The Effect of Clients Tasks on Librarians Database Selection : Task-based Information Searching Research in the Business Domain

ISBN-13: 9783639164060 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 228 str.

Soojung Kim

Opis

Task-based information searching views a user''s task as a central factor for understanding information-seeking behaviors. To investigate the role of tasks in information searching, particularly in the business domain, this book analyzes the database selection process used by librarians from the perspective of users'' tasks. The first part of the study developed an inventory of 30 business tasks and 144 associated questions through content analysis of Harvard Business School cases and other materials. The second part conducted a survey among 29 business librarians in academic institutions. A database selection process was modeled to describe how five task-related criteria - company size, company type, industry sector, geographical setting, and business stage - influence database selection. The findings should be useful for academic business librarians for database selection for a specific query or for collection development or information science researchers who are interested in task-based information searching.

O autorze

Soojung Kim, Ph.D.: Studied in the College of Information
Studies (CLIS) at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Worked as a business librarian in the Research Institute for
International Economics. Instructor teaching reference services
and online searching in CLIS.