Volume 13, Issue 2

This paper presents a study of the applicability of three user-effort-sensitive evaluation measures—“first 20 full precision,” “search length,” and “rank correlation”—on four Web-based search engines (Google, AltaVista, Excite and Metacrawler). The authors argue that these measures are better alternatives than precision and recall in Web search situations because of their emphasis on the quality of ranking. Eight sets of search topics were collected from four Ph.D. students in four different disciplines (biochemistry, industrial engineering, economics, and urban planning). Each participant was asked to provide two topics along with the corresponding query terms. Their relevance and credibility judgment of the Web pages were then used to compare the performance of the search engines using these three measures. The results show consistency among these three ranking evaluation measures, more so between “first 20 full precision” and search length than between rank correlation and the other two measures. Possible reasons for rank correlation’s disagreement with the other two measures are discussed. Possible future research to improve these measures is also addressed.

The project on which this article is based set out to evaluate—using an interpretivist/ constructivist framework—the content, usability, and use of the four online databases that were introduced into Victorian public libraries under the Gulliver Program. The grounded nature of the method enabled the discovery of key issues that were not always related to the quality of the databases themselves. Since Everett Rogers’ famous analysis of the diffusion of innovations appeared to have explanatory value in this context, his theory was used to illuminate the findings. This was despite the fact that an individual was not involved in this case but rather the State Library of Victoria making a decision to adopt an innovation on behalf of the public libraries of Victoria. The researchers believed that Rogers’ framework could be used to shed light on why both staff and library patrons were slow in accepting or adopting online databases for their information seeking. The conclusion is that training is the principal way in which this situation could be changed.

Due to the newer nature of this subfield of librarianship and the lack of formal technical training experienced by a number of systems librarians, many feel needlessly inadequate in their positions. An understanding of the importance of a library background and skills in the success of any systems librarian can help these individuals overcome their “imposter syndrome” and settle more comfortably into their positions.

No abstract available.

The writer of this narrative is a Canadian teacher-librarian. In 1996, she began a 6-year journey down a raging river called information technology (IT). This experience resulted in a gradual increase of tension in her professional life. After much pondering, she has made necessary adjustments in her teaching that enhance rather than hinder her practice. She no longer blindly integrates IT, as she once did. Rather, she discretely chooses technology tools that clearly benefit her particular community and are manageable for those affected by her choices.