[rak-list] (Fwd) [WEB4LIB] [USABILITY4LIB] ... OPAC Testing Results

[Bernhard Eversberg]

Noch längst nicht erledigt ist hierzulande das Thema der Terminologie, die in 
OPACs anzuwenden ist. Die Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen Systemen sind nicht 
hilfreich, die Begriffe oft genug wenig durchdacht.
Eine Untersuchung in Berkeley hat interessante Hinweise erbracht, die man auch 
bei uns bedenken koennte. Ich leite mal eine Meldung aus WEB4LIB weiter:

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Tue, 1 Feb 2005 09:28:19 -0800 (PST)
Send reply to:  	jkup at jkup.net
From:           	John Kupersmith <jkup at jkup.net>
To:             	Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at sunsite3.berkeley.edu>
Subject:        	[WEB4LIB] Re: [USABILITY4LIB] Wanted: OPAC Testing Results

...
At UC Berkeley we recently did an online survey that provided some 
unusually clear guidance on how to name searches in the OPAC.

Respondents preferred "Title keyword(s)" (62.2%) over "Title words" (28.3%) 
or "Title" (6.3%).

For a left-anchored string search, respondents preferred "Title begins 
with..." (70.9%) over "Title phrase" (15.7%) or "Title (exact)" (9.1%).

Both "Journal Title" and "Title of Journal" were understood correctly (as 
covering journal titles) by almost all respondents.  About one quarter of 
respondents and slightly over one third of undergraduates incorrectly 
assumed these searches would cover article titles, and a smaller number 
thought they would include full text.

...
Full report:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Staff/wag/pathfinder_user_survey_report.html 

Survey form:
 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Staff/wag/pathfinder_user_survey.html 

For terminology data from other studies, some of which are OPAC-related, see: 
http://www.jkup.net/terms-studies.html 

...
--jk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   John Kupersmith        jkup at jkup.net        http://www.jkup.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Reference Librarian                 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu
   Doe/Moffitt Libraries
   University of California, Berkeley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Bernhard Eversberg
Universitaetsbibliothek, Postf. 3329, 
D-38023 Braunschweig, Germany
Tel.  +49 531 391-5026 , -5011 , FAX  -5836
e-mail  B.Eversberg at tu-bs.de