Search

PurposeThe PICCH research project contributes to opening a dialogue between cultural heritage archives and users. Hence, the users are identified and their information needs, the search strategies they apply and the search challenges they experience are uncovered.Design/methodology/approachA combination of questionnaires and interviews is used for collection of data. Questionnaire data were collected from users of three different audiovisual archives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two user groups: (1) scholars searching information for research projects and (2) archivists who perform their own scholarly work and search information on behalf of others.FindingsThe questionnaire results show that the archive users mainly have an academic background. Hence, scholars and archivists constitute the target group for in-depth interviews. The interviews reveal that their information needs are multi-faceted and match the information need typology by Ingwersen. The scholars mainly apply collection-specific search strategies but have in common primarily doing keyword searching, which they typically plan in advance. The archivists do less planning owing to their knowledge of the collections. All interviewees demonstrate domain knowledge, archival intelligence and artefactual literacy in their use and mastering of the archives. The search challenges they experience can be characterised as search system complexity challenges, material challenges and metadata challenges.Originality/valueThe paper provides a rare insight into the complexity of the search situation of cultural heritage archives, and the users’ multi-facetted information needs and hence contributes to the dialogue between the archives and the users.

This paper contributes insights into scholars’ information searching in audio-visual archives, more specifically in relation to postcolonial research projects. The paper introduces the concept of information needs based on the framework by Ingwersen. Further, the paper addresses the scholars’ search strategies and the search challenges they experienced. Insights are obtained via in-depth interviews with six scholars. The scholars adapt collection-specific search strategies and make extensive use of keyword searching. The study demonstrates the complexity of searching archives for information and how demanding searching is withrespect to requiring domain knowledge, artefactual literacy, and archival intelligence. Finally, the importance of access to the expertise of archivists is confirmed.

As we recovering from this pandemic with changing workforces and work environments, we need to reimagine career development in Information Science from the lenses of a multiple-role journey toward success. The purpose of this panel is to discuss the following areas proposed by the ASIS&T Member Match Program: Research Advancement, Research Collaboration, Professional Networking, Career Advancement, and Leadership Skills Development. This panel is presented by 5 international LIS professionals from 3 continents (Africa, Europe and North America), 4 different countries (South Africa, UK, Germany, and USA). Each panelist has unique and diverse academic and career experience to interact with the audience on the above five discussion areas.

The aerospace industry can benefit from conversational agents that provide efficient solutions for safety-of-life scenarios. This industry is characterized by products and systems that require years of engineering to achieve optimal performance within complex environments. With recent advances in retrieval and language models, conversational agents can be developed to enhance the system’s question-answering capabilities. However, evaluating the added-value of such systems in the context of industrial applications, such as pilots in a cockpit, can be challenging. This article presents the design, implementation, and user evaluation of a conversational agent called Smart Librarian, which is tailored to the aerospace domain’s specific requirements to support pilots in their tasks. Our results based on a controlled user experiment with flight school students indicate that the user’s perception of the usefulness of the system in completing the search task is a good predictor of both task score and time spent. The system’s responses to the relevance of the topic is also a good predictor of task score. The perceived difficulty of the search task and its interaction with the relevance of the system’s responses to the topic also play a key role in search performance. The mixed-effects models constructed in this study had large effect sizes, demonstrating participants’ ability to assess their performance accurately. Nevertheless, user satisfaction with the system’s responses may not be a reliable predictor of user search performance. Implications for the design of conversational agents based on the domain’s specific requirements are discussed.

Information behavior and practices (IBP) research has been repeatedly criticized for having little impact on information systems development (ISD). Claiming that there is a complete disconnect would be an exaggeration but it is apparent that it is not always easy to translate findings of IBP research to workable design recommendations. Based on a reading of earlier literature and a closer investigation of three illustrative example contexts, this article underlines that the value of IBP research for ISD lies in its capability to inform ISD of the variety of ways people deal with information beyond individual systems, their own wants and designers' assumptions. Moreover, it highlights that the implications of information systems go beyond their primary users. Instead of overemphasizing the contextuality of findings, a part of IBP research would benefit from an increased focus on explicating its epistemological extents and limits and identifying, which findings are transferable, what distinguishes specific contexts, what are their defining constraints and priorities, and what aspects of their uniqueness are assumptions and simple cliches.

Information and Knowledge Organisation explores the role of knowledge organisation in the digital humanities. By focusing on how information is described, represented and organised in both research and practice, this work furthers the transdisciplinary nature of digital humanities. Including contributions from Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East, the volume explores the potential uses of, and challenges involved in, applying the organisation of information and knowledge in the various areas of Digital Humanities. With a particular focus on the digital worlds of cultural heritage collections, the book also includes chapters that focus on machine learning, knowledge graphs, text analysis, text annotations and network analysis. Other topics covered include: semantic technologies, conceptual schemas and data augmentation, digital scholarly editing, metadata creation, browsing, visualisation and relevance ranking. Most importantly, perhaps, the book provides a starting point for discussions about the impact of information and knowledge organisation and related tools on the methodologies used in the Digital Humanities field. Information and Knowledge Organisation is intended for use by researchers, students and professionals interested in the role information and knowledge organisation plays in the Digital Humanities. It will be essential reading for those working in library and information science, computer science and across the humanities.

