OPAC Kullanıcılarının Bilgi Arama Stratejilerinin Analizi

Abstract

Transaction log monitoring has become a frequently used method for the researchers infinding out the mode of interaction between the computer and the user as well as the user’sbehavior while working on computers. Users’ transactions and the form of the queries createdwhile searching OPACs (Online Public Access Catalog) have been of interest to researchersworking in the field of information science. The researches in the field are generallyconducted by analysis of transaction logs. The data collected in the analysis enable theresearcher objectively monitor the interaction between the user and computer, and provide thenecessary information about the user’s changing attitudes while doing their searches.Therefore, transaction log monitoring has become extremely significant in planning ofinformation services as well as in designing interface and information systems. This studyaims at answering some of the following questions related to university library OPACs:Where do the users connect OPAC from? How do the users search for information onOPACs? To what extent do the users make use of interface options? How and why do theusers modify their search queries? The necessary data for the study have been collected fromtransaction logs of web OPAC of Bilkent University. Firstly, the transaction logs comprisingof 192,619 lines have been analyzed. It has been found out that more than half of the OPACusers are not from the Bilkent University campus, and that users have generally preferreddefault options in their queries. They prefer to use the simple search screen and naturallanguage instead of using Boolean operators and similar research tools. Another result of thestudy is that the majority of users only make use of the first page of search results while therest of the users mostly go through the first five pages of search results. The collected datahave also been divided into sessions and queries made in each session and their modificationshave been monitored. 57% of 24,797 sessions show that users have made more than onequery. This has been accepted as a query modification, and the sessions with six or more query sentences have been analyzed in terms of modifications. In these sessions, usersgenerally try different strategies and change all the words in their queries to get access to theinformation sources. In light of the results drawn from the study, it has been concluded thatOPACs need to be designed in a more user-friendly manner. The fact that users avoidcomplicated screens with too many options should be taken into consideration in designingsystems so that easy-to-use systems can be designed, and information search tools andsources can be utilized by the users to an optimum level.