• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.101-123
• /
• 2021

This study analyses the questions and answers contained in the Knowledge Information Database of the collaborative digital reference service, 'Ask a librarian'. And based on the results of status of user requests, this study draws information usage behavior in the early stages of the service was derived. 1,124 Knowledge Information Database items out of 3,506 cases was analyzed by nine criterion. ① Number of questions and whether to be reference questions, ② Subject and keywords of the question, ③ Purpose of the question, ④ Type of question, ⑤ User's information request, ⑥ Information source and reference services provided by the librarian, ⑦ Number of days to answer, ⑧ Level of the participating library, ⑨ Question type by topic. As a results of analysis, first, users asked for reference questions from various topics as needed, rather than one from a similar topic at a time, but more than half of the total pure reference questions were from the field of library information science. Second, about 71.35% of users were using the 'Ask a librarian' service to recommend a list of information resources related to a particular topic or research problem, and there were also questions that required consultation on the reading situation. Third, the most preferred sources of information for users were bibliography, and in the case of online information sources, users did not relatively prefer them. Fourth, the number of days required to answer was able to confirm significant differences depending on the type of question and the level of the participating library. Fifth, 31.33% of the purpose of the general field question showed that were self-generated.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.79-102
• /
• 2021

This research is based on open data from the National Library Statistics System and Seoul Survey 2020 from Seoul to analyze the Seoul citizens' usage of public libraries. For such purposes, this research compared and diagnosed the condition of public libraries services at 25 districts of Seoul, focusing on objective indicators of library management and general usage records to understand the correlations between the two. Objective indicators such as budgets, human labor, the number of books, and total ground area were compared with usage records of different classes of Seoul citizens, organized by the citizens' place of living, educational background, and monthly household income. As a result of the research, the correlation between the objective indicators and public usage records of different classes was confirmed. Seoul citizens' usage of public libraries and reading tendency were identified. In addition to, a balanced development of the public libraries in Seoul was proposed to overcome regional disparities and leveling the service level by investigating usage behavior and reading tendency of the public libraries in Seoul.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.333-352
• /
• 2010

This study analyzed the services of libraries for babies and toddlers and the possibilities of service expansion through Bookstart program as a cooperative system for libraries. This study shows how users change their way of using libraries and their perceptions of the services of libraries for toddlers by implementing the questionnaire method and the analysis of library statistics. Results show that most of library users (98.8%) expressed the need for Bookstart program. Respondes also said that libraries, rather than other institutions, should be the place where the program is to be implemented. By analyzing the perceptions of library users, we also find that they think that the age of the first use of a library is more appropriate for toddlers than kindergarten-ages. We also found that library users who participated in a Bookstart program had a positive change in the way they used libraries. After participating in Bookstart programs, many changes occurred with respect to the perception of babies, reading habits of parents, and users' perception of libraries. After introducing Bookstart program, one city library's membership enrollment rates of babies and toddlers increased from 7.1% to 26.2%. But the rate for another city that did not participate in the program was shown at 4.3%. This study suggests that the introduction of Bookstart program would bring changes and expansions to the functions of libraries and the sometimes inflexible attitudes of library users. The study examined Bookstart program as a cooperative system for libraries by changing the perception of library users and activating the services of libraries for babies and toddlers.