User Research

Libraries are impacted by the ways in which individuals engage with technology; how they seek, access, contribute, and use information; and how and why they demonstrate these behaviors and do what they do. We're  collaborating with librarians to shape their services around a set of expectations that have been influenced by consumer technologies and modern research and learning environments. By providing the library community with behavioral evidence about individuals’ perceptions, habits, and requirements, we can ensure that the design of future library services is all about the user. Our efforts are amplified by strategic partnerships and focus in these two areas:

 

Publications

    Using collective curation to pay data forward in the life cycle

    11 June 2021

    Ixchel M. Faniel

    Drawing from a study of archaeological excavation teams, four collective curation opportunities are proposed to identify and resolve differences in data and documentation practices that arise in team-based research. To create more integrated, well-documented data, the opportunities attend to integrating people rather than technology. The actions people take as data move through the life cycle become the focal point of change.

    I still go ask someone I enjoy talking to: The use of digital and human sources by educational stage and context

    6 January 2021

    Chris Cyr, Brittany Brannon, Lynn Silipigni Connaway

    How does educational stage affect the way people find information? In previous research using the Digital Visitors & Residents (V&R) framework for semi-structured interviews, context was a factor in how individuals behaved. This study of 145 online, open-ended surveys examines the impact that one's V&R educational stage has on the likelihood of attending to digital and human sources across four contexts. 

    Identifying Opportunities for Collective Curation during Archaeological Excavations

    6 August 2020

    Ixchel Faniel, Anne Austin, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Eric Kansa, Jennifer Jacobs, Phoebe France

    Archaeological excavations are comprised of interdisciplinary teams that create, manage, and share data as they unearth and analyse material culture. These team-based settings are ripe for collective curation during these data lifecycle stages. However, findings from four excavation sites show that the data interdisciplinary teams create are not well integrated. Knowing this, we recommended opportunities for collective curation to improve use and reuse of the data within and outside of the team. 

    Library Discovery Directions

    29 June 2020

    Lorcan Dempsey

    In this foreword to the edited collection Resource Discovery for the Twenty-First Century Library (2020), Lorcan Dempsey traces shifting trends in the library discovery environment contributing to the diversified scope of resource discovery.

    Call to Action: Public Libraries and the Opioid Crisis

    26 February 2020

    Scott G. Allen, Larra Clark, Michele Coleman, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Chris Cyr, Kendra Morgan, Mercy Procaccini

    OCLC has partnered with the Public Library Association (PLA) to issue Call to Action: Public Libraries and the Opioid Crisis, a report that offers strategies for public libraries to consider as they determine a local response to the nationwide opioid crisis. This is the culminating output from the IMLS-funded project Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities.

    Science and News: A Study of Students’ Judgments of Online Scientific News Information

    13 January 2020

    Tara Tobin Cataldo, Kailey Langer, Amy G. Buhler, Samuel R. Putnam, Rachael Elrod, Ixchel M. Faniel, PhD, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, PhD, Christopher Cyr, PhD, Brittany Brannon, Joyce Kasman Valenza, PhD, Erin M. Hood, Randy A. Graff, PhD

    This paper explores how students judge scientific news resources, as they might find through a Google search. The data were collected as part of an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded project. 

    Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities: Summary Report

    29 October 2019

    Scott G. Allen, Larra Clark, Michele Coleman, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Chris Cyr, Kendra Morgan, Mercy Procaccini

    As the impact of the opioid epidemic is felt in communities across the US, public libraries are choosing to be part of the community response. With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and in partnership with the Public Library Association (PLA), OCLC is sharing knowledge and resources that will help public libraries and their community partners develop effective strategies to address the opioid epidemic in America.

    Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities: Case Studies

    28 October 2019

    Scott G. Allen, Larra Clark, Michele Coleman, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Chris Cyr, Kendra Morgan, Mercy Procaccini

    This report includes eight research-based case studies highlighting varying opioid response efforts across eight locations in the US. The report details each library's response, the partnerships formed, reactions of the community, outcomes of the efforts, as well as challenges, needs, and opportunities.

    Context from the Data Reuser’s Point of View

    26 September 2019

    Ixchel M. Faniel, Rebecca D. Frank, Elizabeth Yakel

    Context is critical for data reuse, and digital curation should include both context and content preservation. Both data producers and curators benefit from expanding context categories to better determine what information is vital to capture and manage during data collection to support data reuse.

    Exposing Standardization and Consistency Issues in Repository Metadata Requirements for Data Deposition

    1 September 2019

    Jihyun Kim, Elizabeth Yakel, Ixchel M. Faniel

    In this article in College & Research Libraries Journal, the authors examine common and unique metadata requirements and their levels of descrip­tion, determined by the data deposit forms of 20 repositories in three disciplines—archaeology, quantitative social science, and zoology.