3 Review of Literature on user studies

Dr S S Chandel

  1. Introduction

The user studies in terms of library and information science have considered the studies related with library use. The library is used by the readers and library professionals having different objectives. The library professionals are information provider and readers are considered as an information recipient. These two aspects create multidimensional platform regarding use of library material available in various form in various types of libraries. The users of the libraries may be different in their need or expectation from library.

 

Keeping in mind to provide better or improved services or desired information, the studies are being made by the individuals or institutions from time to time. The objectives of these studies are to evaluate library resources for the maximum utilization by the readers. The user studies in this discipline also carried out to satisfy users in seeking information from the library regarding to satisfy the five laws of library science.

 

In India, there are several studies conducted at school, college, university, academic institutions, rural libraries, urban libraries to evaluate the information resources and reader’s satisfaction towards the library services and existing library resources. Before exploring the status of users’ studies we have to explain the meaning of review of literature.

 

The ‘Literature’ covers everything relevant that is written in books, journal articles, newspaper articles, historical records, government reports, theses and dissertations, etc. on certain relevant topics. The important word is ‘relevant’. However the review of literature is a description of the literature relevant to a particular field or topic or disciplines or subject. While writing the review of literature, the main purpose is to convey to reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a study or topic, and to know the strengths and weaknesses of that study. A critical literature review is a critical assessment of the relevant literature. It is unlikely that you will be able to write a truly critical assessment of the literature until you have a good grasp of the subject, usually at some point near the end of your thesis.

 

In other words it can be stated that a literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Generally it is being experienced in the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries.

 

Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas –

 

Information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books.

Critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

 

The review of literature is a subject of discussion and it is defined by the various scholars. Some of the selected definitions are as follows –

 

‘A literature review uses as its database reports of primary or original scholarship, and does not report new primary scholarship itself. The primary reports used in the literature may be verbal, but in the vast majority of cases reports are written documents. The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic, or methodological in nature. Second a literature review seeks to describe, summaries, evaluate, clarify and/or integrate the content of primary reports.’Cooper : (1988)

 

‘The selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfill certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed.’ Hart, Chris : (2005)

 

‘In writing the literature review, the purpose is to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are? The literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g. your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries.”(http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html).The review of relevant literature is nearly always a standard chapter of a thesis or dissertation. The review forms an important chapter in a thesis where its purpose is to provide the background to and justification for the research undertaken (Bruce 1994). Bruce, who has published widely on the topic of the literature review, has identified six elements of a literature review. These elements comprise a list; a search; a survey; a vehicle for learning; a research facilitator; and a report.   Bruce : (1994)

 

A literature review is an evaluative report of information found in the literature related to selected area of study. The review should describe, summarize, evaluate and clarify the relevant literature. It should give a theoretical base for the research and help the author to determine the nature of research. Works which are irrelevant should be discarded and those which are peripheral should be looked at critically. In other word a literature review is more than the search for information, and goes beyond being a descriptive annotated bibliography. All works included in the review must be read, evaluated and analysed (e.g. Annotated bibliography), but relationships between the literature must also be identified and articulated, in relation to your field of research.

  1. Library and the review of literature

The library is a rich source of knowledge and play significant role in providing relevant literature for the purpose of literature review. The studies carried out on users’ of the library may have in the form of books, journal’s article, working paper, monographs, theses, grey literature etc. These studies may be published or unpublished but certainly find place in library. A good literature review requires knowledge of the use of indexes and abstracts, the ability to conduct exhaustive bibliographic searches, ability to organise the collected data meaningfully, describe, critique and relate each source to the subject of the inquiry, and present the organised review logically, and last, but by no means least, to correctly cite all sources mentioned (Afolabi : 1992). The Library offers a range of services and training for research scholars to assist with the production of literature reviews including sessions on electronic databases, using the bibliographic management software, End-Note to download records, Internet searching using Netscape, Library catalogue searching, off-campus student orientation, subject resources, and research skills.

