BHL's Feedback Tools and User Surveys Initial results of surveys and analysis of received technical development suggestions conducted as part of the IMLS-funded NDSR at BHL program, presented at TDWG 2017.

1. BHL’s Feedback Tools &
User Surveys
Investigating User Needs for Data in
Digital Libraries
Carolyn Sheffield & Pam McClanahan
03 October | TDWG 2017
Share your thoughts on social media using #BHLib

2. BHL is both
• An organization and
• A digital library
Mission
The Biodiversity Heritage Library improves research methodology
by collaboratively making biodiversity literature openly available to
the world as part of a global biodiversity community.
19 Members
18 Affiliates
60+ institutions worldwide

3. 53+MILLION
PAGES
TITLES VOLUMES
129,000+ 214,000+
178+MILLION
INSTANCES OF TAXONOMIC NAMES
700+IN-COPYRIGHT TITLES LICENSED FOR BHL
AGREEMENTS WITH
300+LICENSORS
*Stats as of October 2017
Accelerating
research efficiency

4. BHL NDSR Overview
Accelerating research efficiency

5. Who’s Who
Residents
Mentor,
Institution
Focus
Alicia Esquivel
Leora Siegel,
Chicago Botanic Garden
Content Analysis
Marissa Kings
Richard Hulser,
Natural History Museum LA County
Digital Library Best Practices
Pam McClanahan
Carolyn Sheffield,
Smithsonian Libraries
User Needs and Usability Analysis
Katie Mika
Constance Rinaldo and Joseph
DeVeer,
MCZ, Harvard
Crowdsourced Data Corrections and
Enhancements
Ariadne Rehbein Doug Holland and Trish Rose-Sandler,
Missouri Botanical Garden
Enabling Image Discovery

6. Who’s Who
Pam McClanahan Marissa Kings Katie Mika
Alicia Esquivel Ariadne
Rehbein

7. User Needs
Informal Interviews to date include:
And Power Users of SI Transcription Center and other tools
User Surveys
• Individual Users
• BHL Partners & Staff
• System Users (e.g., API users and other biodiversity resources
linking to BHL)

8. Surveys - Results
• Individual Survey
– 606 responses over 3 weeks
– 79,100 average visitors over 3 weeks
– 95% confidence, 4% margin error
• System Survey
– 41 responses over 3 weeks
– 245 known systems users
– 95% confidence, 14% margin error
• Consortium Survey
– 70 responses over 3 weeks
– 176 consortium users
– 95% confidence, 9% margin error

9. Individual Survey
About BHL Users
19%
39%
20%
18%
2% 1% 1%
How often do you use BHL?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Few times a year
Once a year
First time
Never used

10. 48%
5%
3%
8%
5%1%
9%
4%
3%
4%
1%
9%
What best describes your role when using BHL?
Scientist / Taxonomist
Collection Manager
Museum Curator
Librarian / Archivist
Historian
Environmental policy maker
Citizen Scientist
Artist
Educator
Student
Individual Survey
About BHL Users

11. Individual Survey
Preliminary Analysis
0 50 100 150 200
Gallica
Google Books
GGBN
IPNI
Tropicos
JSTOR
Internet Archive
WoRMS
CETAF
iDigBio
BioStor
GenBank
EOL
GBIF
What other data systems and services do you use?

12. Is there something more BHL could be doing to
help you identify or extract data to answer your
research questions?
• Yes = 217
• No =289
• Skipped = 100
Individual Survey
User Needs

13. Individual Survey
User Needs
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Identify / Extract Data

14. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Which if any of these new services would
you like to see implemented by BHL?
Individual Survey
Preliminary Analysis

15. Feedback Tools

16. Feedback Tools
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Feedback: Recommended Features

17. • Residents to finalize recommendations
• Collect more through usability testing,
focus groups
• Review recommendations to inform
technical development
• Focus on sustainability
Next Steps

18. • NDSR Residents and Mentors
• BHL Tech Team
• All of you that completed the survey
and sent us feedback!
Acknowledgments

19. Thank You!
Questions?
Carolyn Sheffield
03 October | TDWG 2017
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