequent connections with other nodes. This suggests the ALA site serves as a core communicator in the LIS Web space. In addition, we can see the ala node sends and receives links to all other nodes, and the widths of those lines are relatively thicker. Furthermore, the four representative LIS related organizations, ala , asis&t , oclc and loc , located in close proximity to one another. Also, we can observe that archives and saa , which relate to the archives field, are located adjacently. A linkage visualization of a Web structure of the LIS field in America To investigate the dependency patterns in the LIS Web space, the Freeman?s centrality degree index values were calculated for each node. The higher in-degree centrality indicates a node gets higher attention by other nodes, whereas the higher out-degree centrality implies a node is more like to be dependent on other nodes in a Web space[1]. Table 3 shows the degree centrality in the LIS Web space. Regarding the in-degree centrality, the top eight nodes turned out to be the organizational sites. Similar to the outputs of the descriptive analyses, we see that the organizational sites receive higher numbers of in-links from other sites. Also, we find that most organizational nodes have higher in-degree centrality than out-degree centrality. Conversely, we find that most of the school sites have higher out-degree centrality than in-degree centrality. This pattern implies that the school sites are dependent on other sites in the Web space. In particular, the slis.indiana node ranks third in out-degree centrality but fifteenth in the in-degree centrality, which indicates high dependency. From this degree centrality analysis, we are able to confirm the dependency propensity of school sites on organizational sites. Freeman's degree centrality measures 5. CONCLUSION This study investigated the Web space of the LIS field using social network analysis techniques. The findings show that the organizational sites have more in- and out-links than school sites. The visualized network diagram of the LIS Web space imply most organizational sites are located near the center region, whereas most school sites are positioned in peripheral areas. Also the centrality analyses reveal that higher prominence of organizational sites than school sites and higher dependency propensity of school sites than organizational sites. The findings of this study yield some insights in Web site evaluations, especially how to incorporate Web space structure in a specific field to evaluate the importance of Web sites in a specific field. How a specific Web site is situated in a Web space suggests a dynamic approach to evaluate the importance or influence of Web sites in relation to other sites. Also, the application of centrality measures such as degree, closeness and betweenness centrality utilized in social network analyses is useful for evaluating Web sites. This study also has its limitations. First, even though the sample represents a selection of organizations and schools from the LIS field, the number of research objects could be enlarged to provide a more complete picture of LIS Web space. Second, the data did not represent the entirety of each site since the limitation of the crawling level. For more complete analysis, the depth of crawling could be deeper to reflect the full content of Web sites. Based on this pilot study, further research to implement Web space analysis with a larger dataset is anticipated