Application of Information Seeking Behavior Principles. Assignment 2. Information-Seeking Behavior ILS537-S70 Professor Eino Sierpe April 7, 2013

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1 Assignment 2 Information-Seeking Behavior ILS537-S70 Professor Eino Sierpe April 7, 2013 Lucinda D. Mazza mazzal1@owls.southernct.edu

2 The creation of and widely available access to genealogy electronic information systems on the World Wide Web has been both a benefit and a detriment to the public library patron who wants to research the family tree. There are so many to choose from and given many are free, it is difficult to know where to begin, the overall usability of the site and the quality of the content found. This paper will examine two electronic information systems; Kindred Trails and USGenWeb Project. Home Page Comparison One of the major differences between these two sites is the use of commercial advertising with the interjection of tools and resources that cost money, versus a completely free site with no advertising or resources that cost money. Further comparison of the two home pages will reveal the impact of these differences. When logging into the homepage of USGenWeb Project, there was a sense of organization and clarity. The website had a very clear layout, providing a sense of focus or purpose and there were no advertisements or blinking widgets anywhere on the page. The webpage was designed to utilize the unique size of the users monitor, providing for a familiar format and subtly making the user comfortable with the initial feel of the site. Even the colors chosen for the site provided a sense of organization and thoughtful design. In contrast, when logging into Kindred Trails the home page did not fit properly on the monitor, utilizing only half of the screen, leaving the other half white. There was far more information on this homepage, providing a very cluttered feel complicated by the website designs inability to utilize the full size of the monitor. The use of colors was limited to very subdued colors making it difficult to differentiate between various tools and resources. Lucinda D. Mazza 2

3 The home page of USGenWeb Project, welcomes people to the "project" by explaining the focus of the site. The goal identified is to keep internet genealogy free with no commercial marketing used in the site. The content is provided and managed by volunteers and the format is by US states and the counties within those states. This informs the user of the website's intent and helps the user determine if this is where they want to do research. To minimize the number of clicks required to begin doing research, the home page provides a list of US states on the left and a drop down menu of US States. Although subtle, this provides users with a choice for accessing state information immediately from the home page. In contrast the home page of Kindred Trails was very cluttered, causing an immediate reaction of "where do I go first". Arranged in three columns, the outside columns revealed a variety of resources and content that redirected the researcher away from this site. Some of the sites were free and other sites were for products that cost money. The central column of the home page, which was the widest, appeared to have information that pertained to this specific website. Upon further review it included a picture advertisement that links you to the online store that is part of the Kindred Trails website, and provided links to informational articles that either had broken links or were redirects to information one can find from ancestry.com the free online version of the product. There were only three links to content within Kindred Trails, and they were not obvious to the new user, they would have easily been overlooked. One could not start their research from the home page and more than likely would have been redirected somewhere else. Sections of the Websites Lucinda D. Mazza 3

4 The next step involved reviewing each of the sections of the websites, identified by tabs at the top of the home page. When reviewing the USGenWeb Project homepage, there were five sections in addition to the homepage: About Us, States, Projects, Researchers and Volunteers. About Us, provides more detail about the project, discussed the use of volunteers and provided a message from the national coordinator of the project. The States section provides a direct link to a map of the United States and each state is linked to their state's page. Projects, is a list of special genealogy projects that cross county or state boundaries, benefiting from a central focus. Tools and guidance for the genealogist are provided in the Researchers section, from "how to get started", finding names, to software tools for tracking your research. Finally the Volunteers section explains the role of volunteers, but more importantly explains how someone can become a volunteer and contribute to the website. It is worth noting that on each new section a list of all the states is found on the left side of the page with links directly to each state's page. Kindred Trails provided four sections in addition to the homepage: Resources, Databases, Store, Freebies, and News. The first section, Resources, was a listing of Genealogy resources by location; this included not only the United States by countries around the world. When clicking on a Country or state, an extensive list of resources is provided grouped by type of resource. Resource groupings included such topics as Birth, Death and Marriage records, Census information, Military records, Land records, Church and Bible records, Biographies, Occupations, Ethnic genealogy and several other groups. The second section, Databases, provides a list of United States State databases provided by ancestry.com. Following the state listing, is a list of free online genealogy databases, which included USGenWeb Project. The Store section provided an extensive assortment of products to assist with genealogy research and Lucinda D. Mazza 4

