Why Conduct User Studies? The Role of Empirical Evidence in Improving the Practice of Librarianship
| Session: Conference Opening:
Information Seeking Behaviour and Information Resources |
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| Author: |
Barbara Wildemuth, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; USA |
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 Fulltext
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| Abstract: |
To conduct a user study requires a significant amount of time and effort. The
understanding of user behaviors that can be gained through a particular user study must be valuable enough, in terms of
improving the practice of librarianship, to make the effort worthwhile. Dr. Wildemuth will present the argument for
conducting studies of user behaviors and information needs. Her argument will be supported with several examples
providing empirical evidence that can be directly applied to the improvement of library practices such as the definition
and development of reference services, the ways in which library users can be introduced to new electronic materials,
and the design of training programs for library and database users. The importance of considering the context in which
people seek information from libraries will be discussed, as well as the importance of considering the specific
characteristics of the library's clients.
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| About the author: |
Dr. Barbara Wildemuth joined the faculty of the School of Information and
Library Science in 1988, after completing her PhD at Drexel University. Her research focuses on people's information
seeking behaviors and their use of information. She regularly teaches courses on retrieving and analyzing information,
systems analysis, user interface design, and information ethics.
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Other papers in this session:
- Conference Opening (Jaroslava Durčáková, Rector of the University of Economics in Prague; Czech Republic)
- Welcome Address by the Czech Minister of Informatics (Vladimír Mlynář, Minister of Informatics of the Czech
Republic; Czech Republic)
- Learning Organization, Networked Sharing of Knowledge, and Changes
of User Behaviour (Richard Papík, Institute of Information Studies and Librarianship, Charles University
Prague; Czech Republic)
- Pilot Research in Information Seeking Behaviour (Vladimír
Karen, Albertina icome Praha s.r.o.; Czech Republic)
- Searching and Creating Value for Users of Online Information
Services (Radovan Kačín, University of Economics, Prague; Czech Republic)
- Invitation to the EUSIDIC Annual Conference 2003 in Prague (Johan
van Halm, EUSIDIC; The Netherlands)
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to conference programme
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