Hello Jay and all, During the course of planning an improved collections information system, the UCLA Hammer Museum--working with Diane Zorich and with funding from the Getty Grant Program--engaged Tassos Petrou, a Ph.D. student in the UCLA Department of Information Studies, to administer and evaluate a survey of the Museum's known and potential users. Information was collected about how users search for information about works of art, the resources used in their research, and which attributes of an online information system were most desirable. The value of greater contextualization of objects and the addition of quality digital images were the two most frequent suggestions made by survey respondents. The survey results were integrated into the Museum's requirements statements for the new system and continue to be considered as the Museum plans public access to its collections information.
Guenter mentioned the MOAC project in an earlier response re: online catalogues. This year, MOAC partners also prepared a grant proposal to conduct a formal user evaluation of the MOAC online resource. Evaluation will help partners assess and improve efforts to create and deliver resources online. In the course of preparing the proposal, we too looked for user studies and found few published in the area of online museum catalogs.** MOAC partners will disseminate information about the formal user evaluation of its online resource... we hope the proposal receives funding. ***Sources of possible interest: *The Digital Image Management Program, School of Library and Information Science at the University of North Texas [Samantha Hastings], is investigating the informational needs of virtual museum visitors and use of museum websites (e.g., as sources of information about exhibitions, collections and special events). [See First Monday, February 2002 issue] *See Sara Shatford Layne's 1997 dissertation (UCLA Dept. of Information Studies) "Modeling relevance in art history: Identifying attributes that determine the relevance of art works, images, and primary text to art history research." *Lynne Teather (Museum Studies Program, University of Toronto) has/is examining use of online museum content. I am very interested in reports on user studies and would like to learn of new information and sources turned up in your investigations. Layna Layna White Collections Information Manager Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts UCLA Hammer Museum Co-chair, MCN Standards & Controlled Vocabulary SIG 310-443-7078 [email protected] www.hammer.ucla.edu -----Original Message----- From: Jay Pattison [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 11:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Online Catalogues & User Surveys Dear MCN Members, At the Cincinnati Art Museum, we are currently developing a searchable online catalogue of works from our permanent collection. In planning this project, we are seeking any studies that have surveyed end users regarding the varieties of content they would like to see in an online museum catalogue. Have any museums conducted such a study? We would be grateful for any data, whether formal or informal, that might guide our content choices. Thank you. Best regards, Jay Pattison Jay Brennan Pattison Associate Registrar Cincinnati Art Museum phone: 513.639.2909 fax: 513.639.2987 [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
