User interactions with electronic finding aids in a controlled setting

American Archivist

Volumn 67, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 234-268

  Prom, Christopher J ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 39749087150     PISSN: 03609081     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.17723/aarc.67.2.7317671548328620     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. William J. Maher, "Chaos and the Nature of Archival Systems," presented at the Society of American Archivists, 56th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 15 September 1992 at http://web.library. uiuc.edu/ahx/workpap/ chaosshort.pdf (accessed 11 May 2004).
2. Robert Spindler and Richard Pearce-Moses, "Does AMC Mean Archives Made Confusing? Patron Understanding of USMARC AMC Catalog Records," American Archivist 56 (Spring 1993): 331-32.
3. Kristina Southwell, "How Researchers Learn of Manuscript Resources at the Western History Collections," Archival Issues 26, no. 2 (2002): 91-109
4. Elizabeth Yakel, "Listening to Users," Archival Issues 26, no. 2 (2002): 111-27.
5. William Maher, "The Use of User Studies," Midwestern Archivist 9, no. 1 (1986): 15-26
6. Paul Conway, "Facts and Frameworks: An Approach to Studying the Users of Archives," American Archivist 49 (Fall 1986): 393-407.
7. Paul Conway, Partners In Research: Improving Access to the Nation's Archives (Pittsburgh: Archives & Museum Informatics, 1994)
8. Linda J. Long, "Question Negotiation in the Archival Setting: The Use of Interpersonal Communciation Techniques in the Reference Interview," American Archivist 52 (Winter 1989): 40-50
9. Helen R. Tibbo, "Interviewing Techniques for Remote Reference: Electronic versus Traditional Environments," American Archivist 58(Summer 1995): 294-310
10. Elizabeth Yakel and Laura Bost, "Understanding Administrative Use and Users in University Archives," American Archivist 57 (Fall 1994): 596-615.
11. Frederic Miller, "Use, Appraisal, and Research: A Case Study of Social History," American Archivist 49 (Fall 1986): 393-407
12. Jacqueline Goggin, "The Indirect Approach: A Study of Scholarly Users of Black and Women's Organizational Records in the Library of Congress Manuscripts Division," Midwestern Archivist 9, no. 1 (1986): 57-67
13. David Bearman, "User Presentation Language in Archives," Archives & Museum Informatics, nos. 3-4 (Winter 1989-90): 3-7
14. Wendy Duff and Catherine Johnson, "A Virtual Expression of Need: An Analysis of E-mail Reference Questions," American Archivist 64 (Spring-Summer 2001): 43-60
15. Kristin Martin, "An Analysis of Remote Reference Correspondence at a Large Academic Manuscripts Collection," American Archivist 64 (Spring-Summer 2001): 17-42.
16. Helen R. Tibbo, "Primarily History in America: How U.S. Historians Search for Primary Materials at the Dawn of the Digital Age," American Archivist 66 (Spring-Summer 2003): 9-50
17. Elizabeth Yakel and Deborah A. Torres, "AI: Archival Intelligence and User Expertise," American Archivist 66 (Spring-Summer 2003): 51-78.
18. Michael Stevens, "The Historian and Archival Finding Aids," Georgia Archive 5 (Winter 1977): 64-74
19. Wendy M. Duff and Catherine A. Johnson, "Accidentally Found on Purpose: The Information Seeking Behavior of Historians in Archives, "Library Quarterly 72 (October 2002): 472-96.
20. Steven L. Hensen "Archival Cataloging and the Internet: The Implications and Impact of EAD," Journal of Internet Cataloging 4, nos. 3-4 (2001): 75-95
21. S. L. Hensen, "The First Shall Be First: APPM and Its Impact on American Archival Description," Archivaria 35 (Spring 1993): 64-70
22. Christopher J. Prom, "Does EAD Play Well with Other Metadata Standards? Searching and Retrieving EAD Using the OAI Protocols," Journal of Archival Organization 1, no. 3 (2002): 51-72
23. Christopher. J. Prom, "The EAD Cookbook: a Survey and Usability Study," American Archivist 65 (Fall-Winter 2002): 257-75
24. Clay Redding, "Reengineering Finding Aids Revisited: Current Archival Descriptive Practice and Its Effect on EAD Implementation," Journal of Archival Organization 1, no. 3 (2002): 35-50
25. James M. Roth, "Serving Up EAD: an Exploratory Study on the Deployment and Utilization of Encoded Archival Description Finding Aids," American Archivist 64 (Fall-Winter 2001): 214-37
26. Elizabeth J. Shaw, "Rethinking the EAD: Balancing Flexibility and Interoperability," New Review of Information Networking, 7 (2001): 117-31
27. and Jill Tatem, "EAD: Obstacles to Implementation, Opportunities for Understanding," Archival Issues 23, no. 2 (1998): 155-69.
28. Rita L. H. Czeck, "Archival MARC Records and Finding Aids in the Context of End-User Subject Access to Archival Collections," American Archivist 61 (Fall 1998): 426-40
29. Spindler and Pearce-Moses, "Does AMC Mean Archives Made Confusing?", 330-41.
30. Burt Altman and John Nemmers, "The Usability of On-line Archival Resources: The Polaris Project Finding Aid," American Archivist 64 (Spring-Summer 2001): 121-31.
31. Anne Gilliland-Swetland, "Popularizing the Finding Aid: Exploiting EAD to Enhance Online Discovery and Retrieval in Archival Information Systems by Diverse User Groups," in Encoded Archival Description on the Internet, ed. Daniel V. Pitti and Wendy M. Duff, 201 (New York: Haworth Press, 2001).
