ACRL 2017: Academic Libraries, Filtering, & the Tyranny of Choice

Caroline Muglia University of Southern

California

Beth Namei The Claremont Colleges

March 25, 2017ACRL Conference

Academic Libraries, Filtering, and the “Tyranny of Choice”

#tyrannyofchoice

Overview of what we’ll cover today

1. Background and inspiration for our study

2. Our Study

3. Results & Findings

4. Recommendations & Conclusions

Choices, choices, choices….

“What we are dealing with now is not information overload, because we are always dealing with information overload, the problem is filter failure.” - Clay Shirky (2008)

Human filters

Search filters

Workflow filters

Expansion-of-Choice Mechanisms in Libraries

Demand Driven Acquisitions

Discovery Systems

Filtering as curation/curation as filteringProject Information Literacy (PIL) found, after a 5 year study of undergraduate research behavior (2013), that:

“students think librarians are going to give them more stuff, more resources, more information. That’s not what they need. They are overwhelmed with that already. The last thing they need is more sources.”

User Study Interviews - Search, Ebooks & DDA• Usability testing

• 5 USC Undergraduates• 5 USC Graduate students• 17 Librarians (Claremont: 9; USC: 8)

• 6 early-career (1-6 years experience)• 5 mid-career (7-17 years experience)• 6 senior (18+ years experience)

Google Analytics• Use of facets in both institutions discovery

systems for 18 month period (July 2015 - December 2016)

Results

Pre-Filtering approaches

“If you put the word ‘movie’ in your search it should know that you are looking for the movie!"

- Junior majoring in International Relations

“Advanced search is old school. Students don't use it, but librarians want to use that. Students don't want to spend a lot of time. This whole, ‘let me stop and strategize’ approach doesn't work with students. Their life is not about search strategies, it's about the work.”

- Early-career librarian

Post-filtering

A junior described ebooks as “cheaper and faster and easier to carry around one iPad with multiple textbooks with multiple books for different classes.”

Ebooks as workflow filters

Acceptance of DDA (as a workflow filter)“Initially I saw DDA as taking librarians jobs away….But I have found, in the past few years, and starting with accepting higher managerial positions, that I like DDA more and rely on it. Time is different; the way to manage the collection is different.”

- Mid-career Librarian

DDA means that “there are fewer books to order. Instruction, reference and helping faculty and students take priority over collection development.”

- Senior librarian

Recommendations & Conclusions

Beware of Filtering out the Margins

“Who feels empowered to make requests and what publishers are available….What about the people not using the library? Are we narrowing the collection too much, then how do we encourage new users?”

– Mid-career librarian

Trust issues

Searching Summon “went the way I expected it, which is why I never use Summon [over the catalog]. Because I don’t use it, then I am not as experienced in the nuances of how to use it as effectively as I should be.”

- Senior Librarian

Critical Algorithmic Literacy & Activism“The world right now is in a post-truth crisis that threatens to have truly earth-shattering impacts. What Google returns on a search result can truly change the fate of the entire world. What Google returns can literally lead to the end of humanity as we know it, through climate change, nuclear war, or disease. Not immediately, but as it shapes public perception one result at a time….I’m asking them to emulate science in designing a process that privileges returning good information over bad.”

Mike Caulfield, March 9, 2017 blog post, “Google Should Be a Librarian, not a Family Feud Contestant.”

Questions? muglia@usc.edu

beth.namei@cuc.claremont.edu

Image creditsSlide 1: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bztraining/25568612721/in/photostream/Slide 3: https://www.bigquestionsonline.com/2013/07/16/how-can-science-help-make-better-choices/Slide 4: https://media.frankwatching.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Te-veel-keus.jpgSlide 5: http://abdooss.blogspot.com/2014/01/first-or-last-day-at-school.htmlSlide 6: Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral-density_filterSlide 7: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwid8PCmzd7SAhVIxlQKHbDLCgwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwartburgcircuit.org%2Fvogel-library-upgrades-discovery-system%2F&bvm=bv.149760088,d.cGw&psig=AFQjCNEWxsriOQL2rsfmhDfW5sYR8a_Kew&ust=1489876501474191 and http://michaelhyatt.com/why-do-ebooks-cost-so-much.htmlSlide 9: http://readingcraze.com/index.php/understanding-mixed-method-research-design/Slide 10: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/23/467712481/academic-medical-centers-get-an-f-in-sharing-research-results Slide 15: http://todaysdoodle.com/then-iterate/Slide 19: http://bedsdigital.blogspot.com/2015/06/ebooks-on-demand-2015-finish-line.html Slide 20: http://www.radicalparenting.com/2008/02/29/6-steps-to-lighten-your-student%E2%80%99s-backpack/Slide 22: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bztraining/25542483272/in/photostream/Slide 23: http://www.jamesclar.com/portfolio_page/square-eclipse-2003-2006/ Slide 24: https://www.songsforyourspirit.com/holding-on/trust-fall/Slide 25: http://biz.surveylocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/bottomline.pngSlide 27: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjY8vPgxuHSAhWf14MKHYGXApwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2F52.20.157.128%2Ftrust-issues%2F&bvm=bv.149760088,d.amc&psig=AFQjCNGnvRcUbsWC42YF39O8c8jN7JNPOQ&ust=1489977337418764Slide 28: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bztraining/25568567641/in/photostream/