Search

Purpose – In editorial peer review systems of journals, one does not always accept the best papers. Due to different human perceptions, the evaluation of papers by peer review (for a journal) can be different from the impact that a paper has after its publication (measured by number of citations received) in this or another journal. This system (and corresponding problems) is similar to the information retrieval process in a documentary system. Also there, one retrieves not always the most relevant documents for a certain topic. This is so because the topic is described in the command language of the documentary system and this command does not always completely cover the "real topic" that one wants to describe. This paper aims to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – Based on this statement classical information retrieval evaluation techniques were applied to the evaluation of peer review systems. Basic in such an information retrieval evaluation are the notions of precision and recall and the precision-recall-curve. Such notions are introduced here for the evaluation of peer review systems. Findings – The analogues of precision and recall are defined and their curve constructed based on peer review data from the journal Angewandte Chemie – International Edition and on citation impact data of accepted papers by this journal or rejected but published elsewhere papers. It is concluded that, due to the imperfect peer review process (based on human evaluation), if we want to publish a high amount of qualified papers (the ones we seek), several non-qualified papers should also be accepted. Originality/value – The authors conclude that, due to the imperfect peer review process (based on human evaluation), if we want to publish a high amount of qualified papers (the ones we seek), one will also accept several non-qualified papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to outline how article genres, or article types, are classified and described in the disciplines of biology, education, and software engineering. By using the expression article genres, emphasis is placed on the social role of journal articles that, as such, accomplish specific communicative functions and are intended for a certain context and audience. Design/methodology/approach -- Drawing on this idea, the instructions to authors of the research journals cited in the Journal Citation Reports for each of the three disciplines are analysed. Findings -- The information provided by the instructions to authors of major publications in the fields studied allows one to describe the following article genres: major articles, theoretical articles, review articles, short articles, practice-oriented articles, case studies, comment and opinion, and reviews. Research limitations/implications -- Results show that article genres reflect the nature of research in each field to the extent that using them to describe items along with topic may improve management and retrieval of scientific documents. In addition, article genres perform specific communicative functions within disciplinary communities, which accounts for both emerging types of articles and variations in traditional types. Originality/value -- The paper summarizes the information on article genres available in the instructions to authors of scientific journals in the disciplines of biology, education and software engineering. It attempts to show how results can mirror the nature of research in each field as well as current debates within each discipline on the state and quality of research. Also it shows how article genres convey specific communication needs within disciplinary communities, which proves that genres are social and evolving objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Performing efficient literature searches and subscribing to the most comprehensive databases for interdisciplinary fields can be challenging since the literature is typically indexed in numerous databases to different extents. Comparing databases will help information professionals make appropriate choices when teaching, literature searching, creating online subject guides, and deciding which databases to renew when faced with fiscal challenges. The purpose of this paper is to compare databases for searching the chemical engineering literature.Design/methodology/approach This paper compares journal indexing and search recall across seven databases that cover the chemical engineering literature in order to determine which database and database pair provide the most comprehensive coverage in this area. It also summarizes published, database comparison methods to aid information professionals in undertaking their own comparative assessments.Findings SciFinder, Scopus, and Web of Science, listed alphabetically, were the leading databases for searching the chemical engineering literature. SciFinder-Scopus and SciFinder-Web of Science were the top two database pairs. No single database or pair provided 100 percent complete coverage of the literature examined. Searching a second database increased the recall of results by an average of 17.6 percent.Practical implications The findings are useful since they identify “best bets” for performing an efficient search of the chemical engineering literature. Information professionals can also use the methods discussed to compare databases for any discipline or search topic.Originality/value This paper builds on the previous literature by using a dual approach to compare the coverage of the chemical engineering literature across multiple databases. To the author’s knowledge, comparing databases in the field of chemical engineering has not been reported in the literature thus far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the information behaviors in which scholars regularly engage, in participants’ own words wherever possible, and discuss how those behaviors function in the broader landscape of scholars’ academic practice.Design/methodology/approach Scholars’ information behaviors were investigated using semi-structured interviews, along with document analysis. Three scholars recognized for significant contributions to their fields were identified from each of the three major divisions of academia (humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences) using