UBIRD – User Behaviour in Resource Discovery
A JISC funded research project conducted by staff from EIS and Learning Resources
The Problem The Need
Research into the behaviour of users, especially re-
search that leads to practical proposals for promoting
academic alternatives to Google, is urgently required.
‘Information Literacy’ is now a commonly used term
– and addressing the skills required by students to
reach high level competence in searching for and evalu-
ating materials is becomig central to the teaching and
learning strategies.
The Research Methodology
The study is currently underway. A sample of participants
studying business and economics (4 each of undergradu-
ate, postgraduate and research students) from three
The problem is a simple one: why do so many stu- universities representing the Russell Group, the 94 Group
dents at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and the Million+ Group of universities from the user group.
NOT use specialized online learning resources –
which they themselves have paid for the right of The levels of study represent novice, experienced and ex-
access through their course fees? pert levels of information literacy. We envisage studying a
total of 36 participants. In the given project time frame,
The answer to this question may be partly for tech- this sampling will provide the most cost-effective cov-
nical reasons (the complexity of present-day erage of user behaviour in the use of electronic resource
resources discovery systems in the library may discovery systems. This sampling strategy is illustrated in
be partly to blame— see diagram below) but is, the table below:
perhaps primarily to be located in forms of behav-
iour rooted in a broad range of social and cultural
factors relating to online activity. These factors
include online activity experienced as sociable and
interactive; expectation that the Internet provides
instant answers within a multi-tasking lifestyle; and
a culture of distraction perceived as enriching and
positive. Some of these issues were highlighted in
the jointly commissioned JISC-BL study on the
Information Seeking Behaviour of the Researcher of The participants are being asked to ‘think aloud’ whilst
the Future (2008). working on the scenarios. The screen movements and
their comments are being recorded in real time. This
observation is being followed by an interview with each
participant. The findings of the study will be reported in
the context of earlier research on user behaviours in the
digital information landscapes such as the E-Books Obser-
vatory and Deep Log Analysis studies conducted by the
CIBER group at University College London.
Applications of the Research Results
The stakeholders affected by the research results will be
teaching staff, librarians, students and researchers as well
as organizations such as JISC and Cilip (Chartered Insti-
The complex information resource discovery
tute of Information Professionals). It is hoped that teaching
architecture in many HE libraries staff will use the findings of this study to agree on a frame-
work for an information literacy programme in collaboration
with librarians.
Nazlin Bhimani
School Liaison Manager (EIS & iWBL)
Learning Resources Academic Support
Middlesex University