Tom Dobrowolski

Re‐appraising information seeking behaviour in a digital environment: Bouncers, checkers, returnees and the like

Collating data from a number of log and questionnaire studies conducted largely into the use of a range of consumer health digital information platforms, Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (Ciber) researchers describe some new thoughts on characterising (and naming) information seeking behaviour in the digital environment, and in so doing, suggest a new typology of digital users. The characteristic behaviour found is one of bouncing in which users seldom penetrate a site to any depth, tend to visit a number of sites for any given information need and seldom return to sites they once visited. They tend to “feed” for information horizontally, and whether they search a site of not depends heavily on “digital visibility”, which in turn creates all the conditions for “bouncing”. The question whether this type of information seeking represents a form of “dumbing down or up”, and what it all means for publishers, librarians and information providers, who might be working on other, possible outdated usage paradigms, is discussed.

Revisiting 'obsolescence' and journal article 'decay' through usage data: an analysis of digital journal use by year of publication

The publication age or date of documents used (or not used) has long fascinated researchers and practitioners alike. Much of this fascination can be attributed to the weeding opportunities the data is thought to provide for libraries in their never-ending battle to find the space to accommodate their expanding collections. In general journal article age studies have shown an initial increase in use/citation, then a gradual or sharp decline, depending on the discipline concerned. This characteristic has been termed obsolescence or decay and was largely measured, in the absence of accurate journal usage/borrowing data, by citations. In the sciences the decay rate was shown to be the greatest. This was largely put down to the rapid obsolescence of much scientific content. New research findings, methods or ensuing events rendered the material obsolescent. Of course, when reviewing the data we need to be reminded of the fact that citation studies reveal ‘‘use’’ by authors, whereas library loans or downloads represent actual use by readers, and it is readers that libraries and digital libraries principally target. Clearly the fall of in use with time must have also been a function of the way that libraries arranged their material (in reverse chronological order); a lack of time and patience will inevitably result in readers aborting their searches after a few years and those few years will be the most recent ones. Similarly, it must also have been a function of the difficulties of searching hard-copy back volumes/issues in libraries over time.

Viewing and reading behaviour in a virtual environment - The full-text download and what can be read into it

Purpose – This article aims to focus on usage data in respect to full‐text downloads of journal articles, which is considered an important usage (satisfaction) metric by librarians and publishers. The purpose is to evaluate the evidence regarding full‐text viewing by pooling together data on the full‐text viewing of tens of thousands of users studied as part of a number of investigations of e‐journal databases conducted during the Virtual Scholar research programme. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the web logs of a number of electronic journal libraries including OhioLINK and ScienceDirect using Deep Log Analysis, which is a more sophisticated form of transactional log analysis. The frequency, characteristics and diversity of full‐text viewing are examined. The article also features an investigation into the time spent online viewing full‐text articles in order to get a clearer understanding of the significance of full‐text viewing, especially in regard to reading. Findings – The main findings are that there is a great deal of variety amongst scholars in their full‐text viewing habits and that a large proportion of views are very cursory in nature, although there is survey evidence to suggest that reading goes on offline. Originality/value – This is the first time that full‐text viewing evidence is studied on such a large scale.

Digital information consumers, players and purchasers: information seeking behaviour in the new digital interactive environment

Sketches the key characteristics of the newly information enfranchised general public (the digital information consumers). Portrays the digital consumer as all‐conquering/powerful, short on attention, promiscuous, untrusting and – above all – interested in speed of delivery. Argues for a fundamental re‐think of the concept of the information “user”. The Web, search engines etc. are creating a level‐playing field and a homogeneity which results in academics behaving more like the general consumer and the general consumer behaving more like an academic. Considers the overall outcomes and benefits of information acquisition.

The Digital Information Consumer

Our findings in this respect raise a concern over knowledge building. The real problem is that the (false) sense of engagement and action associated with online searching/surfing makes the consumer feel that something is being achieved, while this may not always be the case. People tend to want fast knowledge and not just fast access to information.

Ideas on creating a consumer market for scholarly journals

Based upon the CIBER surveys of the behaviour of scholars using research journals online the authors propose a market structure for the publication of research in which payments would be made at the article level by individual users – using credits supplied by their institutions or research funders – broadly along the lines of the iTunes model.

Viewing and reading behaviour in a virtual environment

Purpose – This article aims to focus on usage data in respect to full‐text downloads of journal articles, which is considered an important usage (satisfaction) metric by librarians and publishers. The purpose is to evaluate the evidence regarding full‐text viewing by pooling together data on the full‐text viewing of tens of thousands of users studied as part of a number of investigations of e‐journal databases conducted during the Virtual Scholar research programme. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the web logs of a number of electronic journal libraries including OhioLINK and ScienceDirect using Deep Log Analysis, which is a more sophisticated form of transactional log analysis. The frequency, characteristics and diversity of full‐text viewing are examined. The article also features an investigation into the time spent online viewing full‐text articles in order to get a clearer understanding of the significance of full‐text viewing, especially in regard to reading. Findings – The main findings are that there is a great deal of variety amongst scholars in their full‐text viewing habits and that a large proportion of views are very cursory in nature, although there is survey evidence to suggest that reading goes on offline. Originality/value – This is the first time that full‐text viewing evidence is studied on such a large scale.

Re-branding and Re-discovering the Digital Information User

It is time that researchers and practitioners give further thought to the terminology that they employ to study information use and information seeking in the digital environment. Existing (print) terminology is proving an impediment to understanding what happens when people go online to communicate or retrieve information, as they are increasingly doing. It also probably produces false readings. This article is based upon the findings of a number of funded research projects, which examined the behaviour of the digital information ‘user’. The studies were undertaken by City Universitys Internet Studies Research Group to evaluate the term ‘user’ and some related ones – information seeking, intermediary and end-user, in the light of our knowledge of the new digital information order. A replacement term – the information ‘player’ – is presented for consideration and explained. The new term should enhance our understanding of what goes on in the digital information environment and will bring us closer to the information mainstream, which is ever more represented by the World Wide Web and the use of its information resources.

Viewing and reading behaviour in a virtual environment: The full-text download and what can be read into it

Purpose – This article aims to focus on usage data in respect to full‐text downloads of journal articles, which is considered an important usage (satisfaction) metric by librarians and publishers. The purpose is to evaluate the evidence regarding full‐text viewing by pooling together data on the full‐text viewing of tens of thousands of users studied as part of a number of investigations of e‐journal databases conducted during the Virtual Scholar research programme. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the web logs of a number of electronic journal libraries including OhioLINK and ScienceDirect using Deep Log Analysis, which is a more sophisticated form of transactional log analysis. The frequency, characteristics and diversity of full‐text viewing are examined. The article also features an investigation into the time spent online viewing full‐text articles in order to get a clearer understanding of the significance of full‐text viewing, especially in regard to reading. Findings – The main findings are that there is a great deal of variety amongst scholars in their full‐text viewing habits and that a large proportion of views are very cursory in nature, although there is survey evidence to suggest that reading goes on offline. Originality/value – This is the first time that full‐text viewing evidence is studied on such a large scale.

Creating a consumer market for scholarly journals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative method for individuals to obtain documents using credits supplied by their institution to purchase at article level.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the experience and knowledge gained from the extensive work that CIBER has done in analyzing the usage of large‐scale journal databases.Findings – It was found that such an approach has many advantages over the current librarian‐driven process.Originality/value – Digital content is variously neglected, abused, free, and expensive. This paper is as much about stimulating some new thinking in this important area as about setting out a new scholarly communication market model.