intensity sampling, for a total of nine participants. Interviews asked each participant to describe a recent research project from conceptualization to completion, focusing on how scholars engaged with ideas, information resources, tools, and processes.Findings Information behaviors were found to permeate scholars’ work from conceptualization through publication, and included behaviors such as skimming, reading, data collection and analysis, and writing. Of particular interest are the specific information behaviors that fall into the broader category of information use.Originality/value This study uses established definitions of information behaviors to broaden the information behaviors conversation to include the entirety of academic practice. The study shows how scholars from across the academy engage with information throughout the course of their academic work, not just when they are engaged in more traditional information seeking activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to discuss and test the claim that utilization of the personalization techniques can be valuable to improve the efficiency of collaborative information retrieval (CIR) systems. Design/methodology/approach - A new personalized CIR system, called PERCIRS, is presented based on the user profile similarity calculation (UPSC) formulas. To this aim, the paper proposes several UPSC formulas as well as two techniques to evaluate them. As the proposed CIR system is personalized, it could not be evaluated by Cranfield, like evaluation techniques (e.g. TREC). Hence, this paper proposes a new user-centric mechanism, which enables PERCIRS to be evaluated. This mechanism is generic and can be used to evaluate any other personalized IR system. Findings - The results show that among the proposed UPSC formulas in this paper, the (query-document)-graph based formula is the most effective. After integrating this formula into PERCIRS and comparing it with nine other IR systems, it is concluded that the results of the system are better than the other IR systems. In addition, the paper shows that the complexity of the system is less that the complexity of the other CIR systems. Research limitations/implications - This system asks the users to explicitly rank the returned documents, while explicit ranking is still not widespread enough. However it believes that the users should actively participate in the IR process in order to aptly satisfy their needs to information. Originality/value - The value of this paper lies in combining collaborative and personalized IR, as well as introducing a mechanism which enables the personalized IR system to be evaluated. The proposed evaluation mechanism is very valuable for developers of personalized IR systems. The paper also introduces some significant user profile similarity calculation formulas, and two techniques to evaluate them. These formulas can also be used to find the user's community in the social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper concerns the dimensions of relevance in information retrieval systems and their completeness in new retrieval contexts such as mobile search. Geography as a factor in relevance is little understood and information seeking is assumed to take place in indoor environments. Yet the rise of information seeking on the move using mobile devices implies the need to better understand the kind of situational relevance operating in this kind of context. Design/methodology/approach - The paper outlines and express a geographic information seeking process in which geographic information needs (conditioned by needs and tasks, in context) drive the acquisition and use of geographic information objects, which in turn influence geographic behaviour in the environment. Geographic relevance is defined as "a relation between a geographic information need" (like an attention span) and "the spatio-temporal expression of the geographic information objects needed to satisfy it" (like an area of influence). Some empirical examples are given to indicate the theoretical and practical application of this work. Findings - The paper sets out definitions of geographical information needs based on cognitive and geographic criteria, and proposes four canonical cases, which might be theorised as anomalous states of geographic knowledge (ASGK). The paper argues that geographic relevance is best defined as a spatio-temporally extended relation between information need (an "attention" span) and geographic information object (a zone of "influence"), and it defines four domains of geographic relevance. Finally a model of geographic relevance is suggested in which attention and infuence are modelled as map layers whose intersection can define the nature of the relation. Originality/value - Geographic relevance is a new field of research that has so far been poorly defined and little researched. This paper sets out new principles for the study of geographic information behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of whether the often paradoxical and conceptually contradictory discipline of information retrieval OR) can be understood more clearly when it is analyzed from a dialectical perspective. Design/methodology/approach — Conceptual analysis and literature review. Findings — A dialectical understanding of meaning can assist in clarifying some aspects of the complex nature of current IR theory. Research limitations/implications — Philosophy has the potential to explore the conflicts and contradictions in IR and should not be used just as a means of synthesis and resolution. The use of the philosophy of meaning should include a broader understanding of the philosophical oppositions which lie behind the nature of meaning. Originality/value — This paper suggests a new perspective on the role of meaning in IR: the dialectical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To suggest that a theory of classification for information retrieval (IR), asked for by Spärck Jones in a 1970 paper, presupposes a full implementation of a pragmatic understanding. Part of the Journal of Documentation celebration, "60 years of the best in information research". Design/methodology/approach - Literature-based conceptual analysis, taking Spärck Jones as its starting-point. Analysis involves distinctions