 

The literature search is an important task while writing a literature review on user studies. Find out what has been written on user studies is available in the library or not. Use as many bibliographical sources as you can to find relevant titles. The following are likely sources: catalogues, bibliographies and references in key textbooks and recent journal articles, abstracting databases, such as LISA, etc. Citation databases, many abstracting journals and electronic databases are available through the University Library’s Research Gateway. Today some of e-resources are also available in the form of e-books and e-journal like Jstor, doaj (http://doaj.org). These sources may be priced or freely accessible.

  1. How to write a review of literature on user studies?

In general readers of the library are treated as the users of the library. While making a review of literature on user study we have to face a large number of studies on the relevant topic. These topics may be information seeking behaviour, evaluation of library services, users’ satisfaction towards libraries facilities and current awareness services, users’ views regarding to provide qualitative services etc. These studies may be different by its geographical area or by its nature of study. Such kind of studies may be conducted at school, college, university level. The studies can also be made for academic or research or any other kind of special libraries. The set-up of each library is different by their working and objectives. This indicates that a user study is multi-dimensional problems which need to be read and studied carefully. There are several steps in developing a literature review on user studies. These include:

  • Selecting the topic of user study for which review of literature to be carry out like information seeking pattern of users in a particular library.
  • setting the topic in context
  • looking at information sources
  • using information sources
  • getting the information
  • organizing information (information management)
  • positioning the literature review
  • writing the literature review

Noting the bibliographical details is another task for literature review. For this, write down the full bibliographical details of each book or article as soon as you find a reference to it. This will save you an enormous amount of time later on.

 

Another important point in literature review is finding the literature. Once you have what looks like a list of relevant texts, you have to find them. For this, use the library catalogues to see if the books and journals are held. For e-journals, look at the A-Z listing. For books and journals, you can use the catalogues available in the library. For journals, use the libraries or catalogue to see which libraries hold the journals you are looking for. If the book or journal you want is not held in library, you may be able to access it through inter-library loans. The full text of many journal articles can be found on relevant electronic databases.

 

Now further important point is that reading the literature on user study. Before you begin to read a book or article, make sure you written down the full details. Take notes as you read the literature. You are reading to find out how each piece of writing approaches the subject of your research/study, what it has to say about it, and how it relates to your own study. Usually, you won’t have to read the whole text from first to last page. Learn to use efficient scanning and skimming reading techniques.

 

The last task is writing the review on user study. Having gathered the relevant details about the literature on user study, you now need to write the review. The kind of review you write, and the amount of detail, will depend on the level of your studies. You must be keeping in mind that a literature review is different with an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography deals with each text in turn, describing and evaluating the text, using one paragraph for each text. In contrast, a literature review synthesises many texts in one paragraph. Each paragraph (or section if it is a long thesis) of the literature review should classify and evaluate the themes of the texts that are relevant to your thesis; each paragraph or section of your review should deal with a different aspect of the literature. Like all academic writing, a literature review must have an introduction, body, and conclusion.

  1. Need for literature review on user study

A crucial element of all research study is the review of relevant literature. According to Bourner (1996) there are good reasons for spending time and effort on a review of the literature before embarking on a research study on certain field. These reasons include:

  •  to identify the gaps available in the literature of user study.
  • to avoid reinventing and to build on the platform of existing knowledge and ideas related to user study.
  • to create a researcher network regarding strengthen the knowledge of subject area on user study.
  • to identify the seminal works on user study in your area.
  • to identify information and ideas that may be relevant to your study.
  • to identify methods that could be relevant to your study.

The user study is not now a new concept in India but in the whole world. A large number of studies conducted in India so far. They are in the form of published and unpublished. The following are some selected relevant categories for the purpose of review to users’ studies.

 

The research activities are carried out in India by University Grant Commission or any other prominent educational and research institutions. The Ph.D. and M. Phil degrees are also conducted by universities or colleges in each discipline for the promotion of research in particular fields. To avoid research duplication in the relevant topic they follow the procedure of review for existing literature. There are provisions for theses to have research output of existing literature of Ph.D. degrees. Theses are available for further research and interest of their institutions. Some of the theses are also available in India at INFLIBNET and Other ETDs and Repositories at MG University Theses (Nitya), ETD@IISc, Vidyanidhi, Dyuthi@CUSAT, ETDs@Pondicherry University.

