Search Results are the New Black

Presenter: Deidre Costello, EBSCO

She compared search habits of students, doctors and public library patrons.

Student search to: find overview, narrow down topic, find citable sources
Students feel fix of positive & negative emotions (pressure to get good grade)

Doctors search to: confirm what they already know, find a treatment direction, find trustworthy sources
Doctors feel pressed for time, confident in their own knowledge, seeking reassurance

Public library patrons search to: find a specific book, research a big-ticket purchase, support their work
Public library patrons feel: relaxed, focused, sense of community & ownership

What influences users’ behaviors when searching?  Competing priorities, “eye byte culture”, “skimming and scanning”

How are users interacting with Google?
1. I trust it. They look at first 3 results, then change search terms.
2. I get it. Snippets with search terms bolded are read, valued.
3. I’m the judge. Judging validity of source by URL (.gov, .edu, .com)

Students: scanning for search terms, learning (pulling related terms)
Doctors: looking for trusted sources (e.g. Mayo Clinic), validating known information
Public library patrons: judging by URL, seeing what others are asking (Google search results, at bottom of page)

So what does this mean for library resources?

Students; Google is pre-research. They use same search terms in the library database search box. They are scanning for secondary buzzwords to form a constellation (better understanding). Search results snippets are a struggle to interpret. Source info doesn’t provide clues.

Doctors: Navigate to known resources, scan for known quantities. They don’t associate library with online access and are frustrated by logging in.

Public library patrons: known-item searches. Perception that library = books. Less incentive to persevere.

Evolution of a researcher: the turning point is when his/her motivation changes from external to internal.

Takeaways.
- Google is hugely influential.
- The way users read online is changing.
- Search results have evolved from a portal to a destination.
- Users are porting habits they form on the open web…
- …But the experience isn’t as seamless as they expect.