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 provide a new and useful formulation of relevance. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is formulated as a conceptual argument. It makes the case for the utility of considering relevance to be function of use in creative processes. Findings: There are several corollaries to formulating relevance as a function of use. These include the idea that objects by themselves cannot be relevant since use assumes interaction; the affordances of objects and how they are perceived can affect what becomes relevant but are not in themselves relevant; relevance is not an essential characteristic of objects; relevance is transient; potential relevance (what might be relevant in the future) can be distinguished from what is relevant in use and from what has been relevant in the past. Originality/value: The paper shows that its new formulation of relevance brings improved conceptual and terminological clarity to the discourse about relevance in information science. It demonstrates that how relevance is articulated conceptually is important as its conceptualization can affect the ways that users are able to make use of information systems and, by extension, how information systems can facilitate or disable the co-production of creative outcomes. The paper also usefully expands investigative opportunities by suggesting relevance and creativity are interrelated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In order to estimate the value of semi-automated subject indexing in operative library catalogues, the study aimed to investigate five different automated implementations of an open source software package on a large set of Swedish union catalogue metadata records, with Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) as the target classification system. It also aimed to contribute to the body of research on aboutness and related challenges in automated subject indexing and evaluation. Design/methodology/approach: On a sample of over 230,000 records with close to 12,000 distinct DDC classes, an open source tool Annif, developed by the National Library of Finland, was applied in the following implementations: lexical algorithm, support vector classifier, fastText, Omikuji Bonsai and an ensemble approach combing the former four. A qualitative study involving two senior catalogue librarians and three students of library and information studies was also conducted to investigate the value and inter-rater agreement of automatically assigned classes, on a sample of 60 records. Findings: The best results were achieved using the ensemble approach that achieved 66.82% accuracy on the three-digit DDC classification task. The qualitative study confirmed earlier studies reporting low inter-rater agreement but also pointed to the potential value of automatically assigned classes as additional access points in information retrieval. Originality/value: The paper presents an extensive study of automated classification in an operative library catalogue, accompanied by a qualitative study of automated classes. It demonstrates the value of applying semi-automated indexing in operative information retrieval systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article introduces selected theoretical approaches to time and temporality relevant to the field of library and information science, and it briefly introduces the papers gathered in this special issue. A number of issues that could potentially be followed in future research are presented. Design/methodology/approach: The authors review a selection of theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of time that originate in or are of particular relevance to library and information science. Four main themes are identified: (1) information as object in temporal perspectives; (2) time and information as tools of power and control; (3) time in society; and (4) experiencing and practicing time. Findings: The paper advocates a thorough engagement with how time and temporality shape notions of information more broadly. This includes, for example, paying attention to how various dimensions of the late-modern time regime of acceleration feed into the ways in which information is operationalised, how information work is commodified, and how hierarchies of information are established; paying attention to the changing temporal dynamics that networked information systems imply for our understanding of documents or of memory institutions; or how external events such as social and natural crises quickly alter modes, speed, and forms of data production and use, in areas as diverse as information practices, policy, management, representation, and organisation, amongst others. Originality/value: By foregrounding temporal perspectives in library and information science, the authors advocate dialogue with important perspectives on time that come from other fields. Rather than just including such perspectives in library and information science, however, the authors find that the focus on information and documents that the library and information science field contributes has great potential to advance the understanding of how notions and experiences of time shape late-modern societies and individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper investigates the experiences of school teachers of supporting pupils and their apprehensions of how pupils search and assess information when search engines have become a technology of literacy in schools. By situating technologies of literacy as sociomaterial the purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss these experiences and understandings in order to challenge dominant views of search in information literacy research.Design/methodology/approach Six focus group interviews with in total 39 teachers working at four different elementary and secondary schools were conducted in the autumn of 2014. Analysis was done using a sociomaterial perspective, which provides tools for understanding how pupils and teachers interact with and are demanded to translate their interest to technologies of literacy, in this case search engines, such as Google.Findings The teachers expressed difficulties of conceptualizing search as something they could teach. When they did, search was most often identified as a practical skill. A critical perspective on search, recognizing the role of Google as a dominant part of the information infrastructure and a co-constructor of what there is to know was largely lacking. As a consequence of this neglected responsibility of teaching search, critical assessment of online information was conflated with Google’s relevance ranking.Originality/value The study develops a critical understanding of the role of searching and search engines as technologies of literacy in relation to critical assessment in schools. This is of value for information literacy training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how a methodological coupling of visualisations of trace data and interview methods can be utilised for information practices studies. Design/methodology/approach: Trace data visualisation enquiry is suggested as the coupling of visualising exported data from an information system and using these visualisations as basis for interview guides and elicitation in information practices research. The methodology is illustrated and applied through a small-scale empirical study of a citizen science project. Findings: The study found that trace data visualisation enquiry enabled fine-grained investigations of temporal aspects of information practices and to compare and explore temporal and geographical aspects of practices. Moreover, the methodology made possible inquiries for understanding information practices through trace data that were discussed through elicitation with participants. The study also found that it can aid a researcher of gaining a simultaneous overarching and close picture of information practices, which can lead to theoretical and methodological implications for information practices research. Originality/value: Trace data visualisation enquiry extends current methods for investigating information practices as it enables focus to be placed on the traces of practices as recorded through interactions with information systems and study participants' accounts of activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how both producers and consumers of user-created music videos on YouTube communicate emotional information. