This study investigated the design of three online public library catalogs in light of the cognitive ability and success of children ages five to eight.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the design of three online public library catalogs in light of the cognitive ability and success of children ages five to eight.
Methodology/approach
A quasi-experimental approach was employed to examine the influence of system design on children’s searching strategies and search success. Interviews were used to explore children’s rationale for using icons and taxonomies in the catalogs. Fifty one children from one public library participated in this study. Inferential statistics were utilized to whether significant differences existed between use of the catalogs and the children’s success in finding information.
Results
Use of images and text were helpful in searching the catalogs. Results of the ANOVA test indicated no significant difference among children’s searching success rates and the three catalogs. Additionally, the participants misidentified representations used in icons in all three catalogs and created valid search paths that did not produce results. There was a disconnect between the children’s cognitive abilities and the design representations of the three catalogs.
Limitations
The study took place in one location, thus one should not overgeneralize the findings. Use of assigned tasks may have affected children’s success rates. Children’s searching using printed cards of display screens from the three catalogs instead of real-time interaction with them is also a limitation.
Practical implications
Because of the children’s reliance on images, the choice of visual representations is crucial to successful searching. Interface designers should involve young users in the design of today’s online catalogs. They should also consider new forms of representations such as auditory icons, verbal mouse overs, and zooms.
Originality/value
In addition to addressing the need for research on young children’s information seeking and use of online catalogs in public libraries, this research focuses on the need for an additional layer of visual representation and highlights flaws in currently used catalog designs.
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Sherman Hayes and David R.L. Gabhart
Of all the issues confronting librarians in their daily activities, accounting for depreciation is most aptly described as a “shoulder shrugger.” And in the recent past, a…
Abstract
Of all the issues confronting librarians in their daily activities, accounting for depreciation is most aptly described as a “shoulder shrugger.” And in the recent past, a librarian would have been justified for having no interest in depreciation since it has had little impact on budgeting or financial decisions. However, with the release of the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 93, Recognition of Depreciation by Not‐for‐Profit Organizations, we suggest that you consider taking a CPA to lunch.
Sherman Hayes and David R.L. Gabhart
One hallmark of a profession is that it creates participatory organizations that offer educational opportunities, publish, and lobby in support of the field. These same…
Abstract
One hallmark of a profession is that it creates participatory organizations that offer educational opportunities, publish, and lobby in support of the field. These same professional associations also study and address problems and bring members together for sharing and networking. In the library profession we have several major national and international organizations such as the Special Libraries Association, the American Library Association, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover…
Abstract
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.
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This chapter argues that the concept of ‘mass supervision’, and indeed the concept of ‘mass incarceration’ from which it derives, is both quantitatively and qualitatively…
Abstract
This chapter argues that the concept of ‘mass supervision’, and indeed the concept of ‘mass incarceration’ from which it derives, is both quantitatively and qualitatively indeterminate when applied outside of the context of the US. However, the qualitative indeterminacy of mass supervision only holds so long as one treats the word ‘mass’ as being an analogy to mass consumption. This chapter therefore considers an alternative construction of ‘mass’ punishment in terms of mass production. Comparing the philosophies of production associated with Henry Ford and William Morris with the scholarship of Michel Foucault and Fergus McNeill reveals that mass supervision can authentically claim to be qualitatively ‘massive’, given the bespoke and one-on-one nature of traditional supervision. It is thus possible to speak coherently of ‘mass supervision’ in an international context, although this negative conception of a problem invites questions about the best solution that it generally leaves open.
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Fergus McNeill, Katharina Maier and Rosemary Ricciardelli
In this closing chapter, we review the contributions of this collection, reflecting on how each advances our understanding of ‘mass supervision’. We return to McNeill’s…
Abstract
In this closing chapter, we review the contributions of this collection, reflecting on how each advances our understanding of ‘mass supervision’. We return to McNeill’s conceptualisation of ‘mass supervision’ as a starting point to showing how contributors illuminate ‘mass supervision’ as a contextually and locally specific phenomenon with implications for families, communities and the larger penal system. Contributors critically examine the legal and policy developments and implications of ‘mass supervision’.
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Camden rejected a viewdata solution to user information needs as being too highly structured in its approach and instead opted for a customised version of Geac's new Community…
Abstract
Camden rejected a viewdata solution to user information needs as being too highly structured in its approach and instead opted for a customised version of Geac's new Community Information System (CIS) based on that company's existing Local Information System software. Data from the authority's DataEase Adult Education database were incorporated into CINDEX (Camden Community Information Network Directory and Exchange) by uploading files from the former to the latter. A variety of online and offline methods of access and reporting are described.
The London Borough of Camden assumed responsibility for education in April 1990 upon abolition of the Inner London Education Authority.
Bill Ainsworth and David Hayes
Currently all organisations are being urged to become “information conscious”. Technology is being rapidly developed to aid and support such an approach and tremendous attention…
Abstract
Currently all organisations are being urged to become “information conscious”. Technology is being rapidly developed to aid and support such an approach and tremendous attention and publicity is being directed towards how businesses will operate in the future — the 21st century.