User Searching in Digital Repositories

This chapter provides an overview of current knowledge of user search behavior and needs regarding digital repositories. It examines the relevant research, organizes key themes, and discusses how user search behavior in digital repositories is investigated and the extent to which these investigative methods are answering key questions. This chapter explores the results of studies seeking to address the following questions that researchers and practitioners ask when analyzing and trying to predict user search behavior: Context impacting use of digital repositories: what materials do digital repositories provide access to, and which audiences do they serve? What are the user expectations toward digital repositories and the tools offered to support discovery in them? How do users interact with digital repositories? What are the typical keyword search constructions? How are system features typically used and how might interface design affect their use? How do controlled vocabularies contribute to discoverability in digital repositories? Based on this overview, the chapter concludes with recommendations of methods and tools practitioners can use to investigate user interactions with and expectations toward digital repositories and to obtain actionable data that will inform improvements in discoverability.