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 150 filmic documents containing fan-generated versions of U2’s “Song for Someone” were purposively collected. The author used discourse analysis to understand the types of videos created, the communication of emotional information from both the producers and the consumers, the social construction of emotion in the filmic documents, and elements of intertextuality that represented emotion. Findings – Fans created videos containing cover versions, original versions of the song with new visual content, and tutorials about how to play the song. Producers of cover versions communicated emotional information, especially tenderness, through facial expression, their surroundings, and corresponding musical elements. Producers’ visual content expressed emotion through meaningful photographs and sad stories. Producers’ descriptions revealed emotion as well. Emotions were individually experienced and socially constructed. Consumers conveyed emotion through likes, dislikes, and expressive positive comments. Intertextuality communicated passion for U2 through tour references, paraphernalia displays, band photographs, imitating the band, and musical mashups. Practical implications – Information science can work towards a new generation of multimedia information retrieval systems that incorporate emotion in order to help users discover documents in meaningful ways that move beyond keyword and bibliographic searches. Originality/value – This is one of the earliest research papers in the area of emotional information retrieval (EmIR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Despite the importance of bibliographic information systems for discovering and exploring library resources, some of the core functionality that should be provided to support users in their information seeking process is still missing. Investigating these issues, the purpose of this paper is to design a solution that would fulfil the missing objectives. Design/methodology/approach – Building on the concepts of a work family, functional requirements for bibliographic records (FRBR) and information visualization, the paper proposes a model and user interface design that could support a more efficient and user-friendly presentation and navigation in bibliographic information systems. Findings – The proposed design brings together all versions of a work, related works, and other works by and about the author and shows how the model was implemented into a FrbrVis prototype system using hierarchical visualization layout. Research limitations/implications – Although issues related to discovery and exploration apply to various material types, the research first focused on works of fiction and was also limited by the selected sample of records. Practical implications – The model for presenting and interacting with FRBR-based data can serve as a good starting point for future developments and implementations. Originality/value – With FRBR concepts being gradually integrated into cataloguing rules, formats, and various bibliographic services, one of the important questions that has not really been investigated and studied is how the new type of data would be presented to users in a way that would exploit the true potential of the changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to holistically explore the information needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged young first-time mothers and associated issues of complexity. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used survey and semi-structured field interviews with 39 young mothers (aged 15–23) from UK areas of multiple deprivations. Findings: Participants reported multiple and complex needs spanning interrelated topics of parenting, poverty and personal development. In the majority of instances, participants were either unsure of their ability to meet their needs or needed help with needs, and several described situations of considerable anxiety and stress. Multiplicity is identified and conceptualised as an important factor contributing to complexity, including three component elements: simultaneous occurrence of needs (concurrency), relationships between needs (interconnectivity) and evolving needs (fluidity). In various combinations, these elements influenced a mother's actions and/or ability to selectively attend to needs, with multiple needs often competing for attention, and compounding issues of cognitive load and affect. Research limitations/implications: This study draws attention to multiplicity of needs as an understudied topic within human information behaviour and calls for further research into how people recognise and attend to complex needs and influencing factors. Practical implications: This study raises important questions regarding how we approach complexity of information needs in our design and delivery of information systems and services. Originality/value: Evidences disadvantaged young mothers to have more extensive and complex information needs than previously understood, and identifies and conceptualised multiplicity as an important factor contributing to the complexity of information needs during major life transitions such as motherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Belkin and Robertson (1976a) reflected on the ethical implications of theoretical research in information science and warned that there was potential for abuse of knowledge gained by undertaking such research and applying it to information systems. In particular, they identified the domains of advertising and political propaganda that posed particular problems. The purpose of this literature review is to revisit these ideas in the light of recent events in global information systems that demonstrate that their fears were justified. Design/methodology/approach: The authors revisit the theory in information science that Belkin and Robertson used to build their argument, together with the discussion on ethics that resulted from this work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The authors then review recent literature in the field of information systems, specifically information retrieval, social media and recommendation systems that highlight the problems identified by Belkin and Robertson. Findings: Information science theories have been used in conjunction with empirical evidence gathered from user interactions that have been detrimental to both individuals and society. It is argued in the paper that the information science and systems communities should find ways to return control to the user wherever possible, and the ways to achieve this are considered. Research limitations/implications: The ethical issues identified require a multidisciplinary approach with research in information science, computer science, information systems, business, sociology, psychology, journalism, government and politics, etc. required. This is too large a scope to deal with in a literature review, and we focus only on the design and implementation of information systems (Zimmer, 2008a) through an information science and information systems perspective. Practical implications: The authors argue that information systems such as search technologies, social media applications and recommendation systems should be designed with the recipient of the information in mind (Paisley and Parker, 1965), not the sender of that information. Social implications: Information systems designed ethically and with users in mind will go some way to addressing the ill effects typified by the problems for individuals and society evident in global information systems. Originality/value: The authors synthesize the evidence from the literature to provide potential technological solutions to the ethical issues identified, with a set of recommendations to information systems designers and implementers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article aims to help music librarians and other information professionals effectively understand and support communities of choral directors and other groups dependent on networking and serendipitous information encounters. In addition, through discussion and comparison of theories of information behavior, research articles and analysis of events and experiences, the article encourages thoughtful and practical applications of information behavior research. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper uses different theories of information behavior to outline three distinct modes of learning and knowing within communities of choral directors: individual searching, community expertise and serendipitous encounters. Findings: The choral directing community is one that benefits not only from information support systems that emphasize individual information seeking, but also collaborative networking and serendipitous encounters with other community members. Librarians and other information professionals can best help this group discover new repertoire, plan concert programs, improve rehearsals and support other relevant activities through understanding and helping to provide access to professional music networks and being creative in providing opportunities for serendipitous information discovery. Originality/value: Little information behavior research and discussion have focused specifically on the information practices of choral directors and how the format and schedule of a professional choral conference illuminate such practices and needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the leisure information behaviour of motor sport enthusiasts, examining: their information needs; their information seeking and sharing; what personal information they had; and their satisfaction with their information seeking and personal information management efforts.Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study examined participants’ information behaviour from a postpositivist and inductive research approach. An online survey was completed by 81 motor sport enthusiasts. The quantitative survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics, whilst the qualitative data were analysed using thematic coding.Findings The research findings highlighted that enthusiasts engaged in mixed serious leisure. They required information before, during and after race events, and sought this primarily from online sources, as well as from other individuals. Totally, 90 participants shared information about their interest in motor sport with family, friends and fellow enthusiasts, primarily via e-mails (69 per cent) and Facebook (49 per cent). They also gathered information about motor sport, including photographs and memorabilia. Participants were satisfied with their information management strategies for their personal collections.Research limitations/implications Participants were limited to motor sport enthusiasts in Australia, hence findings cannot be generalised more broadly.Practical implications Understandings of enthusiasts’ information behaviour provide information management professionals with insights to work with this user community.Originality/value This study fills a gap in the literature about leisure information behaviour of motor sport enthusiasts in Australia. It identifies and provides a typology of the 12 categories of information needed by enthusiasts. Provides a preliminary motor sport information behaviour model guided by the conceptual frameworks of the everyday life information seeking model; general models on information behaviour; and the information problem solving behaviour model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – By reconstructing the genealogy of digital humanities through examining digital humanities projects and evaluative writings, this paper aims to identify core arguments related to disciplinary transformation and pedagogy in the humanities fields. It also seeks to consider knowledge production and transformation of a general humanistic attitude (the Humanities Program) in relation to digital tools. The paper also seeks to examine its perceived impact on disciplinary development, pedagogy, and forms of digital text. