Search

Searching large collections of digitized books is a relatively new area in information-seeking and retrieval research, made possible by initiatives such as Google Books and the Hathi- Trust Digital Library. The availability of large full-text book collections is transforming how users search and interact with information in books, but the characteristics of these changes are unknown. This paper aims to provide insight into the characteristics of full-text searches in a large collection of digitized books and is the first step in a broader research agenda intended to improve book retrieval. To better understand the types of queries that users are issuing to full-text-book collections, we analyzed a full year of anonymized query logs from the HathiTrust Digital Library full-text search engine. We also manually classified a random sample of 600 queries to develop a taxonomy of book search query types. We found that users are beginning to search for information in books instead of searching for books. Searches still largely follow bibliographic models, but, as expected, new types of searches are beginning to take advantage of fulltext capabilities. Additionally, comparing the results of our query log analysis to searches in other domains, we found similar search patterns including short queries, sessions with only a few queries, and users viewing only a few pages of results per query. We discuss how these findings can be used to characterize users of large full-text book collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adults managing life with Type 2 diabetes may receive material about diabetes and management, or they may seek health information. They may also keep information items in the home for subsequent use. Currently, health technology is striving to push topically relevant information items, but successful technology would deliver unique, but relevant information. Thus, a holistic view of kept information items, item uses, and information needs are required. Research of information needs, seeking, and use (INSU) often views information needs as explicit statements, but latent information needs may also exist. Kept and used information items may serve to project these implicit information needs. This exploratory study aimed to identify both explicit and implicit information needs of adults living with Type 2 diabetes. Semi-structured interviews conducted in 21 participant's homes focused on kept and used items (n = 300). Resulting rich narratives provided insight of context, item acquisition, and item usage. The results indicate that the majority of items kept and used to manage life with diabetes are paper based and pertain to nutritional management. However, items and their abundance also projected information needs. These findings and their implications contribute to discussions of diabetes-related collections development and health information technology tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As people increasingly search the Internet for health-related topics like treatment options, it is important to understand how they construct their searches, and how they understand the results. In this paper, we report results from an exploratory lab study with 40 cross-sectional participants and follow-up interviews with eleven of them about their use of search engines to find treatment options. While corroborating prior research concerning basic consumer health information search behaviors (e.g., query length and evaluation of results), our findings also extend the current understanding of health information searching by suggesting that the process of seeking treatment options is shaped by consumers' propensity for familiar and confirming information as well as their desire to seek novel information. Furthermore, our findings suggest an under-investigated idea of the importance of a search timeline: that is that a consumer is likely to look for confirming or novel information depending on where they are in a particular timeline during their search. The results indicate that search systems can better support consumers in finding novel information about treatment options, but that it would be best to introduce novel information after satisfying consumers search for general and familiar information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]