Human Information Interaction

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Background and Aim: The main objective of the research is to determine the understanding level of the students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in the terms used in user interface of SIMAD library software.

Methods: The study is an applied research with survey descriptive method. Research population was Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, including 24346 students of whom 164 were selected as sample. Data was collected through questionnaire and SPSS software was used as an instrument for the analysis of the data obtained.

Results: The results indicated that the user's level of understanding of terms used in the user interface is not desirable in objective method (23 words investigated). However, regarding subjective method (the items of the Likert scale) the level of understanding is acceptable. Furthermore, the grammar and the length of the phrases used in the user interface do not result in better understanding of the Terms. Finally, there is not a significant difference between students' understanding level of Terms and students' educational level and field of study in both objective and subjective methods.

Conclusion: To design an appropriate user interface for information retrieval systems, the needs and level of comprehension related to the users must be taken into consideration. However, in other to increase the users’ ability in making use of library software, educating the users appears to be of cardinal importance.

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Background and Aim: The present study aimed at investigating the factors affecting the unplanned behavior of users to use academic library resources and services.
Methods: The present study is considered as being an applied one in terms of purpose ,and it has has been conducted using descriptive-survey method. Research population consist of the students of central libraries at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Shahid Chamran universty of Ahwaz, universities of Tabriz and Shiraz, as well as the Tehran Univrsity. Having determined the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, 700 questionnaires were distributed among the participants and 654 questionnaires have been analyzed applying stratified random sampling method based on the population size. Path analysis and LISREL software have been used in order for data analysis to be carried out.
Results: The results shows that the environmental factors and also the ones associated with technology affect the students’ unplanned behavior as far as using resources and services of university libraries through the situational factor of time are concerned. In addition, the data resources and services have no direct or indirect influence on the incidence of these behaviors.
Conclusion: Libraries should pay a special attention to the factors affecting the clients’ unplanned behavior, especially the ones whose impact has been proven including "environmental factors", "factors associated with technology", and the "accessible time ". This way, it will be possible for the libraries to have an optimized and efficient use of their resources and services. The result of paying attention to these factors will be the greater use of library resources and services, attracted audiences, and an increased level of awareness and information of users.