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a literature-based conceptual analysis of distinct and diverse aspects of the enterprise of digital humanities, by identifying their main foci together with implications of these preoccupations within larger discourses. The analysis is grounded in a close reading of 45 exemplary texts published from the 1980s to date, and 14 exemplary projects and initiatives. The analysis highlights several concepts with their underlying assumptions. Findings – The perceived epistemological advantage of digital technology for new forms of reasoning is that community development has produced theoretical frameworks and shaped practical directions. The paper identified three distinct formations characterized by associated digital artifacts: prominent opinion leaders, foundational projects, and document forms (morphs). Research limitations/implications – Research data are not comprehensive. Selected texts and projects are exemplary. The results and findings are relevant for the English-language context and limited by a selective corpus. Originality/value – The paper outlines a historical trajectory of digital humanities and the formative stages of development from the discourses of that evolving field. It also identifies constructions of technological advantage with implications for knowledge production in the writing of humanities scholars. The paper contributes to practitioner awareness of the history of digital humanities practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The term selection problem for selecting query terms in information filtering and routing has been investigated using hill-climbers of various kinds, largely through the Okapi experiments in the TREC series of conferences. Although these are simple deterministic approaches, which examine the effect of changing the weight of one term at a time, they have been shown to improve the retrieval effectiveness of filtering queries in these TREC experiments. Hill-climbers are, however, likely to get trapped in local optima, and the use of more sophisticated local search techniques for this problem that attempt to break out of these optima are worth investigating. To this end, this paper aims to apply a genetic algorithm (GA) to the same problem. Design/methodology/approach - A standard TREC test collection is used from the TREC-8 filtering track, recording mean average precision and recall measures to allow comparison between the hill-climber and GAs. It also varies elements of the GA, such as probability of a word being included, probability of mutation and population size in order to measure the effect of these variables. Different strategies such as elitist and non-elitist methods are used, as well as roulette wheel and rank selection GAs. Findings - The results of tests suggest that both techniques are, on average, better than the baseline, but, the implemented GA does not match the overall performance of a hill-climber. The Rank selection algorithm does better on average than the Roulette Wheel algorithm. There is no evidence in this study that varying word inclusion probability, mutation probability or Elitist method make much difference to the overall results. Small population sizes do not appear to be as effective as larger population sizes. Research limitations/implications - The evidence provided here would suggest that being stuck in a local optima for the term selection optimization problem does not appear to be detrimental to the overall success of the hill-climber. The evidence from term rank order would appear to provide extra useful evidence, which hill climbers can use efficiently, and effectively, to narrow the search space. Originality/value - The paper represents the first attempt to compare hill-climbers with GAs on a problem of this type. [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]

This paper considers the issues surrounding the fit between information systems and organisation structures. The paper uses philosophical ideas concerning knowledge and applies them to organisational design and information processing in order to encourage alternative perspectives and new ideas. This is achieved by a discussion of the issues surrounding organisational design and the impact of design on information processing; an overview of the ideas concerning the theory of knowledge proposed from both a rational and an empirical viewpoint and how these relate to other epistemological theories such as historicism and pragmatism. The paper closes with a discussion of the means by which philosophical considerations can assist towards new forms of information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – By using the UNISIST models this paper argues for the necessity of domain analysis in order to qualify scientific information seeking. The models allow better understanding of communication processes in a scientific domain and they embrace the point that domains are always both unstable over time, and changeable, according to the specific perspective. This understanding is even more important today as numerous digitally generated information tools as well as collaborative and interdisciplinary research are blurring the domain borders. Nevertheless, researchers navigate “intuitively” in “their” specific domains, and UNISIST helps understanding this navigation. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The UNISIST models are tentatively applied to the domain of art history at three stages, respectively two modern, partially overlapping domains, as well as an outline of an art historical domain anno c1820. The juxtapositions are discussed against the backdrop of, among others, poststructuralist concepts such as “power” and “anti-essentialism” Findings – The juxtapositions affirm the point already surfacing in the different versions of the UNISIST model, that is, structures of communication change over time as well as according to the agents that are charting them. As such, power in a Foucauldian sense is unavoidable in outlining a domain. Originality/value – The UNISIST models are applied to the domain of art history and the article discusses the instability of a scientific domain as well as, at the same time, the significance of framing a domain; an implication which is often neglected in scientific information seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study constructed an information search process model based on costs and benefits to reflect different information search processes under different decisions from a behavioural economics perspective. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a deductive approach to conceptualise the costs, benefits, and uncertainties of the information search process. Subsequently, we constructed an information search process model based on the costs and benefits using graphical reasoning, loss aversion theory, bounded rationality theory, the satisficing theory of behavioural economics, and the uncertainty changes of information search process. Findings: The model revealed four types of user behaviours in the information search process: (1) avoiding search at the initiation of the search process; (2) exiting in the middle of a search; (3) stopping at the point of satisficing; and (4) continuing the search until experiencing physical discomfort. Originality/value: The model constructed in this study treats the information search as a process based on costs and benefits with uncertainty. This model integrates information search avoidance and stopping into an information search process model. The model identifies users' bounded rationality by evaluating ideal and real situations. Moreover, the model explains relative and absolute information overloads and the area beyond the user's bounded rationality. These findings could help improve users' information literacy and optimise information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To rescue at-risk historical scientific data stored at the McGill Observatory, the objectives of the Data Rescue Archive Weather (DRAW) project are: to build a repository; to develop a protocol to preserve the data in weather registers; and to make the data available to research communities and the public. