Integrating User Values into the Development of a Customized Digital Library of Resources for Tennessee 's Public Health Community

Authors : Nila A. Sathe , Annette M. Williams , Taneya Y. Koonce , Patricia Lee , Nunzia B. Giuse, M.D. ; Eskind Biomedical Library, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Purpose: To describe qualitative methodologies for customizing a digital library for Tennessee public health professionals.

Settings/Subjects: Public health practitioners from 3 partner regions.

Methodology: To inform digital library development, investigators employed surveys and focus groups to assess public health professionals' resource use and information needs. The team developed a survey to investigate information seeking and perceived usefulness of resources. To further refine investigators' understanding of the community's information use and assess unrecognized needs, the team convened focus groups with professionals from partner regions. Focus group participants undertook ranking exercises and open-ended questions to delineate information behaviors and barriers.

Results: Of 115 surveys distributed, 65 (57%) were returned; among the resources judged useful by more than 50% of respondents were statistics (54%), local directories (53%), and United States health data (52%). Specific Web sites used by more than 50% of respondents included Internet search engines (59%) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (56%). Focus group data substantiated these preferences with participants ranking the CDC and health statistics as the most useful resources. Focus groups also revealed that time required to locate information was highly variable, ranging from minutes to a few days, and that participants tended to rely on known sources for information.

Discussion/Conclusions: Results confirmed and extended the library's knowledge of resource use in the community and demonstrated again the well-known utility of focus group/survey methods for assessing opinions, practices, and values. Categories of information consistently judged relevant included Statistics/Data, Literature/Guidelines, Mass Media, and Legislation; these categories, along with a title and subject listing, comprise the digital library's primary navigation. Information locating and needs data also guided the development of targeted metadata records incorporating resource formats and descriptions tailored to the community's information seeking style and needs. Preliminary site testing indicates that its organization facilitates and speeds location of relevant resources.