Employee reactions to user incivility in academic libraries

Workplace incivility and its consequences have been studied by many scholars; however, little attention has been given to the phenomenon in the library environment. More specifically, empirical research in the Library and Information Science (LIS) literature has focused on deviant behaviors, such as bullying, mobbing, and aggression, mainly from colleagues and supervisors rather than from users. However, incivility in the workplace is more common than other forms of negative behaviors, such as aggression. Moreover, in service organizations uncivil behavior from patrons is more frequently encountered than from co-workers and supervisors. In this vein, the current exploratory study aimed to investigate the manifestations and frequency of user incivility, as well as employee reactions to these behaviors in Greek academic libraries. Employee perceptions regarding the causes of user incivility were also explored. Results indicated that users are mainly impatient, angry and make unreasonable demands. These behaviors are attributed to user personality. Finally, respondents reported milder reactions to user incivility compared to those of their colleagues. Implications of the findings for library leaders are also discussed.     

End user searching at Indiana University School of Dentistry: tailoring a program for a specific user group.

While many librarians support the concept of end user searching, they fear that large costs will be incurred with the introduction of such a program. This article describes an economical end user training program which was developed at the Indiana University School of Dentistry. End user training at IUSD is fully self-supporting and has been tailored to meet the needs of a very specialized user group.     

Measuring user satisfaction from e-Government services: Lessons from Jordan

User satisfaction is a crucial factor for continual usage of e-Government services and for the success or failure of e-Government projects. The main challenge for Jordanians is what are the key determinants of their satisfaction? This paper aims to identify the key factors that determine Jordanians' e-Satisfaction with Jordan's e-Government services portal. Based on an extensive review of relevant literature, five hypotheses are formulated and five factors are identified (i.e., security and privacy, trust, accessibility, awareness of public services, and quality of public services) that may affect the Jordanians' level of satisfaction towards using the Jordan e-Government portal (www.jordan.gov.jo). Survey data from 400 employees in four universities in the northern region of Jordan were collected and used to test the proposed hypotheses. Based on multiple linear regression and factor analyses, our empirical analysis demonstrates several key findings. These findings indicate the usefulness and importance to unveil the key drivers of e-Satisfaction so as to provide feedback in a set of recommendations that will enable creating e-Government portals which are compatible with citizens' needs, desires, and expectations. They also provide insights for both practitioners and governmental policy-makers to enhance e-Government portals via accounting diverse factors of technical, behavioral, managerial, and motivational aspects. Finally, implications and recommendations of these findings were discussed.     

The user experience: Student perspectives on library course reserve

A group of researchers from an academic library surveyed students to understand how and why the members of their community use course reserve services. Students were happy with the service and used it as a replacement for purchasing textbooks. Frequent users requested more textbook offerings, and both users and nonusers indicated a need for increased promotion of the service. Users provided specific suggestions for improvement that should be examined. Findings illustrated the value of course reserve services as a way to help students with college affordability and to support instruction and learning.     

Technological tools for library user education: one library's experience

In today's world, library users are confronted with almost too many options for using information because of the ubiquitousness of technology. Yet, libraries can harness the power of the same technologies to help users find the information they need at the time it is needed. The tools described in this article represent a starting point for librarians looking for technologies that are easy to use, inexpensive, and have a reasonable learning curve. Technologies addressed include classroom technologies such as audience response systems and Web-based technologies, including Web tutorials and screencasting. These technologies enhance and offer flexibility and variety in many educational settings.     

ERIC user services: Changes and evaluation for the future

Presents findings on the state of ERIC user services and evaluation efforts performed so far. Recommends changes to strengthen ERIC’s competitive edge and identifies areas of user services critical to ERIC’s strategic goals. Offers an evaluation plan to produce benchmark data for future assessment and inform ERIC’s decision on its future direction.     

The user friendly card catalog

The changing roles and relationships of professional staff in Reference and Cataloging departments in the catalog creation process are discussed. Specific examples are given for handling classification, subject headings and cross references. The article stresses the importance of interface between the two departments in making the catalog more accessible to the users of the library.     

Telefacsimile from a user perspective

A study conducted at Montana State University compared telefacsimile service with mail delivery. Recipients of telefax materials who answered questions about the purpose, timeliness, and quality of the materials were generally well pleased. Telefacsimile was found to be a cost-effective and efficient method of document delivery over long distances.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of relevance feedback based on a user simulation model: effects of a user scenario on cumulated gain value

We propose a method for performing evaluation of relevance feedback based on simulating real users. The user simulation applies a model defining the user’s relevance threshold to accept individual documents as feedback in a graded relevance environment; user’s patience to browse the initial list of retrieved documents; and his/her effort in providing the feedback. We evaluate the result by using cumulated gain-based evaluation together with freezing all documents seen by the user in order to simulate the point of view of a user who is browsing the documents during the retrieval process. We demonstrate the method by performing a simulation in the laboratory setting and present the “branching” curve sets characteristic for the presented evaluation method. Both the average and topic-by-topic results indicate that if the freezing approach is adopted, giving feedback of mixed quality makes sense for various usage scenarios even though the modeled users prefer finding especially the most relevant documents.     

What does the user really want? The library user survey project at Duke University

In an effort to assist long-range library planning, focus groups and a mailed survey gathered input from the university community. In addition to current library usage, respondents commented on information seeking and retrieval in the next century, what features they want to see available, and what currently available features they are willing to give up.     

COLLEAGUE: a comprehensive online medical library for the end user

COLLEAGUE, from BRS/Saunders, is an online information service intended for use by health professionals. This article describes both the databases and services available through COLLEAGUE and shows specific search examples. Special COLLEAGUE features are highlighted as well as the differences between COLLEAGUE and both BRS/AFTER DARK and the BRS Search System. In addition, the role of the librarian in end user searching and future directions for COLLEAGUE are discussed.     

图书馆用户关系管理

用户是图书馆取之不尽的资源，图书馆应引进客户关系管理理念，对图书馆用户关系进行管理与研究。