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach The DRAW project adopts an open archive information system compliant model as a conceptual framework for building a digital repository. The model consists of data collection, conversion, data capture, transcription, arrangement, description, data extraction, database design and repository setup.Findings A climate data repository, as the final product, is set up for digital images of registers and a database is designed for data storage. The repository provides dissemination of and access to the data for researchers, information professionals and the public.Research limitations/implications Doing a quality check is the most important aspect of rescuing historical scientific data to ensure the accuracy, reliability and consistency of data.Practical implications The DRAW project shows how the use of historical scientific data has become a key element in research analysis on scientific fields, such as climatology and environmental protection.Originality/value The historical climate data set of the McGill Observatory is by nature unique and complex for preservation and research purposes. The management of historical scientific data is a challenge to rescue and describe as a result of its heterogeneous and non-standardized form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose A conceptual model describes important factors within a system and how they relate to one another. They are important because they help to identify system changes that can yield the greatest improvement. Within information retrieval (IR), most research is directed towards multi-document retrieval and a multi-interaction IR user scenario. There are few, if any, IR conceptual models supporting minimal or single-interaction IR (siIR) user scenarios, however the need for siIR systems is growing rapidly. The purpose of this paper is to take the first step towards constructing a task-oriented conceptual model and experimental framework to support siIR research.Design/methodology/approach A first principles approach is employed to develop a task-oriented conceptual model, called bridging information retrieval (BIR). This model is contrasted with the concept of relevance, a central factor within IR research.Findings BIR introduces the central concept of bridging information (BI) as the objective of IR systems. BI is the additional information a user requires to complete a task, beyond their innate knowledge. The relationship between BI and relevance is determined.Research limitations/implications The theoretical basis of BIR is derived axiomatically; however the resulting system evaluation model is speculative.Practical implications The proposed operational framework offers researchers a systematic approach to designing and evaluating siIR systems.Originality/value This work contributes a novel task-oriented IR conceptual model and evaluation framework, both centred around the concept of BI for siIR. It also contributes a novel search task classification method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Michael Buckland's works have spanned theoretical, historical and practice-oriented foci and genre. This article focuses on some of his theoretical-historical works that span over 20 years, which demonstrate a reading and critique of European Documentation in terms of what has been called "Documentality." This turn to a philosophy of information called "Documentality" marks the moment of "neo-documentation." This article surveys this moment in Buckland's works by reading his articles "Information as Thing," "What is a 'Document'?", and "Documentality Beyond Documents." It shows the transition from Documentation as a philosophy of information as representation to Documentality as a philosophy of information as function and performance. Some concepts and works of Bruno Latour are used to illuminate this transition from Documentation to Documentality. Implications and further research directions are discussed at the end. Design/methodology/approach: Conceptual and historical analyses. Findings: The article follows a neo-documentalist transition in Buckland's works in the thinking of documents from an Otletian representationalist epistemology ("Documentation") to a functionalist and performative epistemology ("Documentality") for documents. Research limitations/implications: This is a conceptual work on a limited corpus in Buckland's oeuvre. It has a limited discussion of Documentality in the works of other writers, namely the works of Bernd Frohmann and Maurizio Ferraris. Practical implications: The article points to historical shifts in the study of documents in Library and Information Science. Social implications: Documentality critically and materially studies documents in sociotechnical information management systems and elsewhere. Originality/value: This work highlights the importance of the above works and the importance of the neo-documentalist perspective of Documentality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper sets out to investigate the meaning, role and implications of contextual information associated with digital collections. Design/methodology/approach — This paper is based on an extensive review and analysis of both the scholarly literature from many disciplines about the concept of context and the professional literature (including standards) related to the description of information artifacts. The paper provides an analysis of context, distinguishing three main ways in which that term has been used within the scholarly literature. It then discusses contextual information within digital collections, and presents a framework for contextual information. It goes on to discuss existing standards and guidance documents for encoding information related to the nine classes of contextual entities, concluding with a discussion of potential implications for descriptive practices through the lifecycle of digital objects. Findings — The paper presents a framework for contextual information that is based on nine classes of contextual entities: object, agent, occurrence, purpose, time, place, form of expression, concept/abstraction, and relationship. Research limitations/implications — Research and development about and in support of digital collections will benefit from a clear articulation of the types, roles, importance and elements of contextual information. Practical implications — Future users of digital objects will probably have numerous tools for discovering preserved digital objects relevant to their interests, but making meaningful use and sense of the digital objects will also require capture, collection and management of contextual information. Originality/value — This paper synthesizes and extends a previously diffuse literature, in order to clarify and articulate core concepts in the management of digital collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to resolve a gap in the knowledge of how people with dyslexia interact with information retrieval (IR) systems, specifically an understanding of their information-searching behaviour. Design/methodology/approach - The dyslexia cognitive profile is used to design a logging system, recording the difference between two sets of participants: dyslexic and control users. A standard Okapi interface is used - together with two standard TREC topics - in order to record the information searching behaviour of these users. Findings - Using the log data, the differences in information-searching behaviour of control and dyslexic users, i.e. in the way the two groups interact with Okapi, are established and it also established that qualitative information collected (such as experience etc.) may not be able to account for these differences. Evidence from query variables was unable to distinguish between groups, but differences on topic for the same variables were recorded. Users who view more documents tended to judge more documents as being relevant, in terms of either the user group or topic. Session data indicated that there may be an important difference between the number of iterations used in a search between the user groups, as there may be little effect from the topic on this variable. Originality/value - This is the first study of the effect of dyslexia on information search behaviour, and it provides some evidence to take the field forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to point out the commonalities of research in digital libraries and digital preservation with regard to the issues of users and context of information. Design/methodology/approach - The paper's approach is a review of selected literature and reports of research projects focusing particularly on digital preservation research. Findings - It is noted that just like the digital library community the digital preservation research community is also confronted with the challenges of capturing, storing and making use of the information related to users and context. Practical implications - The paper points out some current research in digital preservation that aims to handle the users and context information for building future digital preservation systems. It highlights some major challenges in these areas. Originality/value - The paper reports on the state of the art research in digital preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe: a new taxonomy of metacognitive skills designed to support the study of metacognition in the context of web searching; a data collection instrument based on the taxonomy; and the results of testing the instrument on a sample of university students and staff. Design/methodology/approach - The taxonomy is based on a review of the literature, and is extended to cover web searching. This forms the basis for the design of the data collection instrument, which is tested with 405 students and staff of Sheffield University. Findings - Subjects regard the range of metacognitive skills focused on as broadly similar. However, a number of significant differences in reported metacognition usage relating to age, gender and discipline. Practical implications - These findings contribute to the long-term aims of the research which are to: develop a model of the actual and potential role of metacognition in web searching, and identify strategic "metacognitive interventions" that can be built into an intelligent information retrieval system, driven by the model, capable of enhancing retrieval effectiveness by compensating for metacognitive weaknesses on