 

The reviews of literature on users’ studies are also available in journal’s articles and conference proceedings and seminar’s volumes. There are certain agencies like Indian library Association, IASLIC and other library institutions and organizations produce literature on users’ studies. For example 49th All India Conference held at Bundelkhand University, Jhansi and published a book consisting of 68 articles in 623 pages covering various topics, such as user perception and need, user survey and feedback methods, ways to promote library services for users, innovative services to users.

 

Some of the studies are available in the form of working paper, monographs and reports of funded projects. A large number of studies conducted in India on users’ by using different aspect of the subject like information seeking behavior, use of resources and e-resources for certain kind of libraries. Some of the known studies are as under:

 

Wilson has made study on information-seeking behavior in 1999, 2000 which explores the identification of user’s own needs for information, searching for such information in any way, and using or transferring that 8 information. Wilson, T.D. has made a study on user studies and information needs. He is of the view that apart from information retrieval there is virtually no other area of information science that has occasioned as much research effort and writing as ‘user studies’. Within user studies the investigation of ‘information needs’ has been the subject of much debate and no little confusion. Wilson has also made an attempt to reduce this confusion by devoting attention to the definition of some concepts and by proposing the basis for a theory of the motivations for information‐seeking behavior.

 

Information-seeking behavior in libraries has been the focus of enquiry for students, researchers, teachers and professionals over the decades. Kakai, et al., (2004) have defined information-seeking behavior as an individual’s way and manner of gathering and sourcing for information for personal use, knowledge updating, and development.

 

Initially, users’ studies were conducted primarily to evaluate the collections of libraries and satisfaction with library resources and personnel as well. The studies concerned with information resources, habits of individuals or groups lead to the design of appropriate information systems and services.

 

The focus of users’ studies shifted to new approaches to information-seeking behavior based on the technology. Line (2000), made new studies of information users and their needs are even more necessary in the age of the Internet.

 

Mahajan, Preeti (2009) has also made a study on Information-Seeking Behavior in Panjab University of India by using primary data with questionnaire from 250 users. The users were undergraduates, postgraduate students, and researchers in sciences, social sciences, and humanities disciplines. The study examined the kinds of academic information as per their need, which information resources they prefer, whether they are satisfied with the library collections, and the general pattern of information-seeking, with special reference to the influence of course of study.

 

Golnessa Galyani Moghaddam, V.G. Talawar, (2008) have made study on Interlending & Document Supply. The case study was conducted at Indian Institute of Science for the use of scholarly electronic journals. The purpose of the study was to investigate the use of scholarly electronic journals at the Indian Institute of Science. A random sample of the main cohort was selected and, during five months from January 2004 until May 2004, 700 copies of the questionnaire were distributed among 40 departments of IISc; 397 completed and valid questionnaires (56.7 per cent) were received. The interesting fact was that people were interested in free access to electronic journals and preferred pdf format.

 

A study entitled “Electronic Journals’ Usage and User Studies: a Literature Review” was published in SRELS (Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science) Journal of Information Management vol 47(2), 2010.

 

There are many studies reviewed on user’s study and published in different form by several authors. It is very difficult to cite all the studies. Therefore we have taken only some limited studies as an example to adopt the procedure for review.

 

Professor Shashi Prabha Singh illustrated the Doctoral Research Trends in Library and Information Science in India that approximately 119 Ph D. awarded by the Indian universities between 1950 -2012 on the topic ‘Use and User Studies’.

  1. International Users Studies

Carol Tenopir has made a study on users entitled “Use and Users of Electronic Library Resources: An Overview and Analysis of Recent Research Studies. The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) summarizes and analyzes more than 200 recent research publications (CLIR Report 1995 & 2003: Washington DC). These reports focus on the use of electronic library resources and were published between 1995 and 2003. Eight major ongoing studies (each with multiple publications) are identified as Tier 1 studies and are analyzed in detail, while about 100 smaller-scale studies are classified as Tier 2 studies and are examined together.”

 

Wood, D.N. has made a study in 1971 entitled “User Studies a review of the literature from 1966 to 1970”. It was published in Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 23 Iss: 1, pp.11 – 23. Wood was asked to prepare the review of user studies were to bring Fishenden’s work up to date. This was published in the Journal of Documentation in September 1965 and in his paper he looks at a limited number of British use studies and draws some broad general conclusions relating to the development of a national information service. This study considers a wide range of investigations into the information gathering habits of scientists, engineers, social scientists and others, and reports results which it is hoped will provide managers with information on which to develop policies regarding library and information services at all levels. Although an increasing number of studies is being carried out in Eastern Europe and in the USSR there has been no major work reported and consequently the review considers mainly British and American investigations.

