A study on the user evaluation for an RDA-based Korean bibliography retrieval system
| Date | 21 September 2015 |
| Published date | 21 September 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-04-2015-0036 |
| Pages | 294-309 |
| Author | Seulki Do,Sam G. Oh,Sungin Lee |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology |
A study on the user evaluation
for an RDA-based Korean
bibliography retrieval system
Seulki Do and Sam G. Oh
iSchool –Library and Information Science and Data Science,
Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Seoul, Republic of Korea, and
Sungin Lee
School of Dentistry, Seoul National University,
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to validate the usefulness of resource description and access
(RDA) from user perspectives by implementing an RDA-based bibliographic retrieval system, and
comparing it against two retrieval systems.
Design/methodology/approach –Surveys and interviewswere conducted to gather responses from
20 subjects who used the systems. Usability was measured according to the following metrics: search
usefulness fromsearch process and results; searchefficiency, measured in time andthe number of steps
involved; general satisfaction for search results and process, and for information need; satisfaction for
search functionalities, with five sub-measures (usability of functions of search tool, appropriateness of
search results,usability of additional information,usability of associative relations, and appropriateness
of search categories);and system convenience in terms of understandability and ease.
Findings –The survey results indicate that all but the satisfaction for appropriateness of search
categories showed significant differences between the systems. The interviews show that the RDA
system received from the subjects a more positive evaluation compared to the counterpart systems, in
search usefulness, search efficiency, general search satisfaction, satisfaction for search functionalities.
Practical implications –Though a few organizations such as the Library of Congress in the USA
have implementedRDA, no such endeavorshave been undertaken in the contextof Korean bibliography,
and especially for the systematic validationof usability of such a system from user perspectives.
Originality/value –This is the first published study that validates the usefulness perceived by users
of RDA in the context of Korean bibliography.
Keywords Bibliography environment in Korea, RDA-based retrieval system,
Resource description and access, User evaluation for bibliography system
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
With the development of online media, new forms of information resources have
rapidly increased and search functions diversified. Accordingly, user expectations
about information search results are rising and information needs have varied.
Specifically, when resources are published in various languages and formats and exist
in distributed environments, it is insufficient to satisfy users’need that demands
a highly aggregated point of access to bibliographic information, and therefore we
must provide more facilitated ways for aggregated information recovery by explicitly
specifying relations, which exist but may have required more time to find, between
distributed resources, extending the purview of resource description.
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 33 No. 3, 2015
pp. 294-309
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-04-2015-0036
Received 15 April 2015
Revised 8 June 2015
Accepted 30 June 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
This work is supported by Sungkyun Research Fund (S-2013-1441-000), Sungkyunkwan
University, 2013.
294
LHT
33,3
The current bibliographic system is based on Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 2
(AACR2) and/or Machine Readable Cataloguing (MARC) data formats, which face
problems in describing relations in diverse and new resources, and are not adequate to
satisfy multifaceted information needs of users (Lee and Kim, 2012). When a resource is
described in a flat linear format as in MARC with possibly some simple links, resources
relevant to it are not readily searchable.
In order to overcome the problem, resource description and access (RDA) was
conceived and developed as a new description standard for old and new emerging
resources.RDA is based on the Functional Requirementof Bibliographic Records(FRBR)
and Functional Requirement for Authority Data (FRAD) concept models, purported to
be able to more aptly manage online resources. While inheriting the goal and value of
AACR2, which is to provide rules for description of, and the provision of access points
for, all library materials (www.aacr2.org/about.html), RDA facilitates easy use, which
for example is manifest in the restricted use of highly technical terms pertaining to
bibliography while supporting existing standards such as MARC and Dublin Core to
ensure interoperability (Kim et al.,2013).
In 2008, the core of RDAwas published as an offline booklet, andsince 2010 an RDA
toolkit has become available, spurring RDA implementation tests in National Library
of Medicine (NLM)that led to revisions on certain elements (Boehr et al., 2012).Currently,
national libraries, such as the US Library of Congress and the National Library
of Australia, have adopted RDA, which subsequently entailed required modifications in
catalogue systems and policies, and new training services (Lee, 2011; Park, 2010).
In Korea, studies abound in analyzing RDA itself, cross-examining RDA and Korean
Cataloging Rules (KCR), and identifying necessary future modifications in KCR in case
RDA comes in full force (Park, 2009; Cho, 2009; Lee, 2010). There have been, however,
little work in studying the usefulness of RDA in the light of user perspectives, a task
significant when RDA is gaining momentum among national libraries as a future
de facto description standard. Thus, this study aims to apply RDA to Korean
bibliographical records to increase record connectivity, for the purpose of analyzing its
usability perceived by users. A pilot system was built that houses various RDA-
conformant Korean bibliographic records. The system was then compared against two
existing non-RDA systems, in order to validate the usefulness of the RDA-based
system in terms of various usability measures such as search efficiency and
satisfaction for search functionalities.
RDA
RDA is a multilingual resource description and access standard that aims to enhance
the range of cataloging to not only resources that traditional library environments offer
by means of AACR2, but also those that new web-based environments produce.
Previously, description was targeted toward physical entities, but RDA transcends it
by including in its fold virtually any resources.
RDA is based on the FRBRand FRAD models. As such, RDA describesa resource by
using the properties and relations of FRBR entities –work, expression, manifestation,
and item; and it uses the properties and relationships of person, family, corporate body,
and place entities in FRAD, to describe related resources to a resource (Kim et al., 2013;
IFLA Study Group on the FRBR, 1998; IFLA Study Group on the FRNAR, 2009).
Prior to RDA, resource description was distinct from means for resource search or
subject headings, but RDA does not make this distinction. Instead of separate rules for
resource identification (description) and search (subject headings), users can search,
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Bibliography
retrieval
system
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