the part of the searcher. Originality/value - The value of the paper lies in: the consideration of metacognition in the context of web searching, the presentation of an extensible taxonomy of metacognitive skills, development and testing of a prototype metacognitive inventory, finding of significant differences in reported metacognition usage according to age, gender and discipline, and reflection of the implications of the results for future research into web searching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper aims to provide an overview of principles and procedures involved in creating a faceted classification scheme for use in resource discovery in an online environment. Design/methodology/approach — Facet analysis provides an established rigorous methodology for the conceptual organization of a subject field, and the structuring of an associated classification or controlled vocabulary. This paper explains how that methodology was applied to the humanities in the FATKS project, where the objective was to explore the potential of facet analytical theory for creating a controlled vocabulary for the humanities, and to establish the requirements of a faceted classification appropriate to an online environment. A detailed faceted vocabulary was developed for two areas of the humanities within a broader facet framework for the whole of knowledge. Research issues included how to create a data model which made the faceted structure explicit and machine-readable and provided for its further development and use. Findings — In order to support easy facet combination in indexing, and facet searching and browsing on the interface, faceted classification requires a formalized data structure and an appropriate tool for its management. The conceptual framework of a faceted system proper can be applied satisfactorily to humanities, and fully integrated within a vocabulary management system. Research limitations/implications — The procedures described in this paper are concerned only with the structuring of the classification, and do not extend to indexing, retrieval and application issues. Practical implications — Many stakeholders in the domain of resource discovery consider developing their own classification system and supporting tools. The methods described in this paper may clarify the process of building a faceted classification and may provide some useful ideas with respect to the vocabulary maintenance tool. Originality/value — As far as the authors are aware there is no comparable research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a high-level investigation of the physical-conceptual continuum occupied by both digital and physical libraries. Design/methodology/approach - A framework is provided for thinking about the notions of place and library. The issue of materials and the ideas they represent is considered. Places for people are considered, including issues of people's sense of place in physical and digital spaces. The issue of physical and digital spaces as places for work, collaboration, and community-building is considered. Findings - As more digital libraries are built, and as more physical libraries offer electronic access to parts of their collection, two trends are likely to result: the role of the library as a storage space for materials will become decreasingly important; and the role of the library as a space for users, for individual and collaborative work, and as a space for social activity, will become increasingly important. Research limitations/implications - Digital libraries are unable to fulfill some of the functions of the physical library as physical spaces, but are able to offer functions beyond what the physical library can offer as cognitive spaces. Practical implications - Areas of likely future development for digital libraries are suggested, as vehicles for enhancing cognitive space by augmenting representations of ideas in materials. Originality/value - This paper argues that in many ways digital libraries really are places in the conceptual sense, and will continue to broaden and enrich the roles that libraries play in people's lives and in the larger social milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to discuss the methodological aspects of a study, the results of which are detailed in a second paper. Design/methodology/approach - Indices of search goal revision (or redefinition) were constructed based on the chronological coding of queries logged on the OCLC FirstSearch service. Queries within search sessions were coded according to their conceptual relationships, based on a set of rules designed to identify possible revisions of search goals, as well as strategic reformulations. Given the same user interface, similar types of user, and large datasets, it was assumed that the number of strategic reformulations would be reasonably uniform across databases, so that the indices could be regarded as indicators of relative amounts of goal revision. Findings - The reliability of the coding used to construct the indices of goal redefinition was tested through parallel coding, and confirmed. Differences between the indices for various databases, on the other hand, were found to be statistically significant, allowing for the conclusion that the indices were able to show differences in the amount of goal redefinition occurring, given the assumption of similar levels of strategic reformulations across databases. Originality/value - Transaction log analysis has mostly focused on syntactic issues; few analyses have examined the semantic content of queries or contextualised individual queries as part of an evolving search session. However, this paper shows that although transaction log analysis is a relatively indirect means of examining users' thoughts and intentions during their interaction with an information retrieval system, logs that provide sufficiently rich data may, in certain controlled situations, be used to provide deeper insights into information retrieval behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is first to highlight some of the social phenomena that are driving the design of people-centred information solutions; second, to develop a broad ontology of information behaviour research that serves to identify factors that should be taken into account when designing such solutions. Finally, the author illustrates how this knowledge is being applied in the design of people-centred inclusive information products and services. Design/methodology/approach — The author draws on the information behaviour literature to highlight key drivers and to develop and illustrate the ontological framework. The significance of this framework is then demonstrated by providing examples of how this knowledge has been applied in the design of people-centred inclusive information products and services. Research limitations/implications — This is a conceptual paper and based on the informed, subjective analysis of previous research. However, relating theory to practice does provide an indication of the validity of this conception of one's knowledge of information behaviour to people-centred design. Originality/value — The paper helps to provide an overview of information behaviour research, the nature of the domain and the levels of abstraction. The article also makes a direct link between the theoretical world of information behaviour research and the empirical world of people-centred design. Hence, it also presents a case for the importance of the body of knowledge that people in information science refer to as information behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose ? This paper aims to show how information in digital collections that have been catalogued using high-quality metadata can be retrieved more easily by users of search engines such as Google. Design/methodology/approach ? The research and proposals described arose from an investigation into the observed phenomenon that pages from the Glasgow Digital Library (gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk) were regularly appearing near the top of Google search results shortly after publication, without any deliberate effort to achieve this. The reasons for this phenomenon are now well understood and are described in the second part of the paper. The first part provides context with a review of the impact of Google and a summary of recent initiatives by commercial publishers to make their content more visible to search engines. Findings ? The literature research provides firm evidence of a trend amongst publishers to ensure that their online content is indexed by Google, in recognition of its popularity with internet users. The practical research demonstrates how search engine accessibility can be compatible with use of established collection management principles and high-quality metadata. Originality/value ? The concept of data shoogling is introduced, involving some simple techniques for metadata optimisation. Details of its practical application are given, to illustrate how those working in academic, cultural and public-sector organisations could make their digital collections more easily accessible via search engines, without compromising any existing standards and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — To propose a comprehensive and semi-automatic method for constructing or updating knowledge organization tools such as thesauri. Design/methodology/approach — The paper proposes a comprehensive methodology for thesaurus construction and maintenance combining shallow NLP with a clustering algorithm and an information visualization interface. The resulting system TermWatch, extracts terms from a text collection, mines semantic relations between them using complementary linguistic approaches and clusters terms using these semantic relations. The clusters are