[Web4lib] Alternatives to "Best Bets", etc. ?

[Chris Strauber]

I like Linda's approach very much.

The trick with "most useful" is that it's only meaningful in the
context of a particular question. I once had a student come to me
saying she couldn't find psychology articles in MLA Bibliography,
which several professors had recommended to her as extremely useful.
She was just following directions.

Tufts did some usability testing with a "most useful"-"also useful"
model and discovered that users were primarily using our database
finder to locate the two or three databases they were already familiar
with. Several also said things like "if this list here is less useful,
why are you showing it to me?"

Chris Strauber
Humanities Reference Librarian
Tufts University
Tisch Library

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 11:28 AM, Linda Chenoweth <llchenoweth at gmail.com> wrote:
> John:
> We decided to prioritize our subject guides for databases to give students a
> single starting place, so we've listed one as "start here", then "more
> choices" and "still more choices". Here's a sample:
> http://www.wtamu.edu/library/research/masscomm.shtml
>
> We haven't done any formal studies, but the anecdotal evidence I have
> working at the reference desk is that it makes sense to our students.
>
>
> Linda
>
> Linda Chenoweth
> Reference librarian, West Texas A&M University
> Canyon TX
> lchenoweth at wtamu.edu
>
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 10:46 PM, John Kupersmith <jkup at jkup.net> wrote:
>
>> Web4Lib & Usability4Lib folks
>> (with apologies for cross-posting) --
>>
>> At MPOW we have been having a terminology conversation I expect you'll
>> recognize:  In a subject list of article databases, how to indicate which
>> ones our librarians have designated as especially useful?
>>
>> Our discussions so far have been inconclusive.  There's not much published
>> data on this question (though a University of Washington study in 2004
>> found
>> that "Users are more likely to use 'Best Bets' than 'Core Resources'":
>> http://www.lib.washington.edu/Usability/by-subj/).
>>
>> We're preparing an online survey to see if users have a clear preference.
>>  The draft survey question offers these alternatives:
>>
>> ~~~
>>   Best Bet
>>   Core
>>   Recommended
>>   Staff Pick
>>   other: ___________________
>> ~~~
>>
>> Based on your experience, are there other alternatives we should include?
>>  Any relevant usability test data?
>>
>> If this survey turns up anything useful, I'll share it with y'all.
>>
>> --jk
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>  John Kupersmith
>>  Reference Librarian, Doe/Moffitt Libraries
>>  University of California, Berkeley
>>  jkup at jkup.net
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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>>
>
>
> --
> Linda Chenoweth
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