5 recording of data for a specified cost. In contrast the next section, Freebies, provides free tools such as forms and charts, software, translation tools and genealogy tips and classes. The last section, News, said "coming soon" with a link to ancestry.com to purchase. Kindred Trails did not provide an "about us" section that describes their goals and intended direction for the website. Much time needs to be spent browsing each section and the contents within to conclude their focus. This extra time may discourage the user from using the site at all. What is noticeably different between the content in each website is where the information comes from. In USGenWeb Project, the content is provided by volunteers who collect and format the information specifically for the USGenWeb Project. In contrast Kindred Trails provides links to existing resources, created by other organizations or governments. Kindred Trails is pulling together resources from around the world in one place for researchers to access. It is unfortunate it is not more apparent, when first logging into the homepage. Strengths of Each Website The USGenWeb Project is laid out in a user friendly format. The obvious lack of commercials and blinking widgets provides a clean format with no distractions. The site appeals to the comfort level of the users by adjusting to the size of the user's monitor and also by offering the user multiple search methods when searching the states. The homepage provides a clear definition of where the data comes from, in this case volunteers, and states it is a noncommercial site insuring all the resources are free. Utilizing volunteers, local to the area they are responsible for maintaining, provides for more specialized or localized information as opposed to standard levels of data collected the same way across all the states. A user can quickly determine if this is the type of website they want to use for their research. This is a commercial Lucinda D. Mazza 5

6 free site, no advertising or new product trials are offered that cost money. Finally, one of the advantages of this site is the opportunity to contact the volunteers directly when more information is needed. A great example is The Lineage Researcher project that identifies the names of people that are searching for information on a specific person. It allows people to connect directly with others who share the same family member. Kindred Trails offers resources for United States genealogical research as well as resources from countries around the world. The focus of their site is to pull together existing genealogical resources, in an organized fashion that can be used for genealogical research. Most of these resources are commonly used genealogy sites, but for someone new to genealogy, it is a convenient way to introduce them. The content will generally be more complete and reliable because volunteers are not used in the creation of most of these resources. Kindred Trails provides free tools and resources for its users as well as a store to purchase additional tools and resources. This provides the user with more information at their finger tips to decide whether the free resources are enough or if they should consider purchasing what they need. Weaknesses of Each Website The biggest weakness with the USGenWeb Project site is the dependency on volunteers for the compilation and accuracy of data. Volunteers can come and go, leaving a portion of the sites data unfinished or out of date. The format of the States information is not standardized so continuity between states is limited. This makes searching for information from different states more time consuming and frustrating for the user. Many of the Special Projects had broken links or had not been updated for several years. Lucinda D. Mazza 6

7 Kindred Trail's major weakness is the layout of the homepage. Specifically, the homepage is loaded with advertisements, links to other genealogy websites and does not have an obvious place to start searching. User's attention spans are short, especially when faced with a homepage that is very cluttered and not easily understood. There is no place to readily begin a search from the homepage, taking away from the user's valuable time. Suggestions for Improvement The USGenWeb Project would benefit from standardization when capturing the State information. The placement of similar information, provided for each state, should be positioned the same way on the first page for each State. Additional information, reflecting localized data, can be added following the standardized data. More effort should be made from a central team to check for, fix or remove broken links across the website. This would lend more credibility to the content of the site. If pages have been without a volunteer for a long time, pull the page if the information is not current. Kindred Trails would benefit from a goals statement or an "about us" section describing the goal and focus of the site. The homepage needs to be re-formatted to showcase information specific to the website and provide a quick search option for those who want to start their search from the homepage. Advertisements for products and links to other genealogy websites should be limited and positioned below the site specific information. The website should be designed so it will adjust to the monitor size of the user accessing the site. Better use of color to differentiate site specific information, versus advertisements would make the site more appealing to the user. Lucinda D. Mazza 7

Comparative Analysis of OPACs. be of greater benefit and value given my current role as Reference and Adult Services Librarian

Comparative Analysis of OPACs. be of greater benefit and value given my current role as Reference and Adult Services Librarian Lucinda D. Mazza mazzal1@southernct.edu Information Analysis & Organization, ILS-506-S70 Professor Eino Sierpe November 23, 2009 Comparative Analysis of OPACs Upon reviewing the two assignment choices,