EVALUATION OF ONLINE CATALOGS - ELICITING INFORMATION FROM THE USER

An investigation of tools, techniques, and methods for the evaluation of interactive library catalogues is described, with emphasis on diagnostic methods and on use of the catalogue in the wider context of user information-seeking behaviour. A front-end system (Olive) was developed to test various enhancements of traditional transaction logging as a data-gathering technique for evaluation purposes. These include full-screen logging, pre- and post-search, online/offline, and in-search interactive questionnaires, search replays as well as talk-aloud. The extent of subject or hybrid searching activity as opposed to specific item searching is also highlighted.