Web-scale discovery in the arts: Royal Holloway’s first year undergraduates and academics feed back

Abstract

This poster will highlight the key findings of my MSc Dissertation, submitted in May 2014 to Robert Gordon University, which was awarded the Dorothy Williams award at graduation. It will introduce the aims of the research; to collect data on previous information-seeking experience and current information-seeking skills using the Primo Central discovery system from first-year arts undergraduates at Royal Holloway University of London. The quantitative results of a survey and test were compared against qualitative statements from academic staff in the applicable departments, and recommendations made about the suitability of Primo Central for these students. It was found, after weighing the merits of Primo Central against a traditional WebOPAC, that Primo Central was preferable, although serious concerns were raised about its usability and information retrieval relevant to the subject disciplines. Arts subjects at Royal Holloway heavily favour monograph literature, and the Primo Central interface defaults to a general Index search which pushes monographs down the list of results. Academics were already concerned at students’ ability to interpret and interrogate a Library catalogue, and this is backed up in the literature; suggesting that the Primo Central default search may not be intuitive enough for students of this level. A list of desired features was developed, and discussed in relation to the Primo Central and WebOPAC services. The poster will demonstrate graphically student and academic responses, results collected on student use of Primo Central and a list of key search features which this user group would benefit from. Recommendations and changes to practices at Royal Holloway as a result of this reseach may be of use to librarians working with new undergraduates in order to adapt instruction and improve training materials.