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Full-Text Articles in Library and Information Science

“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 May 2023

“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 …


Sharing Historic Costume Collections Online, Arden Kirkland, Kathi Martin, Marlise Schoeny, Kiki Smith, Gayle Strege Jan 2015

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 …