Understanding Users: A prerequisite for developing new technologies

Journal of the Society of Archivists

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 33-49

  Sexton, Anna ^a   Turner, Chris ^a   Yeo, Geoffrey ^a   Hockey, Susan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 2442522553     PISSN: 00379816     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0037981042000199133     Document Type: Review

References (33)

1. For more information on Encoded Archival Description visit the official website at 〈http://www.loc.gov/ead〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
2. For more information on the Text Encoding Initiative visit the official website at 〈http://www.tei-c.org〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
3. Further information on Encoded Archival Context can be found at 〈http://www.library.yale.edu/eac/〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
4. International Council on Archives, ISAAR (CPF) International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (Ottawa, 1996), available at 〈http://www.ica.org/biblio/cds/ isaar_eng.pdf〉 (accessed 7 October 2003).
5. International Council on Archives, ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, 2nd edn (Ottawa, 2000), available at 〈http://www.ica.org/biblio/cds/isad_g_2e.pdf〉 (accessed 7 October 2003).
6. For more information on the integrative approach taken by the LEADERS Project, see A. Sexton, C. Turner, S. Hockey and G. Yeo, 'TEI, EAD and integrated user access to archives: towards a generic toolset', in J. Anderson, A. Dunning and M. Fraser (eds), DRH 2001 and 2002: Selected Papers from the Digital Resources in the Humanities Conferences at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in September 2001 and at Edinburgh University Library in September 2002, Office for Humanities Communication Publication 16 (London, 2003), pp 243-262; and A. Sexton and C. Turner, 'Expanding the role of EAD: providing adequate metadata for digital as well as original archive documents', Vine, vol 32 (2002), pp 71-80.
7. For more information on the integrative approach taken by the LEADERS Project, see A. Sexton, C. Turner, S. Hockey and G. Yeo, 'TEI, EAD and integrated user access to archives: towards a generic toolset', in J. Anderson, A. Dunning and M. Fraser (eds), DRH 2001 and 2002: Selected Papers from the Digital Resources in the Humanities Conferences at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in September 2001 and at Edinburgh University Library in September 2002, Office for Humanities Communication Publication 16 (London, 2003), pp 243-262; and A. Sexton and C. Turner, 'Expanding the role of EAD: providing adequate metadata for digital as well as original archive documents', Vine, vol 32 (2002), pp 71-80.
8. W. Duff, 'Understanding the information-seeking behaviour of archival researchers in a digital age: paths, processes and preferences', Proceedings of the DLM Forum 2002 (Luxembourg, 2002), p 332.
9. H. Jenkinson, Manual of Archive Administration (Oxford, 1922), p 107.
10. UK Government, Government Policy on Archives, Cm 4516 (London, 1999), p 8.
11. National Council on Archives, British Archives: the way forward (1999), p 3. Available at 〈http://nca.archives.org.uk/brarchs.htm〉 (accessed 7 October 2003).
12. Heritage Lottery Fund, Heritage Grants (London, 2002). Available at 〈http://www.hlf.org.uk/dimages/New_heritage_grant2002/HG_Intro.pdf〉 (accessed 7 October 2003).
13. 'About MLA', webpage 〈http://www.MLA.gov.uk/home/00about.asp〉 (accessed 9 March 2004).
14. A2A is the Access to Archives project which provides online access to descriptive information about archives in England. See 〈 http://www.a2a.org.uk〉.
15. The AIM25 project provides online access to collection-level descriptions of the archives of higher education institutions and learned societies within the Greater London area. See 〈http://www.aim25.ac.uk〉 .
16. SCAN is the Scottish Archive Network. See 〈 http://www.scan.org.uk/index.html〉.
17. The Higher Education Archives Hub provides online access to descriptions of archives held in UK universities and colleges. See 〈 http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/〉.
18. JISC is The Joint Information Systems Committee. It supports further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support teaching, learning, research and administration. See 〈http:// www.jisc.ac.uk〉.
