Online Databases: Building Bridges

By Carol Tenopir -- Library Journal, 04/01/2006

My career as a librarian, LJ columnist, researcher, and teacher has been about building bridges—bridges between librarians and publishers, students and knowledge, and research and practice—which is probably why I was selected to deliver the NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) Miles Conrad Memorial Lecture. Established in 1965, the lecture commemorates NFAIS founder G. Miles Conrad and honors people who have made significant contributions to information science. It isn't often that a librarian gets such acknowledgment from the information industry.

The work of librarians and information industry professionals is about connecting users to the information they need. Most users just want tools and technologies to help them do their work better and more conveniently. They will not change their work habits unless that change means more convenience. Systems that help people perform better will be readily adopted.

Popular connections

Product features that prove their usefulness include desktop access to electronic journals for faculty, links to full articles from indexes, systems that integrate information into spreadsheets or graphs for easy updating, cut-and-paste citation systems for authors and students, and dictionaries and glossaries integrated into products for kids. Consider medical reference books that can be downloaded to a PDA for physicians, newsfeeds accessible via cell phone, and instant messaging or email reference for college students.

Speaking in general terms, there is no single answer for every user or need. Users range from physicians who still want their core journal delivered in paper each month, so it can be read literally cover to cover, to medical students who would rather have important articles on their PDA to students who want classes via podcast. The challenge is to stay a step ahead of user needs while remembering that each new route to access doesn't replace the old ones.

Good, effective library reference departments offer services from behind a physical desk, by appointment, and via email, text chat, instant messaging, and telephone. Valuable library collections provide information in a multitude of formats, accessible where the user is at the time the information is required.

Links build expectations

Behavior changes as users become familiar with new or better ways to use the same material and systems. When they get accustomed to links to full text, users want links to related materials or databases. If they can get drug information on their PDAs, they want diagnostic data as well. Their new behavior is a result of their new familiarity and comfort with electronic sources, technologies, and possibilities.

As such, digital products and services are never finished. Content, interfaces, and search engines must constantly change. No single solution fits all user needs, and the time available to enhance products grows shorter as the attention span and patience of users diminish and expectations increase. We create new expectations as we meet old ones.

Any link to a data set or video clip in one article makes users wonder why there aren't links in every article. If some full text is provided, users want the rest. When you convert files back to 1950, users want 1949.

Support the bridge

A connection between the information system and the end user built with the support of the information specialist is often stronger than the direct connection from system to user. Many systems providers and vendors have tried to construct such a direct connection for decades. The direct connection doesn't always work as well as expected.

This has been a difficult lesson for the information industry. For more than 30 years, I've heard new online industry CEOs arrive at the “revolutionary” idea that there are only thousands of librarians but there are millions of end users. They don't realize that librarians make the collection decisions, make sure the bills are paid, and, most important, provide help so users can make the most effective use of information products.

Sometimes the fastest route to information is not the best. Often a researcher wants to enjoy the search and is not in a hurry to finish. Serendipity, “berry-picking,” and browsing (not the most efficient ways to get information) are still important parts of the process. Researchers need time to think and develop their ideas. Information sources should work with them. Systems must go beyond the search box to integrate browsing and the development and expression of ideas.

By ignoring user needs, libraries and information companies will build bridges to nowhere. A fancy design without meaningful purpose, content, and rigor behind the interface will fail. Working subject experts want robust, useful content in effective systems that are easy to navigate. They want to finish their work faster and better. We are all in the business of making that happen.