mapped onto a 2D using an integrated visualization tool. Findings — The clusters formed exhibit the different relations necessary to populate a thesaurus or ontology: synonymy, generic/specific and relatedness. The clusters represent, for a given term, its closest neighbours in terms of semantic relations. Practical implications — This could change the way in which information professionals (librarians and documentalists) undertake knowledge organization tasks. TermWatch can be useful either as a starting point for grasping the conceptual organization of knowledge in a huge text collection without having to read the texts, then actually serving as a suggestive tool for populating different hierarchies of a thesaurus or an ontology because its clusters are based on semantic relations. Originality/value — This lies in several points: combined use of linguistic relations with an adapted clustering algorithm, which is scalable and can handle sparse data. The paper proposes a comprehensive approach to semantic relations acquisition whereas existing studies often use one or two approaches. The domain knowledge maps produced by the system represents an added advantage over existing approaches to automatic thesaurus construction in that clusters are formed using semantic relations between domain terms. Thus while offering a meaningful synthesis of the information contained in the original corpus through clustering, the results can be used for knowledge organization tasks (thesaurus building and ontology population) The system also constitutes a platform for performing several knowledge-oriented tasks like science and technology watch, textmining, query refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how non-research users access and use digital surrogates from archival collections via mobile walking tour app. Much of the existing literature that discusses outreach for digitised archival collections in libraries, archives and museums (LAMs) reports examples of single outreach events or discusses outreach broadly, without critically exploring the purpose and context of outreach as an activity. Further, these reports generally aim to introduce collections to potential researchers, amateur or professional, without consideration of how the collections could be used for purposes other than research, by non-researchers. The study aims to expand understanding of non-research use of digital surrogates contextualised by mobile technology.Design/methodology/approach Utilising an exploratory approach, Walk1916, a mobile walking tour app of Easter Rising sites in Dublin was first developed. It contextualised digital surrogates from archival collections, along with an audio and a textual description of the image, with augmented reality (AR) and geolocation technology. In all, 15 semi-structured interviews were then conducted to understand how contextualising digital surrogates with these mobile technology features influenced participants’ perceptions of the digital surrogate. Interview transcripts were transcribed and analysed via memoing and coding, using nVivo for Mac 10.2.2.Findings Findings from interview data suggest that contextualising the digital surrogate with AR and geolocation features allowed participants to perceive of the digital surrogate as enhancing their understanding of the Easter Rising, enhancing life and allowing for increased control of their experience.Originality/value This furthers work in the area of how individuals value digital surrogates, in different (non-research) contexts. These findings provide groundwork for the future study of non-research access to and use of digital surrogates held in institutional collections so that LAMs can utilise collections efficiently for a wider user base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This article aims to explore the geographic distribution of open access practices in the world from a diffusionist perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The article applies a tempo-spatial analysis to examine the diffusion movement of open access practices from the West to the entire world during the past several decades. Both maps and tables are used to support the analysis. The diffusionist theory is reviewed and applied to the understanding of open access. Findings – The paper discovers that technology is not the only factor determining the diffusion pattern of information systems as discussed in the literature. Cultural dissimilarities across countries have played a significant role in open access development. Open access can only be effectively established after it meets local standards. Practical implications – The findings help understanding of why open access has a disproportionate growth among developing countries, and even among developed countries, where the ICT infrastructure has been in place. Originality/value – Few studies have taken a transnational view to analyze open access geography at the global level, and few have been able to synthesize models to interpret diverse discoveries. Furthermore, a chronological evaluation tracing the history of open access spatial expansion is absent in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study aims to examine how systems for organizing information may present an authorial voice and shows how the mechanism of voice may work to persuasively communicate a point of view on the materials being collected and described by the information system. Design/methodology/approach – The paper synthesizes a conceptual framework from the field of rhetoric and composition and uses that framework to analyze how existing organizational schemes reveal authorial voice. Findings – Through textual analysis, the mechanism of authorial voice is described in three example information systems. In two of the examples, authorial voice is shown to function as a persuasive element by enabling identification, the rhetorical construct defined by the literary critic Kenneth Burke. In one example, voice appears inconsistently and does not work to facilitate persuasion. Research limitations/implications – This study illustrates the concept of authorial voice in the context of information systems, but it does not claim to comprehensively catalog all potential manifestations of authorial voice. Practical implications – By analyzing how information systems work as a form of document, we can better understand how information systems communicate to their users, and we can use this understanding to facilitate design. Originality/value – By creating designs that incorporate an enhanced conceptual grasp of authorial voice and other rhetorical properties of information systems, the construction of information systems that systematically and purposefully communicate original, creative points of view regarding their assembled collections can be facilitated, and so enable learning, discovery, and critical engagement for users. [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 - Potential and benefits of classification schemes and thesauri in building organizational taxonomies cannot be fully utilized by organizations. Empirical data of building an organizational taxonomy by the top-down approach of using classification schemes and thesauri appear to be lacking. The paper seeks to make a contribution in this regard. Design/methodology/approach - A case study of building an organizational taxonomy was conducted in the information studies domain for the Division of Information Studies at Nanyang Technology University, Singapore. The taxonomy was built by using the Dewey Decimal Classification, the Information Science Taxonomy, two information systems taxonomies, and three thesauri (ASIS&T, LISA, and ERIC). Findings - Classification schemes and thesauri were found to be helpful in creating the structure and categories related to the subject facet of the taxonomy, but organizational community sources had to be consulted and several methods had to be employed. The organizational activities and stakeholders' needs had to be identified to determine the objectives, facets, and the subject coverage of the taxonomy. Main categories were determined by identifying the stakeholders' interests and consulting organizational community sources and domain taxonomies. Category terms were selected from terminologies of classification schemes, domain taxonomies, and thesauri against the stakeholders' interests. Hierarchical structures of the main categories were constructed in line with the stakeholders' perspectives and the navigational role taking advantage of structures/term relationships from classification schemes and thesauri. Categories were determined in line with the concepts and the hierarchical levels. Format of categories were uniformed according to a commonly used standard. The consistency principle was employed to make the taxonomy structure and categories neater. Validation of the draft taxonomy through consultations with the stakeholders further refined the taxonomy. Originality/value - No similar study could be traced in the literature. The steps and methods used in the taxonomy development, and the information studies taxonomy itself, will be helpful for library and information schools and other similar organizations in their effort to develop taxonomies for organizing content and aiding navigation on organizational sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The paper aims to establish which formally and informally published sources of knowledge were mainly used by executives in the computer service industry to obtain knowledge of current developments in the field of marketing and to examine the purposes for which the knowledge gathered from these sources was employed. Design/methodology/approach — Marketing managers in 141 large computer services businesses completed a questionnaire concerning the extents to which