19. Tavistock Institute, JISC Archives Sub-Committee: a project to develop measures of user satisfaction for university archive and manuscript repositories (London, 1997), available at 〈 http://www.kcl.ac.uk/projects/srch/reports/usersatwork.html〉 (accessed 7 October 2003).
20. Duff, 'Understanding the information-seeking behaviour of archival researchers', p 332.
21. In addition to the authors quoted here, many other commentators have remarked on the lack of understanding of users and their needs in the archive domain, particularly in comparison with the volume of work that has been done on understanding users of libraries. See, for example, the comments of M. Hedstrom, 'How do archivists make electronic archives usable and accessible?', Archives and Manuscripts, vol 26 (1998), p 12; and C. J. Prom 'The EAD Cookbook: a survey and usability study', American Archivist, vol 65 (2002), p 266.
22. In addition to the authors quoted here, many other commentators have remarked on the lack of understanding of users and their needs in the archive domain, particularly in comparison with the volume of work that has been done on understanding users of libraries. See, for example, the comments of M. Hedstrom, 'How do archivists make electronic archives usable and accessible?', Archives and Manuscripts, vol 26 (1998), p 12; and C. J. Prom 'The EAD Cookbook: a survey and usability study', American Archivist, vol 65 (2002), p 266.
23. Tavistock Institute, JISC Archives Sub-Committee, p 2.
24. I. Anderson, 'Primarily history: historians and the search for primary sources', available at 〈 http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/research/historians/primarily_history.htm〉 (accessed 7 October 2003); and A. Gilliland-Swetland, 'Evaluation design for large-scale, collaborative online archives: interim report of the online Archive of California Evaluation Project', Archives and Museum Informatics, no 12 (1998), p 183.
25. I. Anderson, 'Primarily history: historians and the search for primary sources', available at 〈 http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/research/historians/primarily_history.htm〉 (accessed 7 October 2003); and A. Gilliland-Swetland, 'Evaluation design for large-scale, collaborative online archives: interim report of the online Archive of California Evaluation Project', Archives and Museum Informatics, no 12 (1998), p 183.
26. Details of recent initiatives at the National Archives are given in E. Hallam Smith, 'Customer focus and marketing in archive service delivery: theory and practice', JSA, vol 24 (2003), pp 35-53.
27. M. Economou, User Evaluation: report of findings (London, 2002), available at 〈http://www.mla.gov.uk/ documents/nanurg.pdf〉 (accessed 7 October 2003). For general information on the PSQG's 'National Survey of Visitors to British Archives' see 〈http://www.pro.gov.uk/archives/psqg/ survey_summary_overall.htm〉.
28. M. Economou, User Evaluation: report of findings (London, 2002), available at 〈http://www.mla.gov.uk/ documents/nanurg.pdf〉 (accessed 7 October 2003). For general information on the PSQG's 'National Survey of Visitors to British Archives' see 〈http://www.pro.gov.uk/archives/psqg/ survey_summary_overall.htm〉.
29. M. Taylor, archives-nra discussion list, 7 August 2003.
30. The first step in the normalisation exercise was to gauge the proportion of UK archive repositories in each of three broad categories: national, local authority and specialist. We used the ARCHON directory 〈 http://www.hmc.gov.uk/archon/archon.htm〉 as a data source and counted how many of the repositories listed in the directory fell within each category. The second step was to estimate the average number of users for each repository type. We did this by grouping the repositories that took part in the LEADERS survey into the same categories and averaging the numbers of questionnaire returns in each. For each repository type (national, local and specialist) we multiplied the results of step one with the results of step two. The figures generated in this way were turned into percentages which acted as our weighting factors. We then grouped the raw data for each survey question according to repository type, averaged the results and applied the weighting factors to give a normalised result.
31. Public Services Quality Group, 'National Survey of Visitors to British Archives, February 2001', available at 〈 http://www.pro.gov.uk/archives/psqg/2001keyfindings.pdf〉 (accessed 7 October 2003).
32. E. Yakel, 'Listening to users', Archival Issues, vol 26 (2002), pp 111-123.
33. Economou, User Evaluation, pp 4, 20-21.