 

Lancaster, F.W. has made a study on the evaluation of library services : a concise review of the existing literature. Lancaster stated that first serious attempt to develop objective evaluation procedures emerged in studies performed for the National Library of Medicine by Orr et. al. (1968).

 

User involvement in the design of computer-based information systems is enthusiastically endorsed in the prescriptive literature. However determining when and how much, or even if, user involvement is appropriate are questions that have received inadequate research attention. A review of research was published online in 1984 in Management Science on user involvement and MIS success. The link between user involvement and indicators of system success is reviewed in the study. The authors find that much of the existing research is poorly grounded in theory and methodologically flawed; as a result, the benefits of user involvement have not been convincingly demonstrated. Until higher quality studies are completed intuition, experience, and unsubstantiated prescriptions will remain the practitioner’s best guide to the determination of appropriate levels and types of user involvement; these will generally suggest that user involvement is appropriate for unstructured problems or when user acceptance is important. In order to foster higher quality integrated research and to increase understanding of the user involvement-system success relationship, the authors present the following: a conceptual framework into which previous research has been mapped that can provide direction to future efforts; a review of existing measures of user involvement and system success; a set of variables that have been proposed as potentially impacting the relationship between user involvement and system success.

  1. Some selected database

There are a large number of studies conducted at the national and international level on the concerned topic. They are published in various forms like books, journals, monographs, chapters in books etc. Some of the studies can be unpublished with certain reasons. It is very difficult to have all the studies in a single platform. The endeavours have been made to cover such studies in several databases. There are several databases consisting of full text and/ or indexing of books, journals, theses, pamphlets, proceedings, and research reports on various topics. Some of the popular databases are as follows:

 

7.1 Library Literature & Information Science (LLIS)

 

LLIS is a full text bibliographic database that indexes articles and book reviews in more than 300 library and information science periodicals. Full-text coverage for 148 periodicals is also included. The indexing of books, chapters in collected works such as conference proceedings, library school theses, and pamphlets are also available in the database.

 

7.2 Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA)

 

LISTA provides full text for more than 330 journals and indexes over 560 journals, covering subjects such as librarianship, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more.

 

7.3 Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA)

 

Library and Information Science Abstracts is an international abstracting and indexing tool. LISA is designed for library professionals and other information specialists. LISA is currently abstracts over 440 periodicals from more than 68 countries and in more than 20 different languages.

 

7.4 ProQuest

 

ProQuest Library Science provides full-text access to over 150 core titles in library and information science. It is also authoritative Library and Information Science Abstracts database (LISA). It covers a range of titles relevant to the theoretical and applied study of library science, including trade publications aimed at the library profession as well as scholarly journals. This database offers complete text and images from journals such as:

 

  • American Libraries
  • Collection Building
  • Reference & User Services Quarterly
  • Technical Communication Quarterly; TCQ
  • School Libraries Worldwide
  • Portal: Libraries and the Academy

Image articles include all the charts, tables, diagrams, and other graphical elements often used to enhance the editorial value of articles that focus on education topics.

 

7.5 Some Other Important databases

 

There are some other important databases that are also involved in making collection of studies in library and information science.

  • Dissertations Abstracts
  • ERIC
  • INSPEC
  • Social Sciences Citation Index
  • Web of Science
  1. SUMMARY

The evaluation of library services was not so familiar before 1960. Virtually it was unknown but after 1960 several studies were conducted by so many authors like L.R. Wilson(1930), Ralph R. Shaw(1956), Krishna Kumar(1970), K. Saha(1978), P.S. Kawatra(1988), G. Devarajan (1989), Bawden (1990), M.S. Shridhar(1992) Baker and F.W., Lancaster(1991) and F.W. Lancaster (1993).

