1. An early study of user frustration in a library
Tefko Saracevic
An early study of user frustration in a library
Any relevance for present day brick & mortar and digital libraries?
Tefko Saracevic, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
School of Communication and Information
Rutgers University

2. Reminiscences A long while ago Paul & I worked on a research project
Some interesting results came out
Here is a recount
And some implications
And best wishes

3. History: Information utilities - Project INFUT
NSF Grant to Complex Systems Institute, Case Western Reserve Univ., Sept 1972 – March 1975
Objectives (among others):
methodologies for evaluation of the utilization of information in a University
experiments – involving real users requesting know items (books) from a university library
Results:
12 publications in various Proceedings & 9 journal articles
model & data: availability of library resources for users

4. Major publications

5. Data collection
Studied users in a science & technology library who came with a request for a book (know item)
And then analyzed how many of these requests were actually satisfied
And for those that were NOT satisfied, why not?
On two occasions:
1972: library had a semester long loan policy
1974: library changed to a four week loan policy

6. Model: Branching diagram
from no. of total (W) to no. of satisfied (S) requests
& what happened in between

7. User requests for a specific book (1972: book loan for a semester)
W = 423 (total requests)
V = 371 (acquired by libr. )
U = 286 (total available)
T = 255 (libr. operation)
S = 203 (satisfied requests)
Da = 52 (libr. did not have)
Dc = 85 (in circulation)
Dl = 31 (library error - missing, mis-shelved...)
Du = 52 (user error)
Pa = 88% (V/W) i.e.12% NOT actually acquired
Pc = 77% (U/V) 23 % circulating
Ps = 48% (S/W) (of requested satisfied)
Pl = 89% (T/U) 11% library error
Pu = 80% (S/T) 20% user error

8. User requests for a specific book (1974 change: book loan for four weeks)
W = 437 (total requests)
V = 399 (acquired by libr. )
U = 342 (total available)
T = 299 (libr. operation)
S = 245 (satisfied requests)
Da = 38 (libr. did not have)
Dc = 52 (in circulation)
Dl = 48 (library error - missing, mis-shelved...)
Du = 54 (user error)
Pa = 91% i.e. 9% NOT acquired
Pc = 87% 13 % circulating
Ps = 56% (S/W) (of requested satisfied)
Pl = 86% 14% library error
Pu = 82% 18% user error

9. Performance 1972 semester loan 1974 four weeks loan Satisfaction 48%
56%
Acquisition
88%
91%
Circulation
77%
lowest
87%
Library operations
89%
86%
User performance
80%
second lowest
82%

10. An application 30 years later
Branching diagram applied
but measures of performance called “barriers” - elaborated
data analyzed pretty much the same way

11. Can it be applied today? To B&M libraries?
Yes, definitely
Same reasons for not finding known items pertain today
But should be modified to include all kinds of information resources
Users still look for books & other resources in libraries basically the same way. But they also do now many different things

12. Can it be applied today? To digital libraries?
Yes, but with modification to account for new(er) information resources & capabilities
Branching still exist
we know that many additional variables now affect performance & present “barriers” to users
but we do not have, yet, good models & methodologies to study them & get useful data
However, today users use great many information sources in addition to libraries
But performance?????

13. Conclusion
Wide and constantly increasing diversity of digital libraries & related collection & portals suggests several issues
traditional libraries are not traditional any more
but come in many digital library forms; many/most are hybrid
many new players have entered the arena
particularly in subject areas
but all need to account for performance
A new branching model is needed
old branching model may point the way for developing one

14. Over the years ...
Conference
Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA)
Dubrovnik & island Mljet
Croatia