Information Seeking Behaviour on an Academic Library Search Engine

Transaction log analysis was conducted on the University of Strathclyde library search engine (SUPrimo) to provide insight into the usage patterns, query characteristics and search patterns on the information retrieval system in a holistic academic context with the goal of identifying areas of improvement for the system.
The research revealed that SUPrimo usage increased during exam period, users' queries were short and users generally employed key terms search. It was discovered that a relationship exists between the query length and results. Furthermore query length, system problem and content organisation were discovered as the causes of query failure; thus leading to functional, technical and operational recommendations to improve SUPrimo to better support users’ information seeking behaviour and presenting a foundation for future research.