Abstract

The use of library resources is stereotyped as a solitary activity, with hardly any mention in the substantial library science and information retrieval literature on the social a spects of information systems. However, our study indicates notable collaboration, with users consulting both library staff and each other. Informal computer-based collaboration already exists through sharing or leaning over terminals and pointing at screens. Traditionally as computer scientists we have designed databases to appear as single-user systems. Systems should provide support for collaboration, including awareness of other users and consideration of the physical attributes of libraries that may be lost when using a computerised alternative.

The activity of browsing a database is complicated and subtle. It consists of a series of different activities as part of the overall aim of obtaining information whose exact natur e may be too imprecise to describe until the end of the process. Both librarians and users ha ve stressed the importance of serendipity in this process. Browsing involves the tactics of comp osing particular searches and strategic issues of how to combine searches, managing the evolving goalstack and controlling the quality of information obtained. Two distinct kinds of collabora tion occur: in learning about browsing techniques and in undertaking the browsing for a shared task.

Browsing is necessary for independent study and is an important transferable skill. There are though difficulties in learning browsing effectively. We have observed that students quite sensibly learn a minimal subset in order to begin the browsing process. Unfortunately many seem to settle into a feeling of competence with little desire to improve by formal or informal learning. They may acquire sub-optimal working habits such as failure to refine a search, contentin g themselves with reading hundreds of hits or never investigating how to use more sophisticated searching options. Such habits can be addressed through collaboration with other learners, working with librarians or computerised help. We believe that systems that actively support collaboration should also support this incremental learning, by providing facilities to illustrate and explain bro wsing techniques.

Collaborative working implies a need to share information: both the end product (the "hits") and the process (the search strategy/tactics). Similarly there is a need to share this information with the librarians, for whom inspection of the search process can reveal not only gaps in the user's browsing techniques but also an indication of their degree of searching sophistication. In addition an externalised representation of the search process reduces cognitive load and facilitates reflection; a vital component of learning. An initial analogy would be the Unix history list, but the actual representation will need to be considerably more sophisticated and flexible. The study indicated problems with the misinterpretation of collaborators' messages to each other. We believe that the external representations of the search need to take account of this problem, to have features that minimise communication failures, but also support the detection and remediation of these errors by the participants.

We take the traditional library as our starting point for the investigation of the support of collaboration. Computerisation offers many advantages, such as the ability to work remotely, but some of the advantages of the physical library may be lost. For example, in a traditional library it is possible to observe and learn from the actions of other users, be aware of what they are doing, and talk with them. However, previous library computerisation makes all the other people invisible. Indeed this is an express aim of conventional computer databases, even though it may not always be desirable. Similarly, a library's physical information structure offers many useful features that may not be replicated in a remote virtual library. For example the ability to exploit spatial memory to navigate and browse the bookstacks - investigating books near to the one that you had originally gone to examine.

We are developing an interface that will support collaboration by promoting the awareness of the activities of others, better visualisation of the information data structures being browsed and more effective means of communicating the browsing process.

ARIADNE | CSEG | Computing Department | Lancaster University