 

The review on users’ studies can play significant role in determining the direction of research for improving the quality of services provided by the libraries for certain purposes. The review can also be helpful in making policies for further research or policy making in relevant field. We can compare information retrieval system, web browsing, catalogue searching and so many information retrieval systems adopted by the libraries for their betterment or improving its quality.

 

The review of literature plays a significant role in research. The library has key role in research and other developmental activities. The review of literature is very closely connected to the library. The library can’t be ignored while making literature review for the desired study. Here we have made attempt to explain that how to write a review of literature on user studies? We have also illustrated the need for literature review on user study. We have given some of the important national and international studies on users carried out by some agencies or individuals. The Library Literature & Information Science (LLIS), Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and ProQuest are some selected databases highlighted in this study.

 

References

  1.  Devrajan, G. Users approach to information in libraries. New Delhi, ESS ESS, 1989.
  2. Chandel, Sunil Singh. Information Services in Academic Libraries, Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 2003.
  3. Chandel, S.S. Rural Development and Information Technology, New Delhi : S.K. Book, 2014.
  4. Sharma, AK. Information Seeking Behaviour of Rural People. New Delhi : Classical Book Company, 2008.
  5. Fisher, KE et.al. Ed. Theories of Information Behavior.New Delhi : Ess Ess,2008.
  6. Hart, Chris. Doing Literature Review. New Delhi : SAGE Publications,2005. PP.230.
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  9. Bruce, C. S. (1990) ‘Information skills coursework for postgraduate students: investigation and response at the Queensland University of Technology’ Australian Academic & Research Libraries, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 224-232.
  10. Caspers, J. S (1998) ‘Hands-on instruction across the miles: using a web tutorial to teach the literature review research process’ Research Strategies, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 187-197.
  11. Cooper, H. M. (1988) ‘The structure of knowledge synthesis’ Knowledge in Society, vol. 1, pp. 104-126.
  12. Cooper, H. M. (1989) Integrating research: a guide for literature reviews, 2nd ed, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, Calif.
  13. Mahajan, Preeti (2009) has made a study on “Information-Seeking Behavior: A Study of Panjab University, India”. , Library Philosophy and Practice, 2009.
  14. Callison, D. (1997). Evolution of methods to measure student information use. Library and Information Science Research 19 (4): 347-357.
  15. Devadason, F.J., & Pratap, P.L. (1997). Methodology for the identification of information needs and uses of users. IFLA Journal 23 (1): 41-51.
  16. Ellis, D. (1993). Modeling the information-seeking patterns of academic researchers: A grounded theory approach. Library Quarterly 63: 469-486.
  17. Kakai, J.M., Ikoja-Odongo, R., & Kigongo-Bukenya, I.M.N. (2004). A study of the information seeking behavior of undergraduate students of Makerere University, Uganda. World Libraries 14 (1) Available: http://www.worlib.org/vol14no1/print/kakai_print.html Wilson, T.D. (1999). Models in information behavior research. Journal of Documentation 55 (3): 249-270.
  18. Wilson, T.D. (2000). Recent trends in user studies: Action research and qualitative methods.
  19. Information Research 5 (3). Available: http://informationr.net/ir/5-3/paper76.html.
  20. Callison (1997), Devadason and Pratap (1997), and Ellis (1993) have explored quantitative and qualitative methodologies for user studies.
  21. T.D. WILSON, (1981) “On User Studies and Information Needs”, Journal of Documentation, Vol. 37 Iss: 1, pp.3 – 15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb026702.
  22. Golnessa Galyani Moghaddam, V.G. Talawar, (2008) “The use of scholarly electronic journals at the Indian Institute of Science: a case study in India”, Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 36 Iss: 1, pp.15 – 29.
  23. Carol Tenopir, Use and Users of Electronic Library Resources: An Overview and Analysis of Recent Research Studies.
  24. Washington DC : Council of Library and Information Resources Rao, N. Laxman, Ed. Responding to User’s Need in Changing Information Landscapes : Seminar papers 49th All India Library Conference. Delhi : ILA, 2004.
  25. Wood, D.N. (1971) “User studies a review of the literature from 1966 to 1970”, Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 23 Iss: 1, pp.11 – 23.
  26. Singh, Shashi Prabha, ‘Use and User Studies’ in Doctoral Research Trends in Library and Information Science in India: Synergy Books India, 2014.