between "positivism" and "pragmatism" and "classical" versus Kuhnian understandings of concepts. Findings - Classification, both manual and automatic, for retrieval benefits from thawing upon a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, a consideration of theories of meaning, and the adding of top-down approaches to IR in which divisions of labour, domains, traditions, genres, document architectures etc. are included as analytical elements and in which specific IR algorithms are based on the examination of specific literatures. Introduces an example illustrating the consequences of a full implementation of a pragmatist understanding when handling homonyms. Practical implications - Outlines how to classify from a pragmatic-philosophical point of view. Originality/value - Provides, emphasizing a pragmatic understanding, insights of importance to classification for retrieval, both manual and automatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct a UK-based assessment of oral history technology and to identify the most important features that should be available in any oral history search system.Design/methodology/approach A co-design approach involving interviews and focus groups was adopted. The framework approach with elements of grounded theory was used to analyse transcripts to identify themes.Findings The analysis found that “ethics, consent and control”, “accessibility and engagement”, “publicity and awareness”, and “innovative technologies” were the four major themes identified. It was also established that there is limited understanding of oral history in the digital age, numerous interests, ethical concerns, lack of publicity and several key attributes that those designing an oral history search system or archive should strive for. The findings also identified that further exploration into sampling selected technologies on different user groups is required in order to develop software that would benefit the field.Research limitations/implications Participants were all recruited from one geographic region. The qualitative methodology utilised could be deemed to have elements of subjectivity.Practical implications This study has identified important features of any oral history search system and offered design recommendations for any developer of an oral history search systems.Originality/value This research has validated some previous findings for oral history search systems from more limited user studies. New issues for consideration including usability, software development and marketing have also been identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purposes of this paper are to understand the user information seeking (IS) process under a new service system, to explore how users construct strategies and to identify the influences of the new service system on the IS process and behaviour.Design/methodology/approach A quality research study design that included questionnaires survey, observation, thinking-aloud and interviews was employed. In all, 20 participants from 12 social science disciplines at Sichuan University, Chengdu, China were observed using the proposed Discovery Service system. The user IS process characteristics and taxonomy were analysed, and the stages matrix of IS under new system was built.Findings Users’ IS processes under the new system proved to be very complex. The features of three process stages, i.e. searching, scanning and verifying stages, and four different behaviour patterns were identified. Moreover, characteristics of IS behaviour under the new service system were described.Originality/value User IS behaviour was addressed in a new service system context in this study, as has seldom been done in previous IS research. A comprehensive and user-centred understanding of users’ exploratory practices in a new service system context was obtained, which will inform the development of information services for digital libraries. In addition, it indicated that the uncertainty of the IS process should be addressed by considering the relationships among IS, information retrieval and user-computer interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper seeks to outline the central role of concepts in the knowledge universe, and the intertwining roles of works, instantiations, and documents. In particular the authors are interested in ontological and epistemological aspects of concepts and in the question to which extent there is a need for natural languages to link concepts to create meaningful patterns. Design/methodology/approach – The authors describe the quest for the smallest elements of knowledge from a historical perspective. They focus on the metaphor of the universe of knowledge and its impact on classification and retrieval of concepts. They outline the major components of an elementary theory of knowledge interaction. Findings – The paper outlines the major components of an elementary theory of knowledge interaction that is based on the structure of knowledge rather than on the content of documents, in which semantics becomes not a matter of synonymous concepts, but rather of coordinating knowledge structures. The evidence is derived from existing empirical research. Originality/value – The paper shifts the bases for knowledge organization from a search for a universal order to an understanding of a universal structure within which many context-dependent orders are possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The paper aims to explain the character and causes of obsolescence in assigned subject descriptors. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a conceptual analysis with examples and reference to existing literature. Findings – Subject description comes in two forms: assigning the name or code of a subject to a document and assigning a document to a named subject category. Each method associates a document with the name of a subject. This naming activity is the site of tensions between the procedural need of information systems for stable records and the inherent multiplicity and instability of linguistic expressions. As languages change, previously assigned subject descriptions become obsolescent. The issues, tensions, and compromises involved are introduced. Originality/value – Drawing on the work of Robert Fairthorne and others, an explanation of the unavoidable obsolescence of assigned subject headings is presented. The discussion relates to libraries, but the same issues arise in any context in which subject description is expected to remain useful for an extended period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to establish pluralism as the basis for bibliographic classification theory and practice and examine the possibility of establishing trustworthy classifications. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines several key notions in classification and extended previous frameworks by combining an explanation-based approach to classification with the concepts of cognitive authority and trust. Findings - The paper presents an understanding of classification that allows designers and editors to establish trust through the principle of transparency. It demonstrates that modern classification theory and practice are tied to users' activities and domains of knowledge and that trustworthy classification systems are in close dialogue with users to handle bias responsible and establish trust. Originality/value - The paper establishes a foundation for exploring trust and authority for classification systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to systemize and improve the scientific status of studies on document abstracting. This is a diachronic, systematic study of document abstracting studies carried out from different perspectives and models (textual, psycholinguistic, social and communicative). Design/methodology/approach - A review of the perspectives and analysis proposals which are of interest to the various theoreticians of abstracting is carried out using a variety of techniques and approaches (cognitive, linguistic, communicative-social, didactic, etc.), each with different levels of theoretical and methodological abstraction and degrees of application. The most significant contributions of each are reviewed and highlighted, along with their limitations. Findings - It is found that the great challenge in abstracting is the systemization of models and conceptual apparatus, which open up this type of research to semiotic and socio-interactional perspectives. It is necessary to carry out suitable empirical research with operative designs and ad hoc measuring instruments which can measure the efficiency of the abstracting and the efficiency of a good abstract, while at the same time feeding back into the theoretical baggage of this type of study. Such research will have to explain and provide answers to all the elements and variables, which affect the realization and the reception of a quality abstract. Originality/value - The paper provides a small map of the studies on document abstracting. This shows how the conceptual and methodological framework has extended at the same time as the Science of Documentation has been evolving. All the models analysed - the communicative and interactional approach - are integrated in a new systematic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to discuss advantages and disadvantages of various means to manage morphological variation of keywords in monolingual information retrieval. Designlmethodology/approach - The authors present a compilation of query results from 11 mostly European languages and a new general classification of the language dependent techniques for management of morphological variation. Variants of the different techniques are compared in some detail in terms of retrieval effectiveness and other criteria. The paper consists mainly of an overview of different management methods for keyword variation in information retrieval. Typical IR retrieval results of 11 languages and a new classification for keyword management methods are also presented. Findings - The main results of the paper are an overall comparison of reductive and generative keyword management methods in terms of retrieval effectiveness and other broader criteria. Originality/value - The paper is of value to anyone who wants to get an overall picture of keyword management techniques used in IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to explore the possibility of retrieving information with Kohonen self-organising maps, which are known to be effective to group objects according to their similarity or dissimilarity. Design/methodology/approach - After conventional preprocessing, such as transforming into vector space, documents from a German document collection were trained for a neural network of Kohonen self-organising map type. Such an unsupervised network forms a document map from which relevant objects can be found according to queries. Findings - Self-organising maps ordered documents to groups from which it was possible to find relevant targets. Research limitations/implications - The number of documents used was moderate due to the limited number of documents associated to test topics. The training of self-organising maps entails rather long cunning times, which is their practical limitation. In future, the aim will be to build larger networks by compressing document matrices, and to develop document searching in them. Practical implications - With self-organising maps the distribution of documents can be visualised and relevant documents found in document collections of limited size. Originality/value - The paper reports on an approach that can be especially used to group documents and also for information search. So far self-organising maps have rarely been studied for information retrieval. Instead, they have been applied to document grouping tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore one broad question: what do information, information processes, information services, as well as information systems and technology have to do with the spiritual? Design/methodology/approach - The task is accomplished by conducting a literature review of 31 refereed texts in information studies. The paper proceeds by inspecting the manifestation of spirituality in information sources, generic information processes, as well as specific information processes: conceptualizing, seeking, processing, using, storing, describing and providing information. Findings- A total of 11 relationships between information phenomena and the spiritual are discovered. Based on these, a definition of spiritual