they used books, marketing magazines, academic journals, and grey literature (GL) for instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic purposes. Four "motivating factors" (e.g. occupational learning orientation) were examined plus three other influences (e.g. length of time in a marketing role). The possible consequences of the extensive use of various sources were explored. Findings — Only 2 per cent of the sample read academic marketing journals, and just 3 per cent looked at marketing textbooks. However, 89 per cent of the sample accessed (mainly internet-based) grey marketing literature and 62 per cent read marketing magazines. Nearly, one in six of the respondents stated that they had read practitioner "how to do" marketing books. Several hypothesised independent variables exerted positive and significant impacts on the degrees to which magazines; GL and practitioner books were employed to obtain marketing knowledge. Research limitations/implications — It was not possible to examine exactly why a particular knowledge source was preferred for a specific purpose. Potential connections between past academic research outputs and the contents of contemporary grey marketing literature and articles in marketing magazines could not be investigated. The results imply that GL must be recognised as a vital source of marketing knowledge. Issues relating to the codification and wider distribution of GL, copyright, the shortage of specialised GL bibliographies in the marketing area, and the long-term availability of materials in electronic form need to be addressed. Originality/value — This was the first empirical study to connect the use of marketing knowledge sources to the purposes (instrumental, conceptual, symbolic) for which the knowledge contained within them was required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine how different aspects of an assessor's context, in particular their knowledge of a search topic, their interest in the search topic and their confidence in assessing relevance for a topic, affect the relevance judgements made and the assessor's ability to predict which documents they will assess as being relevant. Design/methodology/approach - The study was conducted as part of the Text REtrieval Conference (TREC) FIARD track. Using a specially constructed questionnaire information was sought on TREC assessors' personal context and, using the TREC assessments gathered, the responses were correlated to the questionnaire questions and the final relevance decisions. Findings - This study found that each of the three factors (interest, knowledge and confidence) had an affect on how many documents were assessed as relevant and the balance between how many documents were marked as marginally or highly relevant. Also these factors are shown to affect an assessors' ability to predict what information they will finally mark as being relevant. Research limitations/implications - The major limitation is that the research is conducted within the TREC initiative. This means that we can report on results but cannot report on discussions with the assessors. The research implications are numerous but mainly on the effect of personal context on the outcomes of a user study. Practical implications - One major consequence is that we should take more account of how we construct search tasks for HR evaluation to create tasks that are interesting and relevant to experimental subjects. Originality/value - Examining different search variables within one study to compare the relative effects on these variables on the search outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of LexiURL as a Web intelligence tool for collecting and analysing links to digital libraries, focusing specifically on the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH). Design/methodology/approach - The Web intelligence techniques in this study are a combination of link analysis (web structure mining), web server log file analysis (web usage mining), and text analysis (web content mining), utilizing the power of commercial search engines and drawing upon the information science fields of bibliometrics and webometrics. LexiURL is a computer program designed to calculate summary statistics for lists of links or URLs. Its output is a series of standard reports, for example listing and counting all of the different domain names in the data. Findings - Link data, when analysed together with user transaction log files (i.e. Web referring domains) can provide insights into who is using a digital library and when, and who could be using the digital library if they are "surfing" a particular part of the Web; in this case any site that is linked to or colinked with the NeLH. This study found that the NeLH was embedded in a multifaceted Web context, including many governmental, educational, commercial and organisational sites, with the most interesting being sites from the.edu domain, representing American Universities. Not many links directed to the NeLH were followed on September 25, 2005 (the date of the log file analysis and link extraction analysis), which means that users who access the digital library have been arriving at the site via only a few select links, bookmarks and search engine searches, or non-electronic sources. Originality/value - A number of studies concerning digital library users have been carried out using log file analysis as a research tool. Log files focus on real-time user transactions; while LexiURL can be used to extract links and colinks associated with a digital library's growing Web network. This Web network is not recognized often enough, and can be a useful indication of where potential users are surfing, even if they have not yet specifically visited the NeLH site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to examine search goal redefinition during users' interaction with information retrieval systems. Design/methodology/approach - The study utilized transaction logs from the OCLC FirstSearch service. Within each search session, logged queries were coded chronologically, according to their conceptual relationships, and indices of goal redefinition were constructed. Redefinition levels for different databases were compared, and certain features were isolated for examination as possible redefinition factors. Findings - The transaction log analysis showed that different databases induced goal redefinition to different extents and identified several factors which can contribute to goal redefinition, including the presence of abstracts and hyperlinking descriptors. On the other hand, no evidence was found to indicate that abstract length has much effect on redefinition, nor hit rate or retrievability of records. Practical implications - The research needs to be followed up using other methodologies and other information retrieval systems. A range of other possible factors affecting goal redefinition should be investigated. Originality/value - The paper shows that system feedback affects not only strategy, but also higher levels of information seeking behaviour interaction. This aspect of user-system interaction has rarely been researched. An index of goal redefinition and an interpretative form of transactional log analysis are put forward as means by which it may be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Scholarly monographs are a major information resource in the humanities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of abstracting and indexing (A&I) databases and library catalogues (OPACs) for subject retrieval of these monographs. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of monographs in philosophy was checked in the Philosopher's Index database and in library OPACs to establish how many subject terms were assigned per page of text. Findings - The results highlighted the inadequate indexing of monographs in these databases. Various methods of improving subject access are discussed, including enriched subject content of database records. The search potential of full-text databases is examined, with specific reference to two such databases, Oxford Scholarship Online and JSTOR. Practical implications - It is suggested that current and planned digitization projects need to incorporate improved search facilities, either by automatic generation of subject-rich document surrogates, or by the incorporation of author-generated metadata. Originality/value - This paper clarifies the current problems related to subject retrieval of scholarly monographs at a time when the launch of major digitization projects calls for urgent attention to this issue. [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 paper aims to investigate how readers assess relevance of retrieved documents in a foreign language they know well compared with their native language, and whether work-task scenario descriptions have effect on the assessment process. Design/methodology/approach - Queries, test collections, and relevance assessments were used from the 2002 Interactive CLEF. Swedish first-language speakers, fluent in English, were given simulated information-seeking scenarios and presented with retrieval results in both languages. Twenty-eight subjects in four groups were asked to rate the retrieved text documents by relevance. A two-level work-task scenario description framework was developed and applied to facilitate the study of context effects on the assessment process. Findings - Relevance assessment takes longer in a foreign language than in the user first language. The quality of assessments by comparison with pre-assessed results is inferior to those made in the users' first language. Work-task scenario descriptions had an effect on the assessment process, both by measured access time and by self-report by subjects. However, effects on results by traditional relevance ranking