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Human Information Behavior in the Help-Seeking Process: Implications for the Design of Interactive Automated Help Functionalities in Digital Libraries.
Colleen Cool, Queens College (CUNY), NJ, USA
Abstract:
Digital Libraries, and other IR systems of all kinds, are developing at a rapid pace, providing greater access to information previously unavailable and unfamiliar to the general public. They are being constructed to provide access, in a variety of forms, to information that was previously available from traditional physical libraries. However, in contrast to physical libraries, manned by human help, Digital Libraries provide their users with automated Help assistance. This talk will present findings from an ongoing study designed to evaluate how effective these computerized Help systems are for novice users among the general public. Previous research within this problem area has found that although most of the research subjects believed automated Help systems to be important, they used them infrequently. Reasons for not using automated help assistance in two digital libraries are discussed in this talk, along with points of strength and weakness in currently available systems. Results of a comparison between types and forms of Help utilized by users engaged in human interaction with Help experts compared to users who relied on automated Help alone are discussed. The talk concludes with some proposed design principles for the improvement of purely automated Help systems.
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