information is put forth. There are also some descriptive statistics on the corpus as a whole. Research limitations/implications - The results are susceptible to limitations imposed by the reviewed studies themselves. Errors of interpretation were a possibility. The article suggests many directions for further research in the context of the spiritual, and discusses how to view spirituality in information science. Practical implications - Practical implications are only mentioned here and there, because research implications are of primary concern in the investigation. Originality/value - This paper is the first to synthesize information research in the spiritual domain. Beyond the subject area, the article demonstrates how to classify information processes, and conduct a context-centric literature review in the field of information studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to report an investigation into the ways in which end-users perceive a thesaurus-enhanced search interface, in particular thesaurus and search interface usability. Design/methodology/approach - Thirty academic users, split between staff and postgraduate students, carrying out real search requests were observed during this study. Users were asked to comment on a range of thesaurus and interface characteristics including: ease of use, ease of learning, ease of browsing and navigation, problems and difficulties encountered while interacting with the system, and the effect of browsing on search term selection. Findings - The results suggest that interface usability is a factor affecting thesaurus browsing/navigation and other information-searching behaviours. Academic staff viewed the function of a thesaurus as being useful for narrowing down a search and providing alternative search terms, while postgraduates stressed the role of the thesaurus for broadening searches and providing new terms. Originality/value - The paper provides an insight into the ways in which end-users make use of and interact with a thesaurus-enhanced search interface. This area is new since previous research has particularly focused on how professional searchers and librarians make use of thesauri and thesaurus-enhanced search interfaces. The research reported here suggests that end-users with varying levels of domain knowledge are able to use thesauri that are integrated into search interfaces. It also provides design implications for search interface developers as well as information professionals who are involved in teaching online searching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This short note seeks to respond to Hjørland and Pederson's paper "A substantive theory of classification for information retrieval" which starts from Spärck Jones's, "Some thoughts on classification for retrieval", originally published in 1970. Design/methodology/approach - The note comments on the context in which the 1970 paper was written, and on Hjørland and Pedersen's views, emphasising the need for well-grounded classification theory and application. Findings - The note maintains that text-based, a posteriori, classification, as increasingly found in applications, is likely to be more useful, in general, than a priori classification. Originality/value - The note elaborates on points made in a well-received earlier paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper, originally published in 1970, considered the suggestion that classifications for retrieval should be constructed automatically and raised some serious problems concerning the sorts of classification which were required, and the way in which formal classification theories should be exploited, given that a retrieval classification is required for a purpose. These difficulties had not been sufficiently considered, and the paper, therefore, aims to attempt an analysis of them, though no solutions of immediate application could be suggested. Design/methodology/approach - Starting with the illustrative proposition that a polythetic, multiple, unordered classification is required in automatic thesaurus construction, this is considered in the context of classification in general, where eight sorts of classification can be distinguished, each covering a range of class definitions and class-finding algorithms. Findings - Since there is generally no natural or best classification of a set of objects as such, the evaluation of alternative classifications requires either formal criteria of goodness of fit, or, if a classification is required for a purpose, a precise statement of that purpose. In any case a substantive theory of classification is needed, which does not exist; and, since sufficiently precise specifications of retrieval requirements are also lacking, the only currently available approach to automatic classification experiments for information retrieval is to do enough of them. Originality/value - Gives insights into the classification of material for information retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Seeking and retrieving information is an essential aspect of knowledge workers' activities during problem-solving and decision-making tasks. In recent years, user-oriented Information Seeking (IS) research methods rooted in the social sciences have been integrated with Information Retrieval (IR) research approaches based on computer science to capitalize on the strengths of each field. Given this background, the objective is to develop a topic-needs variation determination technique based on the observations of IS&R theories. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, implicit and explicit methods for identifying users' evolving topic-needs are proposed. Knowledge-intensive tasks performed by academic researchers are used to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed methods. The paper conducted two sets of experiments to demonstrate and verify the importance of determining changes in topic-needs during the IS&R process. Findings – The results in terms of precision and discounted cumulated gain (DCG) values show that the proposed Stage-Topic_W (G,S) and Stage-Topic-Interaction methods can retrieve relevant document sets for users engaged in long-term tasks more efficiently and effectively than traditional methods. Practical implications – The improved precision of the proposed methods means that they can retrieve more relevant documents for the searcher. Accordingly, the results of this research have implications for enhancing the search function in enterprise content management (ECM) applications to support the execution of projects/tasks by professionals and facilitate effective ECM. Originality/value – The model observes a user's search behavior pattern to determine the personal factors (e.g. changes in the user's cognitive status), and content factors (e.g. changes in topic-needs) simultaneously. The objective is to capture changes in the user's information needs precisely so that evolving information needs can be satisfied in a timely manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper aims to present a part of a wider study, performed at the Department of LIS&BS at the University of Ljubljana (UL). The study investigated the perceptions of user friendliness of information retrieval (IR) systems. Design/methodology/approach - An expert study and a user study were performed. The user study was based on the results of the previous expert study, which surveyed the interfaces of four e-journal IR systems (Science Direct, Proquest Direct, Ebsco Host and Emerald) and has been published separately. In the user study three of these interfaces were used: Science Direct, Proquest Direct, and Ebsco Host. A pilot study with ten subjects and a main study with 61 subjects, all postgraduate students of the UL, was performed. Questionnaires and observation were used for data collection. The users' perceptions of user interfaces were investigated and compared to the findings of the expert study. Findings - It was found that users do not show high appreciation of auxiliary functions (such as search history, indexes, etc.) and do not use them to a great extent. They also do not prefer to have available different full-text formats. Perceptions of user friendliness of elements and functions were different in each interface. For each interface it was also established that different functions and elements were influential in the overall perceptions of the interface friendliness. In comparison of the findings of the expert and user study it was found that the expert study was in some cases too detailed and investigated aspects not perceived by the users. For this reason, certain findings of both studies were not appropriate for comparison. Research limitations/implications - The methodology of data collection was rather demanding and lengthy, and influenced the type and size of sample. Because of that it may not be possible to generalise the result to all users of e-journals. Also, large quantities of data were collected which could be studied further. Practical implications - The results of the study are relevant for the design of the user interfaces of IR systems. They also have implications for other areas, e.g. user education and training. Originality/value - The study investigates the users' own perceptions of user friendliness of the e-journal interfaces and also compares them to the findings of the expert study. This gives a valuable insight and provides many different viewpoints in regard to user friendliness, which in itself is a demanding concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper seeks to understand how users know when to stop searching for more information when the information space is so saturated that there is no certainty that the relevant information has been identified. Design/methodology/approach — Faculty, undergraduate and graduate students participated in focus group interviews to investigate what leads them to satisfice their information needs. Findings — Academic library users describe both qualitative and quantitative criteria, which lead them to make rational choices determining when ‘enough’ information satisfices their need. The situational context of both the participants' specific information need and their role in academic society affects every stage of their search — from the selection of the first resource, to ongoing search strategies, to decisions on how much information is enough. Originality/value — These findings broaden the scope of earlier user research, which tends to focus on the more static views of habitual information-seeking and -searching behavior, by applying theoretical frameworks for a richer understanding of the users' experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To describe the various landscapes in which information literacy has been explored and to propose new ways of thinking about information literacy. Design/methodology/approach - Draws on constructivist-influenced grounded theory method employed during doctoral research into information literacy practices of firefighters. Findings - Information-literate people are more usefully described as being engaged, enabled, enriched and embodied. Information literacy is conceptualized through this research as a way of knowing. The revised and extended definition is a more appropriate one to underpin an emerging ontological perspective on information literacy and to foster an understanding of information literacy as a meta-competency. Research limitations/implications - The research was limited to an in-depth exploration of one professional group in one geographic location over 18 months. Practical implications - The provision of a broader definition of the information literacy and the illustration of how information is perceived in a variety of concepts broadens librarians' and educators' understanding of information literacy. It offers librarians and educators a different way of thinking about information literacy. Originality/value - This paper reports and expands upon original doctoral research of significance to information professionals and educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — To report on initial work carried out on a Metadata Options Appraisal undertaken for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in the context of plans to create and manage complex digital objects called Interpretive Journeys, PDA-based multimedia guides to Park tours. Design/methodology/approach — After some initial work, a phased approach was adopted. In Phase I (reported here), metadata schema for managing structurally complex digital objects were researched to provide a