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Evaluation of a Resource Discovery Service: FindIt@Bham

Bull, Stephen and Craft, Edward and Dodds, Andrew (2014) Evaluation of a Resource Discovery Service: FindIt@Bham. New Review of Academic Librarianship , 20 (2). pp. 137-166. ISSN 1361-4533

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URL of Published Version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2014.897238

Identification Number/DOI: 10.1080/13614533.2014.897238

Abstract

In autumn 2012, the University of Birmingham launched FindIt@Bham, a Primo-based Resource Discovery Service, after a series of focus groups with students and staff to help determine its initial configuration and customisation. This paper presents the results from a large-scale online survey and focus groups that were conducted to poll users’ attitudes to the service over twelve months later, adding to a small body of research on user satisfaction with established resource discovery services. From the survey the overall level of appreciation was high with 71.13% rating FindIt@Bham to be ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’. The level of appreciation was compared across undergraduates, postgraduates (taught and research) and academic staff which revealed that undergraduates are the group of users most happy with the service with academic staff being least satisfied. The reasons for this discrepancy are considered, along with users’ behaviour and a discussion of their perceptions of individual functional areas. The survey results led to focus group activities tailored to extract deeper information on system usage and satisfaction. From these combined activities, future customisations and developments to FindIt@Bham such as tuning of result relevancy, improved online help and additional functionality can be prioritised.

Type of Work:Article
School/Faculty:Corporate Services
Department:Library Services, IT Services
Additional Information:

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an Article whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, has been published in the New Review of Academic Librarianship, June 2014, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13614533.2014.897238

Date:25 June 2014
Keywords:Resource Discovery, Web-Scale Discovery, User Experience, User Behaviour, Academic Library, Primo, Evaluation, Staff, Students, Survey, Focus Groups
Subjects:Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z665 Library Science. Information Science
Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > ZA Information resources > ZA4050 Electronic information resources
Copyright Holders:The Authors, University of Birmingham
ID Code:1903
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