QUIZ 1

Seiden, Peggy, Kris Szymborski and Barbara Norelli. Undergraduate students in the digital library:

Information seeking behavior in an heterogeneous environment. Choosing Our Futures,

ACRL 1997 Annual Conference Papers.

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/nashville1997pap/seidenszymborski.cfm

(accessed January 27, 2008).

Summary:

The paper presents the study of information seeking among sixty undergraduates at Skidmore College. The study was designed to 1) assess students’ information seeking behavior in general; 2) elicit information about the search process; and 3) discern how students had acquired their knowledge of online searching and their level of expertise with online searching, computer applications and libraries. The results indicate that most undergraduates have relatively poor understanding of the information environment and that the “digital library” exaggerates and magnify these problems.

My Reflections…

“Observe how users approach information, consider what it means, and design to allow them to achieve what they need.”“…I thought it important to highlight that one aspect of designing for users was to understand the ways in which they may approach an information task.” (Donna Maurer 2006)

Studying the information needs of users and the organization not only helps to direct library services and programs, but also to determine how to plan for marketing the resources of the library. Assessing our users’ needs has to be a priority and that the library should remain relevant to the objectives of the organization. Once user needs have been established, the library can begin to communicate back to users about the library’s response to these needs.