range of appropriate options. Their characteristics were then matched against the Park's general requirements as determined through discussions with staff and an examination of relevant documentation. Findings — It was determined that the METS metadata schema met Park requirements for managing Interpretive Journeys at a general level and could be used both, to inform the development of the planned Digital Asset Management System (an early priority), and to act as the main basis of a framework for determining a detailed metadata solution for the Park. Research limitations/implications — Further work is required in Phase II to determine the detailed metadata requirement for the Park. Practical implications — A useful guide to dealing with a range of management and metadata issues associated with managing complex digital objects, and to managing projects where guidance on metadata requirements is needed before the objects to be described are available. Originality/value — This paper offers an introduction to the management and metadata issues raised by Interpretive Journeys and digital composites of similar complexity, and an indication of how METS addresses these at a general level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This article aims to define and explore the nature of wisdom, managerial wisdom, organisational wisdom and wisdom management. Design/methodology/approach — The paper draws on some of the diverse writings on wisdom, and explores the relevance of wisdom in the context of knowledge management. Findings — Wisdom has received little attention in the information management and systems, knowledge management and management literature. This is surprising since in this knowledge-based economy the link between data, information and knowledge is seen as pivotal by practitioners, consultants and academics. Originality/value — The article explores the nature of organisational wisdom and identifies a number of areas for further theory-making and empirical investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board which sought to investigate links between Web search strategies and retrieval effectiveness. A total of 68 students, enrolled on masters programmes in librarianship, information management and information systems, searched for two topics using the AltaVista search engine. Logs of the resultant 341 queries, along with relevance judgments for over 4,000 retrieved items, were analyzed using factor analysis and regression. The differing but complementary types and strengths of evidence produced by these two forms of analysis are discussed and presented. Retrieval effectiveness was associated positively with best-match searching and negatively with Boolean searching. The implications of these findings for Web searching are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to compare the evaluation of search result lists and documents, in particular evaluation criteria, elements, association between criteria and elements, pre/post and evaluation activities, and the time spent on evaluation. Design/methodology/approach – The study analyzed the data collected from 31 general users through prequestionnaires, think aloud protocols and logs, and post questionnaires. Types of evaluation criteria, elements, associations between criteria and elements, evaluation activities and their associated pre/post activities, and time were analyzed based on open coding. Findings – The study identifies the similarities and differences of list and document evaluation by analyzing 21 evaluation criteria applied, 13 evaluation elements examined, pre/post and evaluation activities performed and time spent. In addition, the authors also explored the time spent in evaluating lists and documents for different types of tasks. Research limitations/implications – This study helps researchers understand the nature of list and document evaluation. Additionally, this study connects elements that participants examined to criteria they applied, and further reveals problems associated with the lack of integration between list and document evaluation. The findings of this study suggest more elements, especially at list level, be available to support users applying their evaluation criteria. Integration of list and document evaluation and integration of pre, evaluation and post evaluation activities for the interface design is the absolute solution for effective evaluation. Originality/value – This study fills a gap in current research in relation to the comparison of list and document evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This research aims to identify some requirements for supporting user interactions with electronic current-awareness alert systems based on data from a professional work environment. Design/methodology/approach — Qualitative data were gathered using contextual inquiry observations with 21 workers at the London office of an international law firm. The analysis uses CASSM ("Concept-based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits"), a usability evaluation method structured around identifying mismatches, or "misfits", between user-concepts and concepts represented within a system. Findings — Participants were frequently overwhelmed by e-mail alerts, and a key requirement is to support efficient interaction. Several misfits, which act as barriers to efficient reviewing and follow-on activities, are demonstrated. These relate to a lack of representation of key user-concepts at the interface and/or within the system, including alert items and their properties, source documents, "back-story", primary sources, content categorisations and user collections. Research limitations/implications — Given these misfits, a set of requirements is derived to improve the efficiency with which users can achieve key outcomes with current-awareness information as these occur within a professional work environment. Originality/value — The findings will be of interest to current-awareness providers. The approach is relevant to information interaction researchers interested in deriving design requirements from naturalistic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the effects of different search and browse features in digital libraries (DLs) on task interactions, and what features would lead to poor user