User Studies

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.

The Many Faces of Digital Visitors and Residents: Facets of Online Engagement

This OCLC Research Report challenges the digital natives vs. digital immigrants paradigm; that is, the common assumption that younger people prefer to conduct research in a digital space while older people rely on physical sources for information.

Download US Letter .pdf

Download A4 .pdf    


Shaping the Library to the Life of the User: Adapting, Empowering, Partnering, Engaging

This report provides a recap of the October 2015 Library in the Life of the User meeting that featured insights about ways libraries can provide more meaningful support based on what students, scholars and other library users really do.

Download US Letter .pdf

Download A4 .pdf    


The Library in the Life of the User: Engaging with People Where They Live and Learn

This compilation provides a sequential overview of some of our user behavior research findings that articulate the need for the design of future library services to be all about the user.

Download the report »
(US Letter .pdf.)


Reordering Ranganathan: Shifting User Behaviors, Shifting Priorities

This report suggests that Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science can be reordered and reinterpreted to reflect today's library resources and services, as well as the behaviors that people demonstrate when engaging with them.

Download the report »
(US Letter .pdf.)


Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference


A new membership report from OCLC Research, in partnership with Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Seeking Synchronicity distills more than five years of virtual reference (VR) research into a readable summary that features memorable quotes that vividly illustrate very specific and actionable suggestions.

Download the report »
(US Letter .pdf:)