Browsing and its importance in information seeking

Maruja De Villa Lorica
Paper written in Spring 2008

Introduction

Browsing is an undirected information seeking activity. It is looking for information in a casual way, which by exploration could lead to chance discovery of information in areas of interest to the user.

Browsing is important; it gives people opportunity to develop and prioritize information about a subject they are not familiar with, to keep current with news and developments, to gather information for making initial decisions, and to obtain an over-all view of a subject matter or a whole information material.

This paper enables the reader to a) understand browsing and its importance in information seeking, b) identify factors that facilitate browsing, c) recognize issues related to library browsing and their implications, and d) appreciate how browsing contributes to finding information of interest to the user. Report examples illustrate browsing of print materials, in library shelves, and of online information resources.

Definition of browsing

Browsing is an exploratory information seeking activity by looking for information in a casual way, which by serendipity could lead to finding information in areas of interest to the user (Taylor, 2004).

It is an undirected, visual information searching activity involving actions such as glimpsing, fixing on the object at hand, cursory evaluating the material, selecting the material, or moving on and starting the same process (Bates, 2002).

Purpose and implications

Importance of browsing

Browsing is a common but essential information seeking behavior. Browsing gives information seekers opportunity to develop and prioritize information about a subject they are not familiar with. By browsing, information seekers scan information from a wide variety of sources to keep current with news and developments in various areas of interest (Choo & Marton, 2003). Likewise, browsing enables people to gather information needed in making initial decisions of the potential value of a material.

By browsing, people are able to locate items or links that will lead them to other information sources. Browsing bookshelves, catalogues, or databases enables people to get a general view of a particular subject matter. It provides a means to locate information in a document, as well as provide an over-all idea of the whole material.

Factors that facilitate browsing

The organization of print materials promotes browsing. Table of contents, list of titles, topic headings, indexes, prefaces, names of people and organizations, and references encourage and increase interest in browsing. In libraries and bookstores, browsing is enhanced when collections are arranged in systematic order, through subject categorization or classification, and in visually appealing manner.

In online browsing, navigation devices, hypertexts and directories provide guides to users looking for items of interest. ”Hypertext browsing” directs users to links between keywords and topics that can be further explored by users. “Directory-browsing” created through subject categories and classification provides efficient browsing and encourages further exploration (Chen, Houston, Sewell, & Schatz, 1998).

Extent of library browsing among various groups

Among social scientists and scholars browsing library books and journals is an important aspect of their information research (Meho & Tibbo, 2003). Scholars browse library stacks for new books and journals during the initial phase of their information seeking activity to stay current in their respective field of expertise (Bronstein, 2007).

However, library browsing among school children and undergraduate college students has greatly declined. Thus, school librarians have advocated for creative ways to encourage school children to find information and research materials through library browsing (Coleman, 2007). In a comparative study of two universities, frequency of academic library browsing among college students has been found to be extremely low (Ridley & Weber, 2000).
Implications

As information becomes more easily accessed and searchable online, this creates implications on physical libraries as a place for browsing.

Online browsing has become more powerful and important with the availability of electronic information resources. People are now able to obtain information by using personal computers to connect to online information source, thus dependence on printed library resources has been lessened even much further.

This situation poses challenges and opportunities for libraries towards greater change and innovations. These are happening now, as academic and public libraries are making available materials like online catalogs, electronic journals, e-books, and other electronic sources. Furthermore, public libraries are providing a variety of programs and library spaces for community activities to entice more library patrons. School libraries likewise are becoming more aggressive to promote library literacy and education.

Examples

Example #1. Print material browsing

In a bookstore, a customer casually picks a magazine, opens the table of contents, leafs through the pages to get a sense of what topics it covers, and reads randomly some of the articles. Once she finds an article of interest, she zeroes in to read that article. However, if no article catches her interest, then she puts down the magazine, gets another, and repeats the process.

Example #2. Library shelf browsing

A library user wanders into the aisle that contains her favorite theme or subject of interest. She scans the spine of the books, arranged on the shelf by subject matter classification. She picks out a book which catches her interest; scans the cover, table of contents, chapter headings, or reference. She leafs through the pages, randomly reading paragraphs to decide whether to read (or check-out) the book. If she decides that the book does not meet her particular need, she picks out another book, and starts the same process.

Example #3. Online browsing

With no particular destination in mind, an information seeker enters a subject on an online journal index for new articles. She follows the links of items of interest by simply clicking the mouse. She scans the links to the table of contents, other work of the author, or works on the same subject by other authors. She finds a link that catches her interest, and clicks the article, and explores the webpage to examine the information content. If the article or webpage suits her need, she either bookmarks or prints the article. If not, she moves on and repeats the process.

Conclusion

Browsing is an exploratory, undirected information seeking activity which could lead to chance discovery of items of interest to the user. Browsing print materials is enhanced by presence of table of contents, topic headings, list of titles, index, and references. The arrangement and creative visual display of books promotes shelf browsing. Hypertext and directories increase interest and sustain online browsing.

Library browsing among children and undergraduate college students has been noted to have declined. With online information resources widely available, this creates challenges and opportunities for physical libraries towards greater change and innovation.

References

Bates, M. J. (2002). Toward an integrated model of information seeking and searching. Keynote during the Fourth International Conference on Information Needs, Seeking and Use In Different Contexts, Lisbon, Portugal, September 11-13, 2002. Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/articles/infor_SeekSearch-i-030329.html

Bronstein, J. (2007, April). The role of the research phase in information seeking behaviour of Jewish studies scholars: A modification of Ellis’s behavioural characteristics. Informationresearch, 12(3). Retrieved March 28, 2008, from http://informationr.net/ir/12-3/paper318.html

Chen, H., Houston, A. l., Sewell R. R., & Schatz, B. R. (1998, May). Internet browsing and searching: User evaluations of category map and concept of space techniques [Electronic version]. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 49(7), 582-603. Retrieved March 17, 2008, from Academic Search Premiere.

Choo, C. W., & Marton, C. (2003). Information seeking on the Web by women in IT professions [Electronic version]. Internet Research, 13(4), 267-280. Retrieved March 17, 2008, from Academic Search Premiere.

Coleman, J. (2007, January). Browsing 101: How do you find a good book? [Electronic version]. Library Media Connection, 25(4), 42-43. Retrieved March 15, 2008, from Academic Search Premiere.

Meho L. I., & Tibbo, H. R. (2003). Modeling the information seeking behavior of social scientists: Ellis’s study revisited. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(6), 570-587. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/1641/pdf

Ridley, D. R., & Weber, J. E. (2000). Toward assessing in-house use of print resources in the undergraduate academic library: An inter-institutional study. Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, 24(1), 89-103. Retrieved March 9, 2008, from Academic Search Premiere.

Taylor, A. (2004). The organization of information (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.