The changing patterns in behaviour of scientists on searching e-resources By: Jaco Zijlstra Title: Director Scopus Date: November 17th, 2006

Agenda Search as a major driver of change From search to analysis: addressing users needs by asking them! One example from Scopus: what have we learned?

Search as a driver for change in scientists’ behavior

Searching has overtaken browsing

Scientists find more in less time Time spent gathering vs analysing information: 2001-2005 58% 42% 48% 52% 55% 45% 56% 44% 54% 46% 51% 49% 47% 53% Then Now Fin/HR/Legal Sci/Eng Mfg/Purch Total IT Sales/Mktg Gathering Compared to print-only era Scientists now read 25%+ more articles per year Scientists now read from almost twice as many journals Analysing Scientists can now spend more time analysing information than gathering it! Source: Outsell’s Buyer Market Database, Dr Carol Tenopir www.dlib.org/dlib/october03/king/10king.html

From search to analysis: adding value to scientists’ research

HOW to (better) support literature research Approach to product development Develop new products in partnership with customers Closely research the literature research workflow of the end-user Explore real user needs with librarians as well as users and translate these into product solutions Organise multiple iterations with end-users to test and retest prototypes Nothing is developed without firm evidence ……………………..…that users really need it

User centered design Evidence based development If we understand the researcher workflow we can design better products So we significantly invest in user-based design

WHAT to develop: Library partners view. Make sure to: Not develop a stand-alone tool Ensure Library Integration for example customized full-text links Simple and easy user interface Cover comprehensive, multidisciplinary content Combine an integrated web search Fit with daily workflow of scientists It’s not about searching but about finding……..

WHAT to develop: End user view Scientists need more than just search capability: Sometimes you search for what you have seen Sometimes for what you should have seen Sometimes for what you might have never seen And you are always afraid to have missed something It must be: Simple Comprehensive Lead you to all known AND unknown items Surprising Serendipitous

Most common tasks users have to fulfil when doing literature research Find (new) articles in a familiar subject field Stay up-to-date Get an overview or understanding of a new subject field Find author-related information articles by a specific author information that would help in evaluating a specific author for instance co-author, contact info or citations) It is not just searching; it is evaluating, browsing, selecting

One example from Scopus: searching for an author’s work

The problem Searching for an author’s work is hampered by two serious problems: How to distinguish between an author’s articles and those of another authors sharing the same name? How to group an author’s articles together when his or her name has been recorded in different ways? (e.g. Stambrook, P and Stambrook, P.J.) As a result of this problem, finding all articles by one author is cumbersome and problematic

Solving the problem Using data available in publication records in Scopus such as: Author names Author affiliation Co-authors Self-citations Subject area Source titles … To group articles that belong to one author

Thank you !!