were detectable. This may be an argument for extending the traditional IR experimental topical relevance measures to cater for context effects. Originality/value - An extended two-level work-task scenario description framework was developed and applied. Contextual aspects had an effect on the relevance assessment process. English texts took longer to assess than Swedish and were assessed less well, especially for the most difficult queries. The IR research field needs to close this gap and to design information access systems with users' language competence in mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the design, development and evaluation of a task-based digital library, the Digital Work Environment (DWE), for the academic community of higher education institutions (HEI) with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as a test case. Three different information organization approaches (alphabetical subject category and task-based) were used to organize the wide range of heterogeneous information resources that were interfaced to DWE. A user evaluation study using a series of task scenarios was carried out to gauge the effectiveness and usefulness of DWE and these information organization approaches. The time taken by respondents to identify and access the relevant information resources for individual tasks was also measured The findings show that the task-based approach took the least time in identifying information resources. Regression analysis of information resource location time with gender, age, computer experience and digital resource experience of the participants are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing flood of documentary information through the Internet and other information sources challenges the developers of information retrieval systems. It is not enough that an IR system is able to make a distinction between relevant and non-relevant documents. The reduction of information overload requires that IR systems provide the capability of screening the most valuable documents out of the mass of potentially or marginally relevant documents. This paper introduces a new concept-based method to analyse the text characteristics of documents at varying relevance levels. The results of the document analysis were applied in an experiment on query expansion (QE) in a probabilistic IR system. Statistical differences in textual characteristics of highly relevant and less relevant documents were investigated by applying a facet analysis technique. In highly relevant documents a larger number of aspects of the request were discussed, searchable expressions for the aspects were distributed over a larger set of text paragraphs, and a larger set of unique expressions were used per aspect than in marginally relevant documents. A query expansion experiment verified that the findings of the text analysis can be exploited in formulating more effective queries for best match retrieval in the search for highly relevant documents. The results revealed that expanded queries with concept-based structures performed better than unexpanded queries or Ñnatural languageÒ queries. Further, it was shown that highly relevant documents benefit essentially more from the concept-based QE in ranking than marginally relevant documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a proposed information environment (PROPIE) for enhanced interaction and value-adding of electronic documents (e-documents). The design of PROPIE was based on a thorough user needs and requirements assessment in interacting with information through well-documented findings, and a focus group with twelve participants to elicit features that were deemed desirable in future interactions. The design was also based on an earlier work which reviewed the advancements in various user interface (UI) technologies, visualisation and interactive techniques, and a consideration of novel information structuring and organisation techniques that pose important implications for the design of more advanced UIs. Providing a suite of novel features and interactive tools that can be flexibly combined, PROPIE allows users to apply multiple novel ways to query intuitively and navigate information in an e-document. The querying and browsing processes in PROPIE are supported by various interactive and visualisation techniques. Users work within a visually sovereign, integrated environment for information gathering and organising, based on navigable, fractional information objects that are also affiliated with rich metadata and additional layers of value-adding information. A set of interface mock-ups was developed to demonstrate the potential of the environment in supporting the design of a new generation of electronic journals (e-journals). We report here empirical results from a study conducted to obtain representative users` feedback with regard to using PROPIE for interacting with e-journals. Twenty-two participants from a variety of academic backgrounds participated in the evaluation. Overall, PROPIE was found to have the potential both for enhancing the user's interaction with information captured within e-journals and for adding value to e-documents in various ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reported in this paper is part of a programme of ongoing research based on the model of the Information Search Process (ISP) developed in a series of prior studies by Kuhlthau. This study sought to gain a better understanding of the variety of tasks that involve lawyers as a particular group of information workers, how they use information to accomplish their work, and the role mediators play in their process of information seeking and use. Findings revealed that these lawyers frequently were involved in complex tasks that required a constructive process of interpreting, learning and creating. To accomplish these complex tasks, they preferred printed texts over computer databases primarily because computer databases required well-specified requests and did not offer an option for examining a wide range of information at one time. These lawyers called for an active potential role for mediators in `just for me' services. `Just for me' services would encompass designing systems to provide a wider range of access more compatible with the process of construction, applying and developing principles of classification that would offer a more uniform system for organising and accessing files, and providing direction in filtering the overwhelming amount of information available on electronic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Readers articulate mood in deeply subjective ways, yet the underlying structure of users' understanding of the media they consume has important implications for retrieval and access. User articulations might at first seem too idiosyncratic, but organizing them meaningfully has considerable potential to provide a better searching experience for all involved. The current study develops mood categories inductively for fiction organization and retrieval in information systems. Design/methodology/approach: The authors developed and distributed an open-ended survey to 76 fiction readers to understand their preferences with regard to the affective elements in fiction. From the fiction reader responses, the research team identified 161 mood terms and used them for further categorization. Findings: The inductive approach resulted in 30 categories, including angry, cozy, dark and nostalgic. Results include three overlapping mood families: Emotion, Tone/Narrative, and Atmosphere/Setting, which in turn relate to structures that connect reader-generated data with conceptual frameworks in previous studies. Originality/value: The inherent complexity of "mood" should not dissuade researchers from carefully investigating users' preferences in this regard. Adding to the existing efforts of classifying moods conducted by experts, the current study presents mood terms provided by actual end-users when describing different moods in fiction. This study offers a useful roadmap for creating taxonomies for retrieval and description, as well as structures derived from user-provided terms that ultimately have the potential to improve user experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study aims to explore the link creating behaviour of European highly cited scientists based upon their online lists of publications and their institutional personal websites. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 1,525 highly cited scientists working at European institutions were first identified. Outlinks from their online lists of publications and their personal websites pointing to a pre-defined collection of popular academic websites and file types were then gathered by a personal web crawler. Findings – Perhaps surprisingly, a larger proportion of social scientists provided at least one outlink compared to the other disciplines investigated. By far the most linked-to file type was PDF and the most linked-to type of target website was scholarly databases, especially the Digital Object Identifier website. Health science and life science researchers mainly linked to scholarly databases, while scientists from engineering, hard sciences and social sciences linked to a wider range of target websites. Both book sites and social network sites were rarely linked to, especially the former. Hence, whilst successful researchers frequently use the Web to point to online copies of their articles, there are major disciplinary and other differences in how they do this. Originality/value – This is the first study to analyse the outlinking patterns of highly cited researchers' institutional web presences in order to identify which web resources they use to provide access to their publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]