"The last time I went to the library’s homepage, I just got confused. Do I want the catalogue? The course reserve? A database? I just want a search box! And a way to see anything and everything."
"Undergraduate students (...) found Summon to be fast, simple, and familiar. Their searches returned items relevant to their topics and they considered Summon more important for their research than any other available tool."
"Finding context is requisite to research process; the basis for a typology of research behaviors. Students have different strategies for finding context."
"Studies show that people start with a search engine like Google when they need information. As early as 2004, in a focus group for one of my research studies, a college freshman bemoaned, 'Why is Google so easy and the library so hard?'"
"Close to 300 attendees joined the June 30 webcast, Building ROI through Discovery: Leveraging the Value of the Library Collection, sponsored by Serials Solutions and Library Journal. This was the second in the webcast series, Returning the Researcher to the Library.
"Jane Burke, vice president and executive director at Serials Solutions, set the stage in her introduction by pointing out that “the collection is often the largest single investment in the library and the source of its competitive advantage.” Unfortunately, when users try to navigate it, they are often frustrated and stop using the library for their research needs."
"Our research in this area shows unequivocally that users gravitate to simplicity and a positive user experience. Although they will attempt to compensate somewhat for access barriers that surround electronic resources, student researchers will accept lower quality resources from less trusted information providers when their research attempts have been frustrated by negative user experiences with higher quality, more trusted sources."
"[There are] Too many results from a Google search and the need to sort through them... Figuring out what is a credible source, and what is not."
"The library's content goes significantly underutilized... Only by making the entirety of the collection accessible via a discovery layer can the library guarantee comprehensive search results. [...] The ability of researchers to access the library's content is not simply a convenience, but rather, a necessity if the academic library is to preserve and enhance its role as an information gateway for current and future generations of academic researchers."
"As the de facto standard search experience, Google has set a high bar. The research shows that users place a high value on the search experience. In some cases, users are willing to sacrifice the quality of the search results in favor of a pleasant search experience. This willingness to opt out to a less qualified resource should serve as both a warning about [making library resources 'accessible' and discoverable]."
"It is also clear from teacher and student responses in the study that the library is seen as an intimidating and inconvenient place, especially and interestingly in its primary purpose - supporting student research and often assisting students in the identification, location, and evaluation of sources. [...] We also concede it is understandable that students are drawn to using search engines on the Internet to conduct academic research. These engines are easy to use, available to anyone with an Internet connection, and quick and bountiful in their returns."
"A key measure of publisher success is the usage which can be maximized by enabling all the routes to its content [...] Library technology plays a key role in user navigation."
"While users recognise that library electronic resources offer higher quality, more credible content, the library’s e-resources are not readily available to the research process in any compelling fashion."
"The importance of the role of the library as a gateway for locating information has fallen over time [...] The library is increasingly disintermediated from the actual research process."
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