MLA Subject Access Subcommittee

Bibliography
Subject Searching Behavior: User Studies

This bibliography was compiled by the subcommittee during 1997 and early 1998 to

1. determine whether anyone has studied the way music users look for music in library catalogs, and particularly what kind of use they make of subject searching, and
2. identify studies of subject searching behavior not necessarily focused on music users but that might have relevance to the design of a study of music searching behavior.

The citations are organized into categories:

• Possible Models for a Music User Study
  • Transaction Log Analyses
  • Questionnaires
  • Combination of Methods
• Background Reading for Planning a Music User Study

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  Possible Models for a Music User Study

  Transaction Log Analyses

  • Ballard, T. "Comparative Searching Styles of Patrons and Staff." Library Resources & Technical Services 38 (July 1994): 293-305.
  • Hancock-Beaulieu, M. "A Comparative Transaction Log Analysis of Browsing and Search Formulation in Online Catalogues." Program 27 (July 1993): 269-80.
  • Hunter, Rhonda N. "Successes and Failures of Patrons Searching the Online Catalog at a Large Academic Library: A Transaction Log Analysis." RQ 30 (spring 1991): 395-402.
  • Van Pulis, Neal and Lorene E. Ludy. "Subject Searching in an Online Catalog with Authority Control." College & Research Libraries 49 (November 1988): 523-33.
  • Wallace, P. M. "How Do Patrons Search the Online Catalog When No One's Looking? Transaction Log Analysis and Implications for BI and System Design." RQ 33 (winter 1993): 239-52.
  • Wyly, B. J. "From Access Point to Materials: A Transaction Log Analysis of Access Point Value for Online Catalog Users." Library Resources & Technical Services 40 (July 1996): 211-36.

  Questionnaires

  • Franz, Lori, John Powell and Suzann Jude. "End-User Understanding of Subdivided Subject Headings." Library Resources & Technical Services 38 (July 1994): 213-26.
  • Hildreth, Charles R. "End Users and Structured Searching of Online Catalogues: Recent Research Findings." In Tools for Knowledge Organization and the Human Interface; Proceedings of the 1st International ISKO Conference, Darmstadt, 14-17 August 1990, 2:9-24. Edited by Robert Fugmann. Frankfurt/Main: INDEKS, 1990-1991.

  Combination of Methods (videotape, transaction logs, post-search interviews)

  • Hert, Carol Anne. "User Goals in an Online Public Access Catalog." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 47 (July 1996): 504-18.

  Background Reading for Planning a Music User Study

  • Bates, Marcia J. "The Getty End-User Online Searching Project in the Humanities; Report No. 6: Overview and Conclusions." College & Research Libraries 57 (November 1996): 514-23.
  • Carlyle, Allyson. "Matching LCSH and User Vocabulary in the Library Catalog." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 10, no. 1/2 (1989): 37-63.
  • Cherry, Joan M. "Improving Subject Access in OPACs: An Exploratory Study of Conversion of Users' Queries." Journal of Academic Librarianship 18 (May 1992): 95-99.
  • Cochrane, Pauline A. and Karen Markey. "Catalog Use Studies--Since the Introduction of Online Interactive Catalogs: Impact on Design for Subject Access." Library & Information Science Research 5 (winter 1983): 337-63.
  • Connell, T. H. "Subject Searching in Online Catalogs: Metaknowledge Used by Experienced Searchers." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 46 (August 1995): 507-18.
  • Cousins, Shirley Anne. "Enhancing Subject Access to OPACs: Controlled Vocabulary vs. Natural Language." Journal of Documentation 48 (September 1992): 291-309.
  • _____. "In Their Own Words: An Examination of Catalogue Users' Subject Queries." Journal of Information Science 18, no. 5 (1992): 329-41.
  • Croucher, Charles. "Problems of Subject Access: User Studies and Interface Design." Program 20 (April 1986): 211-24.
  • Drabenstott, K. M. "Enhancing a New Design for Subject Access to Online Catalogs." Library Hi Tech 14, no. 1 (1996): 87-109.
  • Drabenstott, K. M. and D. Vizine-Goetz. Using Subject Headings for Online Retrieval: Theory, Practice, and Potential. San Diego: Academic Press, 1994.
  • Drabenstott, K. M. and M. S. Weller. "Failure Analysis of Subject Searches in a Test of a New Design for Subject Access to Online Catalogs." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 47 (July 1996): 519-37.
  • _____. "Testing a New Design for Subject Searching in Online Catalogs." Library Hi Tech 12, no. 1 (1994): 67-76+.
  • Feri, T. E. and L. Millsop. "The Knuckle-Cracker's Dilemma: A Transaction Log Study of OPAC Subject Searching." Information Technology and Libraries 15 (June 1996): 81-98.
  • Hancock-Beaulieu, Micheline, et al. "Evaluation of Online Catalogues: Eliciting Information from the User." Information Processing & Management 27, no. 5 (1991): 523-32.
  • Kaske, N. K. "Research Methodologies and Transaction Log Analysis: Issues, Questions, and a Proposed Model." Library Hi Tech 11, no. 2 (1993): 79-86.
  • Kinney, T. and P. Pasak. "The 'Naive Subject Searcher' Model: A Tool for Evaluating Library Catalog User Interfaces." In Integrated Online Library Systems: Proceedings 1990. New York, May 2-3, 1990. Medford, NJ: Learned Information, 1990.
  • Kurth, M. "The Limits and Limitations of Transaction Log Analysis." Library Hi Tech 11, no. 2 (1993): 98-104.
  • Larson, Ray. "The Decline of Subject Searching: Long-Term Trends and Patterns of Index Use in an Online Catalog." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 42(April 1991): 197-215.
  • Nicholas, D. "An Assessment of the Online Searching Behavior of Practitioner End Users." Journal of Documentation 52 (September 1996): 227-51.
  • O'Brien, Ann. "Relevance as an Aid to Evaluation in OPACs." Journal of Information Science 16, no. 4 (1990): 265-71.
  • Peters, Thomas A. "The History and Development of Transaction Log Analysis." Library Hi Tech 11, no. 2 (1993 ): 41-66.
  • Sandore, B. "Applying the Results of Transaction Log Analysis." Library Hi Tech 11, no. 2 (1993): 87-97.
  • Seymour, Sharon. "Online Public Access Catalog User Studies: A Review of Research Methodologies, March 1986-November 1989." Library & Information Science Research 13 (April-June 1991): 89-102.
  • Slack, Frances Elisabeth. "OPACs: Using Enhanced Transaction Logs to Achieve More Effective Online Help for Subject Searching." Ph.D. diss., Manchester Polytechnic, 1991.
  • _____. "Transaction Logging as a Method of Evaluation for Help and Instruction Facilities on Online Information Retrieval Systems." In Online Information 89; Proceedings of the 13th International Online Information Meeting, London, 12-14 December 1989. Oxford, England and Medford, New Jersey: Learned Information, 1989, 23-32.
  • Vizine-Goetz, Diane and Karen Markey Drabenstott. "Computer and Manual Analysis of Subject Terms Entered by Online Catalog Users." In ASIS '91: Systems Understanding People; Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Washington, D.C., 27-31 October 1991. Edited by Jose-Marie Griffiths. Medford: Learned Information, 1991, 156-61.

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  Last updated April 18, 2000