Emotions associated with failed searches in a digital library

Abstract

Introduction. This paper discusses causes behind failed searches from the searchers’ perspective and examines associated emotions. Method. We conducted an online study with real users in their natural settings. Participants were asked to use a digital library and run one specific and one exploratory search task, using their own topics. They also answered pre- and post-questionnaires for both task types. Analysis. Three types of analysis were conducted: (i) one descriptive on answers in questionnaires, (ii) one textual on users’ failure reports to identify the causes and elicit associated emotions and (iii) one behavioural analysis of the interactions recorded in log files. Results. Users identified the lack of coverage and poor usability as main causes behind failed searches. We examined search behaviour along with declared perceptions of the causes behind failures and realised that the digital library functionalities were not fully used. Poor awareness of the digital library functionalities could be an unreported cause for search failures. In general, users had a positive attitude toward the digital library, expressing trust, joy, and anticipation. Anger and sadness were linked specifically to failed searches. Conclusions. There persists a need to improve the digital library systems and simplify their interfaces. The emotional effect is a significant factor that need to be considered in the user experience studies.

Exploratory search in information systems: a systematic review

“…They are provided with methodologies, methods and theoretical frameworks for studying exploratory search. Finally, this paper helps IS practitioners recognize the ubiquity of exploratory search activities in various ISs, for example, search engines (Khan et al , 2023; Pulikowski and Matysek, 2021), digital libraries (Barifah and Landoni, 2020; Hoeber and Shukla, 2022) and collaborative search systems (Andolina et al , 2018; Herceg et al , 2018). They can better appreciate the importance of certain design features in supporting exploratory search, thereby adapting their design strategies to develop exploratory search systems.…”

“…In the past 18 years, exploratory search has been investigated from various perspectives, from information retrieval (IR) (Athukorala et al , 2016), information visualization (Hoeber and Yang, 2008), user interface design (Zhang et al , 2014) and collaborative search (González-Ibáñez et al , 2013), to specific application scenarios, for example, IR systems (Athukorala et al , 2016), search engines (Khan et al , 2023) and digital libraries (Hoeber and Shukla, 2022). The IS community has explored a number of research topics, such as discussing conceptual or theoretical frameworks of exploratory search (Marchionini, 2006; Savolainen, 2018), designing interfaces or IT artefacts that support exploratory search (Guo et al , 2023; Khan et al , 2023), evaluating exploratory search systems (Qu and Furnas, 2008; Zhang et al , 2014) and investigating factors that affect exploratory search performance in specific IS (Barifah and Landoni, 2020; Tang et al , 2013).…”

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of The Digital Library of Repsol

“…One of the basic principles of libraries is to reinforce the autonomous behaviour of their users (Gorman, 2007). Moreover, the ideal scenario would be for users to have their expectations fulfilled when they perform a search by finding what they were looking for, as this would enhance the feeling of a successful search (Wilson, 1999;Barifah;Landoni, 2020).…”

COG Tool: An Automated Cognitive Measurement of Workload for Mobile Event Logging

“…Windows Help needs to be accessed by the user, the time spent upon help and/or the user manual and the number of unmatched task executions within the real world [21]. It is concluded from other studies that the reaction time, i.e., that time interval between the request of a task and the response of the subject, can be considered with a response delay leading to a decreased rate of correct response [24]; [25]. The literature has shown that measures for performance can be undertaken through low-level metrics, i.e.…”