Understanding the Information Needs of Large-Scale Digital Library Users

Abstract

A growing number of large-scale digital libraries, portals that aggregate millions of digitized or born-digital items of historical, cultural, or educational value that are organized into digital collections, have been developed in recent decades. While many of these large-scale digital libraries have been created for the general public, some serve more specific audiences of scholars and educators in different disciplines or domains, for example, history, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), etc.To improve user interaction with large-scale digital libraries and to make sure they successfully meet their users' information needs, the design and development of large-scale digital libraries' discovery and access systems should be informed by general user tasks such as finding, identifying, selecting, and obtaining information as well as by the needs and information-searching patterns of their specific intended user communities.1 Various groups of users (e.g., researchers, educators, and enthusiasts) may use digital libraries differently because of their varying information needs; moreover, users' information-searching strategies may differ in the large-scale digital libraries that function in distinct domains, or subject areas. These differences may require specific policies regarding the organization and description of information objects in large-scale digital libraries.The extensive digitization and organization of large-scale digital libraries require in-depth research of current trends in use of these emerging and rapidly developing resources. However, systematic investigation into the user searching Dr. Oksana Zavalina (oksana.zavalina @unt

Exploratory search in digital libraries: A preliminary examination of the use and role of interface features

“…Research is needed to understand the use and role of features in domain‐specific DLs (Zavalina & Vassilieva, ). Understanding the experiences users derive from features (e.g., unexpected, delightful) may provide insights into motivations behind feature use and further inform the design of DLs.…”

“…Through a comparison of search logs of two domain‐specific DLs—the National Science DL and Opening History—Zavalina and Vassilieva () found there were differences in the ways in which the two research communities searched (e.g., length and type of search queries). However, the examination was limited to the use of input features (e.g., basic keyword, advanced search) rather than the whole SUI, which the current paper examines.…”

Mining user queries with information extraction methods and linked data

“…Thus, as underlined by Zavalina & Vassilieva (2014), very few studies examine the content of the user search queries and other relevant log files. Ceccarelli et al (2011) used Europeana query logs, but more as means for developing assistance functionalities such as a query recommender system than as objects of study per se.…”

User Navigation in Large-Scale Distributed Digital Libraries: The Case of the Digital Public Library of America

“…A number of studies were conducted with educators to evaluate the functionality of the NSDL, its support for designing learning activities, and to examine usage patterns (Recker 2006;Recker et al 2007;Xu and Recker 2012). More recently, Zavalina and Vassilieva (2014) analyzed search queries in the NSDL and Opening History (OH), an aggregator of digital collections with a focus on US history and developed through IMLS National Leadership Grants. The authors found that user searching differed between those two domain-specific DLs in regard to query lengths, frequencies, and search categories.…”