Library and Information Science Commons^™

“I’M Not Searching The Right Words”: User Experience Searching Historic Clothing Collection Websites, Arden Kirkland, Monica Sklar, Clare Sauro, Leon Wiebers, Sara Idacavage, Julia Mun

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

This study investigates the search processes of users accessing public websites representing historic clothing collections, examining where their searches are supported by the metadata in the collection databases and what factors could make their experience more inclusive. With IRB approval from four universities, we performed a recorded experiment with twenty adults: ten students of historic dress and ten fashion professionals. Four tasks included search scenarios and images representing diverse historic garments. Results indicate that both the descriptive metadata and search features on collection websites present challenges for the typical user search process. Users search for historical dress content the way …

Exploring The Role Of Repertoire In Library Cataloging, Rachel Ivy Clarke, Brian Dobreski

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

• Purpose
• Library work is increasingly being explored from the perspective of design. Still, little work has actively explored specific aspects of design as they relate to library cataloging. This study seeks to dive deeper into the relationship between library cataloging and design by exploring a specific aspect of design—the concept of repertoire, or the use of previous experiences and bodies of knowledge during current work.
• Design/methodology/approach
• To examine catalogers’ use of repertoire, this study employed a juxtaposition of field observations of professional library catalogers’ work processes with elements of “think-aloud” protocols.
• Findings
• The researchers identified three major types of repertory …

Transitioning From The Mls To The Mld: Integrating Design Thinking And Philosophy Into Library And Information Science Education, Rachel I. Clarke, Steven Bell

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Purpose

As change creates more uncertainty for library practitioners, graduate library education needs to explore how to best prepare students to manage ambiguity through new approaches to identifying and solving challenging problems. We advocate for incorporating design into graduate library education.

Design/Methodology/Approach

First, we discuss the need for a design approach to librarianship. We then introduce the nature of design thinking and philosophy, and discuss the ways in which it is already present in librarianship. We review past developments and recent trends with a special focus on the ways in which design thinking, methods, and philosophies are (or are not) …

A Conceptual Model For Video Games And Interactive Media, Rachel I. Clarke, Jacob Jett, Simone Sacchi, Jin Ha Lee

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we describe a conceptual model for video games and interactive media. Existing conceptual models such as the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) are not adequate to represent the unique descriptive attributes, levels of variance, and relationships among video games. Previous video game-specific models tend to focus on the development of video games and their technical aspects. Our model instead attempts to reflect how users such as game players, collectors, and scholars understand video games and the relationships among them. We specifically consider use cases of gamers, with future intentions of using this conceptual model as a …

Empirical Evaluation Of Metadata For Video Games And Interactive Media, Rachel I. Clarke, Jin Ha Lee, Andrew Perti

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Despite increasing interest in and acknowledgment of the significance of video games, current descriptive practices are not sufficiently robust to support searching, browsing, and other access behaviors from diverse user groups. To address this issue, the Game Metadata Research Group at the University of Washington Information School, in collaboration with the Seattle Interactive Media Museum, worked to create a standardized metadata schema. This metadata schema was empirically evaluated using multiple approaches—collaborative review, schema testing, semi-structured user interview, and a large-scale survey. Reviewing and testing the schema revealed issues and challenges in sourcing the metadata for particular elements, determining the level …

Why Video Game Genres Fail: A Classificatory Analysis, Rachel I. Clarke, Jin Ha Lee, Neils Clark

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

This paper explores the current affordances and limitations of video game genre from a library and information science perspective with an emphasis on classification theory. We identify and discuss various purposes of genre relating to video games, including identity, collocation and retrieval, commercial marketing, and educational instruction. Through the use of examples, we discuss the ways in which these purposes are supported by genre classification and conceptualization, and the implications for video games. Suggestions for improved conceptualizations such as family resemblances, prototype theory, faceted classification, and appeal factors for video game genres are considered, with discussions of strengths and weaknesses. …

A Qualitative Investigation Of Users’ Video Game Information Needs And Behaviors, Rachel I. Clarke, Jin Ha Lee, Stephanie Rossi

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Video games are popular consumer products as well as research subjects, yet little exists about how players and other stakeholders find video games and what information they need to select, acquire, and play video games. With the aim of better understanding people’s game-related information needs and behaviors, we conducted 56 semi-structured interviews with users who find, play, purchase, collect, and recommend video games. Participants included casual and avid gamers, parents, collectors, industry professionals, librarians, and scholars. From this user data, we derive and discuss key design implications for video game information systems: designing for target user populations, enabling recommendations on …

Sharing Historic Costume Collections Online, Arden Kirkland, Kathi Martin, Marlise Schoeny, Kiki Smith, Gayle Strege

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The recent increase in online costume history resources has provided scholars of dress with fresh sources of information for inspiring and validating their research. The best digital archives consider the needs of their users in creating systems that make it easy for more users to access the greatest amount of relevant information. Users of online costume history resources have specific needs that should be addressed, both for internal users (organizing and entering information) and external users (finding information). This paper follows a panel presentation at the 2014 Symposium of the Costume Society of America, on the subject of digital initiatives …