experience. Design/methodology/approach - Three operational DLs: ACM, IEEE CS, and IEEE Xplore are used in this study. These three DLs present different features in their search and browsing designs. Two information-seeking tasks are constructed: one search task and one browsing task. An experiment was conducted in a usability laboratory. Data from 35 participants are collected on a set of measures for user interactions. Findings - The results demonstrate significant differences in many aspects of the user interactions between the three DLs. For both search and browse designs, the features that lead to poor user interactions are identified. Research limitations/implications - User interactions are affected by specific design features in DLs. Some of the design features may lead to poor user performance and should be improved. The study was limited mainly in the variety and the number of tasks used. Originality/value - The study provided empirical evidence to the effects of interaction design features in DLs on user interactions and performance. The results contribute to our knowledge about DL designs in general and about the three operational DLs in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to explore a method for the determination of users' representations of search engines, formed during their interaction with these systems. Determines the extent to which these elicited ‘mental models’ indicate the system aspects of importance to the user and from this their evaluative view of these tools. Design/methodology/approach - The repertory grid technique is used to elicit a set of constructs that define facets within the mental model of an individual. A related technique of laddering then considers each of the user's constructs to determine the reasons for its importance within the user's mental model. Findings - The model derived from the qualitative data comprises three hierarchical strata and conveys the interrelations between basic system description, evaluative description, and the key evaluations of ease, efficiency, effort and effectiveness. Two additional layers relating to the perceived process and the experience of emotion are also discussed. Research limitations/implications - Ten participants is considered to be optimum for obtaining constructs in a repertory grid, but limits the findings to the context of the user group and the systems used in this study. Originality/value - The methodology has not previously been used to determine mental models of search engines and from these to understand users' evaluative view of systems. The resulting model of key evaluations with the conjunctions of procedural elements suggests a framework for further research to evaluate search engines from the user perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To propose a categorization of the different conflation procedures at the two basic approaches, non-linguistic and linguistic techniques, and to justify the application of normalization methods within the framework of linguistic techniques. Design/methodology/approach - Presents a range of term conflation methods, that can be used in information retrieval. The uniterm and multiterm variants can be considered equivalent units for the purposes of automatic indexing. Stemming algorithms, segmentation rules, association measures and clustering techniques are well evaluated non-linguistic methods, and experiments with these techniques show a wide variety of results. Alternatively, the lemmatisation and the use of syntactic pattern-matching, through equivalence relations represented in finite-state transducers (FST), are emerging methods for the recognition and standardization of terms. Findings - The survey attempts to point out the positive and negative effects of the linguistic approach and its potential as a term conflation method. Originality/value - Outlines the importance of FSTs for the normalization of term variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Web is a communication and information technology that is often used for the distribution and retrieval of personal information. Many people and organizations mount Web sites containing large amounts of information on individuals, particularly about celebrities. However, limited studies have examined how people search for information on other people, using personal names, via Web search engines. Explores the nature of personal name searching on Web search engines. The specific research questions addressed in the study are: "Do personal names form a major part of queries to Web search engines?"; "What are the characteristics of personal name Web searching?"; and "How effective is personal name Web searching?". Random samples of queries from two Web search engines were analyzed. The findings show that: personal name searching is a common but not a major part of Web searching with few people seeking information on celebrities via Web search engines; few personal name queries include double quotations or additional identifying terms; and name searches on Alta Vista included more advanced search features relative to those on AlltheWeb.com. Discusses the implications of the findings for Web searching and search engines, and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is threefold: (1) to give a summary of empirical results reported earlier on relations between students` problem stages in the course of writing their research proposals for a master's thesis and the information sought, choice of search terms and tactics and relevance assessments of the information found for that task; (2) to show how the findings of the study refine Kuhlthau`s model of the information search process in the field of information retrieval (IR); and (3) to construe a tentative theory of a task-based IR process based on the supported hypotheses. The results of the empirical studies show that there is a close connection between the students' problem stages (mental model) in the task performance and the information sought, the search tactics used and the assessment of the relevance and utility of the information found. The corroborated hypotheses expand the ideas in Kuhlthau`s model in the domain of IR. A theory of task-based information searching based on the empirical findings of the study is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]