32. See also Matthew Young Eidson, "Describing Anything That Walks: The Problem Behind the Problem of EAD," Journal of Archival Organization 1, no. 4 (2002): 5-28.
33. Gilliland-Swetland lays out some thought-provoking suggestions for systematically redesigning archival access (based on past studies regarding user information seeking behaviors, particularly the Getty project). Dennis Meissner, "First Things First: Reengineering Finding Aids for Implementation of EAD," American Archivist 60 (Fall 1997): 372-87.
34. The Online Archive of California Evaluation Project made promising steps in this direction, laying out a detailed and systematic methodology for the evaluation of on-line archival resources, including an assessment of user needs, interfaces, and usability, but only a planning report was issued. Anne J. Gilliland-Swetland, "Evaluation Design for Large-Scale Collaborative Online Archives: Interim Report of the Online Archive of California Evaluation Project," Archives and Museum Informatics 12 (1998): 177-203.
35. Domain experts are typically thought of as those who understand the norms and content of a subject area. In other domains (for example, computer science, business, and law) domain knowledge has been shown to play a significant role in facilitating faster, more effective electronic searches. (See Gary Marchionini, Sandra Dwiggins, Andrew Katz, and Xia Lin, "Information Seeking in Full-Text End-User- Oriented Search Systems: the Roles of Domain and Search Expertise," Library and Information Science Research 15 [1993]: 35-69.)
36. Domain knowledge is often contrasted with systems knowledge. Systems knowledge entails an understanding of search techniques, data structures, and computer operating principles. Systems knowledge also significantly improves performance; and some literature suggests that in certain fields it may be even more important than domain knowledge. (See M. D. Kiestra, M. J. W. Stokmans, and J. Kamphuis, "End-Users Searching the Online Catalogue: The Influence of Domain and System Knowledge on Search Patterns, Electronic Library 12, no. 6 [1994]: 335-43.)
37. They argue that archival intelligence plays a significant role in helping researchers work with archival materials. It includes an understanding of archival principles, theories, procedures (such as provenance), the application of specific strategies to reduce uncertainty (such as question asking), and the application of intellective skills (such as interpreting the relationship between finding aids and the primary sources). Yakel and Torres, "AI: Archival Intelligence," 51-78.
38. As a starting point, the study assumes that users will likely come into contact with a repository's Web site at some point in their research, although even this most basic point has been untested with the exception of one published study which found that approximately two-thirds of U. S. historians recently surveyed visit repository Web sites, with the highest rates of use (85%) among assistant professors. Tibbo, "Primarily History," 23.
39. Peiling Wang, "Methodologies and Methods for User Behavioral Research," in Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), ed. Martha E. Williams (Medford, N. J.: Published for the American Society for Information Science by Information Today, 1999), 53-99.
40. Respondent number 109.
41. Respondent number 99.
42. Duff and Johnson, "Accidentally Found on Purpose," 475-76
43. Marcia Bates, Deborah N. Wilde, and Susan Siegfried, "An Analysis of Search Terminology Used by Humanities Scholars: The Getty Online Searching Project Report Number 1," Library Quarterly 63 (January 1993): 1-39.
44. Marcia Bates, "The Design of Databases and other Information Resources for Humanities Scholars: The Getty End-User Online Searching Project Report No. 4," Online and CD-ROM Review 18 (December 1994): 334
45. Stephen E. Wiberley Jr. and William G. Jones, "Patterns for Information Seeking in the Humanities," College and Research Libraries 50 (November 1989): 642.
46. Respondent number 101.
47. Respondent number 99.
48. Respondent number 110.
49. Respondent number 90.
50. Respondent number 101.
51. Respondent number 112.
52. Respondent number 90.
53. Respondent number 15.
54. Respondent number 28.
55. Respondent number 43.
56. Wendy M. Duff and Catherine A. Johnson, "Where Is the List with All the Names? Information-Seeking Behavior of Genealogists," American Archivist 66 (Spring/Summer 2003): 79-95.
57. Charles Cole, "Name Collection by Ph.D. History Students: Inducing Expertise," Journal of the American Society for Information Science 51 (March 2000): 445.
58. Respondent number 61.
59. Respondent number 133;
60. respondent number 135.
61. Respondent number 129.
62. Duff and Johson, "Accidentally Found on Purpose," 481-83.
63. Respondent number 110.
64. Respondent number 65.
65. Respondent number 115.
66. Respondent number 113.
67. Respondent number 110.
68. Respondent number 60;
69. respondent number 129.
70. See especially Gilliland-Swetland, "Popularizing the Finding Aid," 214-21 for some preliminary recommendations.
71. Respondent number 47.
72. Charles Cole, "Name Collection," 445.
73. Respondent number 129.