We describe the use of ethnomethodologically-informed ethnography as a means of informing the requirements elicitation, design, development and evaluation of digital libraries. We present the case for the contribution of such studies to the development of digital library technology to support the practices of information-searching. This is illustrated by a particular study of the help desk at a university library, examining the implications it has for designing appropriate functionality for a digital library. This requires us to address the problems of using ethnographic data in systems design.

The advent of the digital -- or virtual -- library is usually presented as a positive development for library users. Much of the research and development work being carried out in this field tends to reinforce the perception of the use of information resources as a predominantly solitary activity, however. We argue that this narrow view of the virtual library may be counterproductive to its aims. Recent studies have emphasised that information retrieval (IR) in the conventional library is often a highly collaborative activity, involving library users' peers and experts in IR such as librarians. Failure to take this into account in the move to digitally-based resource discovery and access may result in users of the virtual library being disadvantaged through lack of timely and effective access to sources of assistance. Our focus here is on the ways in which, in the conventional library setting, users consult with reference librarians for the resolution of their IR problems. We describe...

This paper is a review of the field of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) with respect to digital libraries. The literature surveyed covers both library & information science and computer science. An overview of the field of CSCW is provided including requirements capture, ethnography, interfaces, toolkits, organisational memory etc. Collaboration is interpreted in a wide sense and systems supporting user-staff (e.g. remote reference) and user-user (e.g. collaborative filtering) interactions are described.

The movement from the physical to the digital library offers both dangers and opportunities. Alongside the greater quantity of online material goes the problem of quality assurance: how can be the information searcher be sure of the status of a document. We suggest that this be addressed by supporting recommendations and that the key feature that links these recommendations together is that of usage. The main use of usage data within information science is currently that of a research tool in the form of transaction log analysis. In a digital library this data, together with other evaluations and recommendations, can enrich the existing information structure. Several approaches to the integration of usage data are described together with their respective costs and benefits. The social implications of these possibilities are discussed with particular reference to the privacy of usage data.

. The advent of the virtual library is usually presented as a welcome development for library users. Unfortunately, the emphasis which is often placed upon convenience of access tends to reinforce the perception of the use of information resources as a solitary activity. In fact, information retrieval (IR) in the conventional library is often a highly collaborative activity, involving users' peers and experts such as librarians. Failure in the design of virtual library services to take into account the ways in which physical spaces help engender a sense of community and facilitate collaboration will result in its users being denied timely and effective access to valuable sources of assistance. We report an investigation of collaboration issues in IR. We begin by defining a generic model of collaboration, and of collaborative spaces. Finally, we describe the design of a prototype multimedia-based system intended to facilitate a sense of community and collaboration between its users. Key...

In this paper, we present an overview of our current research activity, which provides enabling technology to promote loosely coupled information-seeking activities. The lightweight mechanisms constructed facilitate situated awareness of the presence of other users at digital information resources. The mechanisms seek to augment existing infrastructures and facilities to allow users to co-ordinate their activities in digital settings. Through the use of such lightweight mechanisms, it is proposed that the information about the use of information repositories and the activities of users may themselves become new resources for the information seeking activity. Introduction The investigation and discovery of information will always be strongly dependent on existing, established and trusted information repositories. The heterogeneity of these repositories is such that the World Wide Web is increasingly being used as a means of providing some form of unified access to these information sou...

Abstract. The objective of the SELECT project is to help Internet users find the most reliable, valuable, important and interesting information quickly and easily, hence reducing information overload. In these ways, SELECT will make a positive contribution to the problem of helping users tailor their information environments to meet their individual needs. The approach adopted in SELECT is to develop a general architecture for information filtering and recommendation systems, and to use this to implement and evaluate different strategies and techniques. In this paper we describe GroupMark, a prototype of a SELECT-based social recommendation tool for the WWW that is based upon shared bookmarks. We focus in particular on how GroupMark seeks to combine content-based and collaborative filtering techniques, and on the user interface issues raised by recommendation tools: i.e., the mechanisms for controlling behaviour and the visualisation of results. 1.

This position paper supports the idea of the information dialog between IR systems and users during an information search task. In order to satisfy the communication and interaction needs of humans, IR systems should explicitly support the cognitive abilities of the users. An information dialogue which does not only support an individual query but also the complete search process is necessary. Only in this way it is possible to satisfy an information need.

Abstract not found