A Study on User Difficulties with Chinese OPAC

• Main Authors: Hsi-sha Wang, 王喜沙
• Other Authors: Mei-mei Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1995
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/65767717241142316173

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 教育資料科學學系 === 83 === The main purpose of theis study is to find out the difficult- ies of the users when using Chinese Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). This study is based on questionnaires, interviews and per- sonal observation. Samples are collected from OPAC systems of Chengchi University Library and Tamkang University Library. Descriptive statistical methods as well as content analysis are applied in summarizing and evaluating the data. By analyzing the users'' searching behavior and the problems which they encountered when interacting with the OPAC systems, the researcher identifies ten types of difficulties, namely: (1) Users'' unfamiliarity with keyboard operation; (2) Users'' lack of training in Chinese input skill, and mode switch between Chinese and English; (3) unintelligible the information system responsed at times; (4) Users'' inability to utilize access points and function keys; (5) insufficient cross reference amount related subjects and proximate subjects; (6) Users'' inappropriate choice of terms for keyword search; (7) improper division of search terms (斷詞) by users; (8) insufficient further infor- mation about the searching result; (9) the holding status of the items need to be updated more frequently; (10) new equipment should be acquired, and system data should be enhanced. The other findings are as follows: the major access points of the users are subject (61.80%), title (53.93%), author (47.19% ). The results also reveal that the users'' major difficult area is the subject keywords. The major factors affecting users'' satisfaction in the process of searching seem to be the users unfamiliarity with the operational functions and the limitation on the online help function of the systems.