Information and Knowledge Organisation in Digital Humanities: Global Perspectives (DCMI), explores the potential uses of, and challenges involved in, applying the organisation of information and knowledge in the various areas of Digital Humanities. By focussing on how information is described, represented, and organised in both research and practice, this work furthers the transdisciplinary nature of digital humanities. Most importantly, perhaps, the book provides a starting point for discussions about the impact of information and knowledge organisation and related tools on the methodologies used in the Digital Humanities field. The book is by and large an international volume, as its 41 authors are affiliated with universities and related organisations in 16 countries on 4 continents. Since several chapters are authored by practitioners, with real world examples, practitioners will also appreciate the relevance of this work, as well as offer inspirations for new projects and initiatives. Prof. Golub and Dr. Liu will briefly provide an overview of the book and reflections on its goals and production. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion., ASIS&T European Chapter event.

Poster, Information Seeking in Context (ISIC), Berlin, September 26 - 29, 2022, Introduction. We report experiences from an international, interdisciplinary research project, in which we conduct information seeking behaviour studies. We give an overview of how we planned and scheduled the research project, which includes the application of the adapted model by Mason, and further share project challenges and relate them to the research literature. Methods. We share illustrative examples of challenges experienced as being part of an international interdisciplinary project, which we discuss in relation to the research literature on research project management. Analysis. We conduct a conceptual analysis of project challenges in light of the project management research literature. Results. We show how we have planned and scheduled the research infrastructure and share how the test design and study methodology was developed by use of the adopted Mason model. We report experiences from our project reflecting national cultures and geographical challenges, different disciplinary and institutional cultures, time and cost limitations, and budget delegation. Conclusion. We find that project success depends on a solid understanding of the nature of the research project and the work conditions and cultures of project partners. Project planning is essential, and it is necessary to be aware of constraints related to time, costs, and human resources., Peer Reviewed, Information Seeking in Context (ISIC), Berlin, September 26 - 29, 2022

Panel, Information Seeking in Context (ISIC), Berlin, September 26 - 29, 2022, Information behaviour research has affinities with many neighbouring fields of research and practise. At the same time, a steady line of criticism has been directed to its modest impact and lack of meaningful dialogue with adjacent disciplines and the impact of information behaviour research on how people deal with information in various settings, and develop information systems and services. The lack of exchange has become increasingly evident as the term ’information behaviour’ has been adopted in disciplines far beyond the established information field. Besides impact of its results on research and practice in different domains, a livelier exchange can be expected to be enriching for information behaviour research itself. The purpose of the panel is to invite the members of the ISIC community to a discussion on the interfaces of information behaviour research with neighbouring research disciplines and practical domains. The panellists represent information behaviour researchers with an extensive experience of working in and with adjacent domains and bring their expertise to discuss with the audience 1) the relevance of information behaviour research and its findings in other domains, 2) what information behaviour research can learn from neighbouring fields, and 3) how the interdisciplinary dialogue could be promoted and nurtured., Peer Reviewed, Information Seeking in Context (ISIC), Berlin, September 26 - 29, 2022

The interdisciplinary field known as digital humanities (DH) is represented in various forms in the teaching and research practiced in iSchools. Building on the work of an iSchools organization committee charged with exploring digital humanities curricula, we present findings from a series of related studies exploring aspects of DH teaching, education, and research in iSchools, often in collaboration with other units and disciplines. Through a survey of iSchool programs and an online DH course registry, we investigate the various education models for DH training found in iSchools, followed by a detailed look at DH courses and curricula, explored through analysis of course syllabi and course descriptions. We take a brief look at collaborative disciplines with which iSchools cooperate on DH research projects or in offering DH education. Next, we explore DH careers through an analysis of relevant job advertisements. Finally, we offer some observations about the management and administrative challenges and opportunities related to offering a new iSchool DH program. Our results provide a snapshot of the current state of digital humanities in iSchools which may usefully inform the design and evolution of new DH programs, degrees, and related initiatives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a pivot in people’s practice of their daily life and work, in particular a pivot towards virtual living and working. Sponsored by the ASIS&T European Chapter, this panel discusses the diverse ways in which this has affected different communities within Europe, bearing in mind the varying languages, economic and political situations, and library and information structures within different European countries. Following on from presentations giving diverse perspectives from five European countries, we will ask session participants to reflect on the impact of the pivot on living and working in their own context, their coping mechanisms, and likely impact on the future.

Digital research outputs in the form of websites, databases and interactive visualisation tools pose a challenge for long-term maintenance and reusability. A central problem for libraries and research institutions working in the digital humanities is that digital projects require constant maintenance: they are not static artefacts that can be preserved but living software environments that must be maintained. In this chapter, we argue in favour of creating semantically rich research data that can be separated from the software used to create and view it. We outline how we put this approach into practice, both within the scope of an individual research project and at scale, as libraries take on new responsibilities in managing digital research outputs. We hope to offer insights into the kind of artefacts that can be preserved in principle and the technical solutions with which reusability of research data can be achieved in order to make long-term preservation of digital research outputs feasible.