B103 - User Expectations & Search Results
1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
San Carlos Ballroom (Marriott)
Search results have evolved from a portal to a destination unto them- selves. Users are porting expectations from Google, Amazon, and other open web searches to their library experience, including the expectation that they may learn just as much from the search results list as from the resources listed there. Images, snippets and bolded search terms all serve important roles in making search results an important learning opportunity for users. EBSCO's user research team has been conducting ethnographic research on how users interpret search results on both the open web and library resources. They talk about how user expectations are formed on the open web, what users look for to make decisions about library resources, and why we all need to think about our search results as one of the most important user experiences we can craft for our users.
