Login  |  Register          Free Newsletter Subscription
Subscribe to SLJ Magazine
Brian Unbound   


Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (0)


Research: A User Experience, Part Three
June 23, 2007


Finally we are hearing from Rutgers' Marie Radford & OCLC's Lynn Connaway who are discussing their research on virtual reference. Among other things they analyze transcripts of chat reference (they've looked at 850 chat interactions!) Today they are talking about clarification in reference online reference transactions.

Wow! Marie is showing a nine minute transaction that is pretty scary. Lots of misunderstandings and lack of clarification on the part of the reference librarian. But the good news is that 75 percent do clarify the question. Fifty percent did ask: "Did this completely ask your question." Also, forty-five percent sought topic clarification, 31 percent wanted background (when is your paper due?), and more.

Users also clarify, like through background (I'm in seventh graade and have 30 minutes.) Twenty percent clarify depth (I need it simple and in 20 minutes.) Fourteen percent verified understanding that they understood there advice, and some also offered search history (I already went to Google.) 

Most questions asked by libraries (66 percent) were closed. "Can you tell me more about what you are looking for?" Answer: "No."

They are describing two different types of queries. Imposed, something you have to do for class, and self-generated, what you want to know for yourself. 

What makes a difference for accuracy (the "so what" question.) Clarifying and follow-up improve accuracy. Both techniques produce far greater accuracy. There is too much to cover here, but the slides to their presentation should be up by Tuesday.


Posted by Brian Kenney on June 23, 2007 | Comments (0)



POST A COMMENT
Display Name or Registered Users Login Here.
Please restrict submissions to less than 7,000 characters (including any HTML formatting).

Before submitting this form, please type the characters displayed above. Note the letters are case sensitive:


Advertisement

Advertisements





©2008 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Use of this Web site is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Please visit these other Reed Business sites