Analysing the relationship between information-seeking and help-seeking behaviours in a digital library
| Pages | 882-898 |
| Date | 02 October 2017 |
| Published date | 02 October 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-05-2016-0103 |
| Author | Mohammad Zerehsaz |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Analysing the relationship
between information-seeking and
help-seeking behaviours in a
digital library
Mohammad Zerehsaz
Information Science Department, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to investigate the help-seeking behaviour of users during their information-
seeking in a digital library, studying the kind of help-seeking situations, help requests and using help
resources with different interactive levels. For this purpose, users’help-seeking behaviour (postgraduate
students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad) was investigated based on different stages of Marchionini’s
adapted model.
Design/methodology/approach –This research was performed using themixed method. In total, 38
postgraduate students at Ferdowsi University were selected by Stratified Purposive Sampling method as
samples. Selecting a digital library based on considered factors, preparing help resources and designing
research scenariowere made as the preparation stages of performing the study.The tools used for collecting
and analysingdata were questionnaires, think aloud protocol and Morae software.
Findings –Some of theconsiderable results of this researchwere recording the help-seeking signsin all four
main stages of the adapted information-seekingmodel. However, in the search stage, in which a user enters
the search process practically, the need for help-seeking was recorded more than it in other stages. Results
also confirmed that most help requests by users were for executive help which were rooted in users’
knowledge shortcomings and their passivityin help-seeking process. Because of the flexibility and speed of
providingresponses, participants also tended to interactwith more interactive and flexible help resources and
assessedthis interaction more useful.
Originality/value –According to the findings of this research, the adapted information-seeking model
used in this study was completed, and a theoretical model forinformation-seeking in a digital library was
suggested. In this model, help-seeking is considered as a supportive and complementary behaviour for
information-seeking behaviour which begins in help-seeking situations and continues to solve problems in
these situations.
Keywords User studies, Information seeking behaviours, Help seeking behaviours, Marchionini’s
information-seeking model
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
One of the biggest challenges faced by information professionals is the need to design a
suitable user interface environment for information systems that support the information-
seeking behaviour of users. The seemingly constant development of information
technologies, especially the emergence of new types of software products and databases,
means that users are faced with various user interface environments which are ambiguous
The author gratefully acknowledges his thanks to Professor Rahmatollah Fattahi for his guidance,
support and encouragement.
EL
35,5
882
Received4 May 2016
Revised16 September 2016
Accepted30 December 2016
TheElectronic Library
Vol.35 No. 5, 2017
pp. 882-898
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-05-2016-0103
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
for them even after repeated use (Aleven et al., 2003). As a result, software designers try to
add help facilities to help users solve their problems and ambiguities. In most computer
software products, the “Help”or “Guide”part is prepared, and facilities, such as providing
information or error messages,are predicted to assist them in different situations.
Help features are one of the most important elements in any system or computer
software, as they play an importantrole in the information-seeking process. That is why, in
recent years, the efficient and professional design of help items have been studied by
researchers of human–computer interaction, information science, psychology and other
similar areas. These researchersprovide related theories, models and guidelines to database
and software designers.
Users often face a variety of problems in their search process. These problems have not
been predicted by the help systems and, in most cases, the help features designs are weak
and do not support users effectively (Carballet al.,2011). Designing help facilities which can
support users in their informationseeking process is difficult.
Many studies such as Aleven and Koedinger (2000),du Boulay et al. (1999),Grasel et al.
(2001),Newman (1994),Renkl (2002) and Zerehsaz (2006) demonstrated that users of
information systems and software products often do not use help facilities effectively and
may even completely ignore them. Thus, an efficient and optimal design of help resources,
which can effectively support users in an information-seeking process, becomes important.
In fact, designing and using help facilities in information systems and software products
became so important that the concept of help-seekingemerged in issues related to human –
computer interaction information science areas. In general, help-seeking is a
multidimensional information behaviour that is associated with information-seeking
behaviour and the search process. In the field of information science,few studies have been
performed regarding the effective use of help capabilities of information systems.
Theoretically, little effort has been made to determine the relationship between the concept
of help-seeking and the concept of information-seeking, especially in the context of
information searching(Puustinen and Rouet, 2009).
It is important to know that, in the models presented for information-seeking behaviour,
especially the Marchionini model (Marchionini, 1997), users have been considered as self-
reliant persons that rely only on their own decisions for a successful result in an
information-seekingprocess. However, users, in order to prevent failure and to improvetheir
success and efficiency in the information-seeking process on information systems, have no
choice other than to use the helpfacilities. Thus, identifying the kind of relationship between
the two behaviours that arise in the context of using information systems, such as online
resources, can be very important.
Digital libraries are an example of information systems which prepare the context for
successful information-seeking and help-seeking behaviours. Users are faced with various
types of help messages, as they use digital libraries and try to solve their problems during
information-seeking while using digital libraries. However, it seems that there is not
sufficient knowledge about the variety of help-seeking situations and problems that users
experience during their information-seeking process in a digital library. For this reason,
most help resources neither have comprehensive content nor efficient guidance. Hence,it is
necessary that all help-seeking situations, in which users need assistance while seeking
information in such information systems, are recognized systematically and
comprehensively. This will help digital library designers and librarians to be informed
about users’general problems during the information-seeking process. Using the results,
developers will be able to design help resources and provide suitable help-seeking services
to solve the users’real problemswhile information-seeking.
Information-
seeking and
help-seeking
883
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