Research into how users discover, use and perceive the Library's collection of e-resources. Presented at the CIG Scotland seminar 'Resource Discovery : from catalogues to discovery services' at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, 21st March 2018

1. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Researching
the user experience of the
National Library of Scotland
eResources
March 2018
Emma Horrell

2. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
What are the eResources?

3. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
The eResources
• Collection of 130 varied subscription databases
• Managed by separate publishing organisations

4. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
• Offered to Library users as part of Digital resources
• 3 different access types: open, onsite and remote
The eResources

5. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
The eResources
Presented in a portal with various browsing options
Also discoverable via Summon:
Browse by subject : Browse by title:

6. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Why study the eResources?

7. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Reasons to study eResources
Their use impacts achievement of two of the Library’s
six strategic aims for 2015-2020
They are under-used but we don’t know why
6. Reaching out
2. Improving access
Only 14% of registered Library users had used them at time of study (April
2016)

8. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
How to study the eResources

9. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Research approach
• Exploratory
• Non-evaluative
• Collect both qualitative and quantitative data
National Library
eResources
Users
Examine all aspects of the interaction between:
Research the user experience of the
eResources

10. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
User experience of the eResources
3) Temporal aspects:
2) Hedonic elements:
1) Pragmatic elements:
National Library
eResources
Users
Actions they took
Results and outcomes
Feelings about
interactionPleasure or pain?
Start: motivations, expectations
End: reflections, satisfaction
Who they were

11. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Research Questions to answer
WHO?
HOW?
WHY?
WHAT?

12. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Research Method
• Distribute a questionnaire to eResource users
• Gather quantitative data
• Select a sample of users to interview
• Interview individuals and collect qualitative data
• Analyse data to answer research questions and
obtain a picture of the eResources user experience

13. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Reaching eResource users
Questionnaire
Emailed to 1720 users
(who had used eResources in last 12 months)
Link on website live for 2 weeks
Response
441 unique responses
166 willing to be interviewed about
their user experiences
14 purposefully selected for
interviews

14. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings
WHO? WHY?
WHAT? HOW?

15. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
WHO?

16. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of respondents
Not affiliated to an educational institution (80%)
Postgraduates (4%)
Undergraduates (1%)
FE students (1%)
Academics (60%)
HE/FE staff (10%)
A mix of individuals
Findings – Who uses the eResources?
From 441 questionnaire responses

17. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Mix of 14 individual users
interviewed
Freelance Journalist
Blogger
Business researcher
Local history enthusiast
2 Family history
researchers
Law firm employee
FE College LibrarianUniversity Professor
FE student
Historian
Scientist
Music researcher
Spectrum of experience:
Used to using search engines
Used eResources
infrequently
Reliant on Google Books
Advanced database knowledge
Used secondary indexes
Extensively used eResources
Academics Professionals Others
PhD researcher
From 14 individuals interviewed
Findings – Who uses the eResources?

18. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
WHY?

19. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings – Why do they use them?
Reasons
Because they
were free (80%)
Easy to use (69%)
Specific database (69%)
Database not available
elsewhere (50%)
Motivations
Personal
interest
(59%)
Part of job (18%)
Academic research (42%)
Family history
research (35%)
From 441 questionnaire responses

20. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings – Why do they use them?
Two key draws of the eResources
Content
Reliable
Good quality
Trustworthy
Promise of
something
‘useful’
Specific
content
Portal
Practical teaching resource
From 14 individuals interviewed

21. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
WHAT?

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Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings – What content do they use?
Newspapers (62%)
Journal content or articles (43%)
Historic databases (32%)
Biographical resources (32%)
Science resources (8%)
Music resources (6%)
Business resources (4%)
From 441 questionnaire responses

23. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Newspaper
content
PhD about an
eminent
Scotsman
Locate
historic
curling sites
Unravel
family history
mysteries
Journal
content
Specific
research
Prepare
legal cases
Plan market
research
Contextual details from interviews
Findings – What do they do with content?
From 14 individuals interviewed

24. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
HOW?

25. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings – How do they discover them?
Awareness Route to access
Library website (56%)
Via staff
(20%)
Word of
mouth (18%)
Internet (9%)
Directly through
the home page (85%)
Digital resources
menu (35%)
OPAC (11%)
Via a search engine (4%)
From 441 questionnaire responses

26. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings – How do they discover them?
Most interviewees used ‘Browse by’ menus to find
content
One used Summon:
From 14 individuals interviewed

27. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings –How was their experience?
57
1
40
37%
13
67
67% had no
difficulties
finding content
57% found
content most of
the time
13% didn't find
what they sought
but found
something useful
37% found exactly
what they wanted
40% found
content they
wanted and more
1% found
nothing of
use
Questionnaire revealed: Good in terms of content
From 441 questionnaire responses

28. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings –How was their experience?
Interviews revealed: Three main positives
1. Content 13 out of 14 found content of use
Some made serendipitous
discoveries
2. Remote access Most popular way to use eResources
3. Inspiration
Desire to share experiences
Using eResources inspired actions
Actions impacted others
From 14 individuals interviewed

29. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings –How was their experience?
Questionnaire revealed:Search & navigation lacking
4% obtained too many
results from their
search
13% uncertain how
to navigate the
eResources
4% couldn’t find their
subject in the subject list
11% couldn’t find the
database they wanted in
the A-Z list
From 441 questionnaire responses

30. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings –How was their experience?
1) Browsing
Interviews revealed: Four main negatives
Confusion about ‘Browse by’ menus
2) Navigation
Feeling ‘lost’ away from Library website
Confusion over databases being separate
3) Searching
Difficulty getting search parameters right
Summon returned ‘irrelevant’ results
4) Accessing
Denied access to non-subscription articles
Not all databases available remotely
From 14 individuals interviewed

31. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings – How was their experience?
Challenging for novice users
Users who
had used
them before
prepared
Planned
onsite and
remote
sessions
Used Google
Scholar to
identify
databases
Sought and used
indexes to pinpoint
references
Asked
staff to
direct
them
Novice
users
expected it
to be easier
Thought
Summon was
going to be
like Google
Panicked
when away
from main
Library site
Thrown by
remote access
restrictions
Stuck on
‘Browse
by’ menus
From 14 individuals interviewed

32. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Findings – How was their experience?
Perseverance was key to
success
Some were
tenacious
Strategic
approach
Content
worth the
effort
Trial
and
error
Others
gave up
Wanted
content
quickly
Lost faith
when
expectations
not met
Back to
Google
Books
From 14 individuals interviewed

33. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Recommendation
s

34. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Responding to findings: Recommendations
3) Make eResources
intuitive for novice
users
Identify ‘personas’ or ‘user types’4) Recognise &
respond to different
users and uses
Focus on experience of novice users
5) Alleviate the need
to persevere
Develop guides tailored to different uses
Offer help options and more support
Encourage users to share tips & tricks
Design tools & guides to ‘get started’
1) Build on positives Content, remote access, inspiration
2) Address negatives Clearer guidance on browsing,
navigation, searching & Summon

35. National Library of Scotland
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Thank you and any questions?