1. Human information behaviour: electronic resources, digital library use and evaluation Jela Steinerová, Jaroslav Šušol Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University Bratislava, Slovakia, steinerova@fphil.uniba.sksteinerova@fphil.uniba.sk, susol@fphil.uniba.sk

2. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Agenda Research project VEGA : interaction of man and information environment User surveys in Slovakia A model of an average user Differences in user groups Use of electronic resources Conclusions: proposals for digital libraries

3. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Research project VEGA 1/9236/02 Contexts of research project New challenges: changes in information provision in libraries digital libraries: integration of sources, user communities accessibility of electronic communication open information structures in digital environment

4. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Contexts of research project Information behaviour of users in information seeking – conceptual model Stable preferences (motivation, sources, access) Patterns (orientation, cooperation, information processing) Evaluation (relevance, strategy, success)

5. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Several user studies: 1. academic and research libraries in Slovakia (students, educators, research workers) 2. electronic resources, internet 3. special community (visually impaired users) 4. scientific and research workers (Slovak Academy of Sciences) 5. elderly users of public libraries

6. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Assumptions and goals of user studies strategic aspects of information seeking role of collaboration in information seeking expectations (change of knowledge states) first access points (catalogue, internet) motivation for information seeking professional journals role of simple and easy access

7. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Research questions of user studies What are the users´ perceptions of information seeking process based on constant preferences of information use? What are the perceptions of users during the information seeking process? What are the perceptions of users after the completion of information seeking? How do users make use of electronic resources? Are they willing to publish in the electronic environment?

8. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 User survey – academic and research libraries 793 subjects 16 selected academic and research libraries June - July 2002 questionnaire, methodological guidelines data gathering, coding, analyses Final Report (2004)

9. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 A model of an average user 57% men, 55 % students, 52 % age to 25 Good accessibility, well- arranged form Authorities (sources, authors) Immediate use (pragmatic aspect: stragegic user group)

10. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 A model of an average user Broader categories (access) Little planning of information seeking Little willingness to invest time, money (free access) Often changes of systems, sources, services (problem re-definition) – need for help Relevance judgements : keywords Preferences of simple language

11. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Differences between user groups Males: Preferences of individual work Confirmation of prior knowledge Preferences of internet Optimism, satisfaction Females More often use of catalogues, bibliographies Collaboration, help of librarians Relief, careful approach

12. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Differences between user groups: males, females

13. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Difference between user groups Students (novices) First source : internet Collaboration Help of librarians Managers (experts) Timeliness Individual work More frequent use of catalogues, reference

14. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Differences between user groups: managers, students

15. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Differences between user groups: technical sciences, social sciences Technical sciences Help of librarians Better organization of work Timely information Better problem formulation Social sciences Individual work More help in problem formulation Use of less libraries First access points: easy access

16. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Differences between user groups by subjects (technical, social sciences )

17. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 User preferences in electronic resources user preferences in electronic communication  attitude of users towards electronic resources in saturation of their scientific (academic) information needs;  attitude of authors towards electronic resources in publishing the results of scientific research. perception of trustworthiness and reliability of electronic resources

18. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 User preferences in electronic resources user preferences along the axis of reliability/ seriousness of the resource – availability/ speed of access  usage of electronic resources;  types of electronic resources;  characteristics of electronic resources (comparison with traditional documents);  usage of paid resources - what financial means;  percentage of users who prefer electronic resources.

19. Actual usage of electronic resources highest level of usage: up to 18 years (91,7%), 31–40-years old (75,3%). lower level of frequent usage 18–25-years, also highest level of rare usage (27,6%). the lowest rate of frequent usage / highest rate of rare usage / of non-usage - social sciences and arts Graph 1. Usage of electronic resources 68% 25% 6% 1% yes, frequently seldom no, not using no answer

20. Actual usage of electronic resources individual payment - decreasing with the age of respondents, from 15,1% (18– 25-years) to 6,7% (51 and older). resources paid by a library - increasing rate of cases with increasing age Men - more concentrated on free resources; more willing to pay individually? Women - more aware of institutional/library arrangements - ”goal-centred” attitude towards information searching? Graph 2. Usage of paid el. resources 36% 13% 51% no, only freely available yes, paid by an institution / library yes, access paid individually

21. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Types of electronic resources used Top 3 ranking valid across all age groups age groups: 41–50-old - electronic journals first position. user groups - researchers and scientists Graph 3. Types of el. resources used 25% 26% 35% 7% 4% 2% 1% individual web pages electronic journals web pages of prof. organisations web pages of conferences, congresses e-mail lists newsgroups other resources on internet

22. Preferring electronic resources decreasing tendency with an increasing age disciplines - weak rate of usage in social sciences and arts; rate of preferences higher by approx. 1/2 in sciences and technical disciplines gender - rate of acceptance is a little lower in women than in men user groups - researchers and managers - positive attitude higher than negative; teachers rate of refusal is 1/3 higher than their acceptance Graph 4. Preferring el. resources 42% 47% 11% yes no no answer

23. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Characteristics of el. resources First three characteristics - technological and socio-economic properties of the electronic publishing systems Creation of hypertext links - a property of electronic sources per se. Access free of charge ? Graph 5. Characteristics of el. resources 31% 25% 14% 9% 13% 2% 5% 1% quick accessibility up-to-datedness no charge searching of the text linking to other resources ecological aspect multimediality other

24. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Characteristics of traditional resources Reliability, seriousness - features of formal communication channels users categories - more important for teachers (63%), researchers (65,9%) and managers (75%), than for the students (55%) Graph 6. Characteristics of traditional resources 27% 33% 16% 22% 2% seriousness – publisher’s renome reliability stability simple usage other

25. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Conclusions : proposals for digital libraries Orientation stage of information seeking links of information seeking with problem solution (education) changes of problem understanding in the course of seeking support: initial stages of seeking, organization of work, understanding concepts, overview of sources, confirmation of understanding, relevance judgement Intellectual stage support of intellectual information processing, selection, analysis, interpretation, synthesis Reorganization, restructuring creative use of information in digital environment Collaboration in digital environment

26. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Conclusions: library services, library and information education Digital libraries: support of the intellectual stage of information seeking Strategic and analytic user groups (relations to information use) Combination: trustworthy traditions + new electronic communication patterns Information literacy support

27. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Conclusion Shift of scholarly communication into electronic environment (users, authors) Special user groups (visually impaired)- special needs (technology+human facilitation) design of digital reference services and systems collaborative systems of information use new methods of knowledge organization sensitivity to contexts of user information styles new contexts of knowledge integration

28. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Conclusions Integration of patterns of user behaviour into systems, services, products Steps: LONG-TERM process first level - technological infrastructure, information sources second level – content services: styles: values, practices third level – people: training, information literacy fourth level – management, philosophy n-th level: integration: digital libraries, media, learning

29. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 Conclusions Challenge of information science: co-existence models of complex systems – digital libraries: technology+culture global+local theory+practice past+future individual+social neutral+emotional

30. Steinerová, Šušol, Comenius University Bratislava, LIDA 2004 CONCLUSIONS: information behaviour- driven information society humans: different roles (citizen, learner, worker, family member, community member) humans: physical, intellectual development humans: consumption, creativity, production information behaviour: orientation (space, time), intellectual activity (knowledge) cooperation: private, public sectors man roleorient.intel.phys.prod.