This study examined graduate students' perceptions and use of a federated search tool called One Search at New Mexico State University. The researchers conducted surveys and interviews with 13 graduate students. They found that students used One Search along with other resources like specific databases, the internet, and consulting with professors. While students appreciated One Search's convenience and ability to find background information, they also felt the interface could be improved and search results were sometimes overwhelming. The researchers suggest marketing One Search more, incorporating it into library instruction, and publishing their findings.

1. Graduate Students’ Perceptions of
Federated Searching
Sarah Baker, Education Librarian
New Mexico State University
Alisa C. Gonzalez, Reference Coordinator
New Mexico State University

2. One Search
Text

3. Previous Research
Implementation
• (Gerrity, Lyman & Tallent,2002) (Ellis, Hartnett & Waldman, 2008)
Usability
• (Lampert & Dabbour, 2007) (Belliston, Howland & Roberts, 2007)
(Tallent, 2004)
Student Information Seeking Behavior
• (Kuhlthau, 1991) (Sadler & Given, 2007)
• (Barrett, 2005) (George, Bright, Hurlbert, et al., 2006)

4. “Student Feedback on Federated Search
Use, Satisfaction, and Web Presence
Qualitative Findings of Focus Groups”
(Williams, Bonnell, & Stoffel, 2009)
Study focused on:
• Use
• Satisfaction
• Website Integration (p.134)
• Graduate and Undergraduate Students

5. Similarities in Our
Findings
• Majority of students were satisfied
• Preferred Advanced Search
• Federated Search was used in conjunction
with other resources
• Disliked
• “logic of results”
• lack of instruction

6. Differences in Our Study
• We only interviewed graduate students with
significant experience using One Search.
• We asked students about their experience
with library instruction.
• Students demonstrated how they had
answered a previous research question.
• Students described their research process, in
general.

7. Methodology
• Participants completed a brief online survey
• Participants selected were current graduate
students with experience using One Search
• 13 individual semi-formal interviews.
• Asked ten questions with follow up
questions.
• Preliminary findings gathered by note analysis

8. Demographic Information
New Mexico State University
• 51 master’s degree programs
• 24 doctoral programs in the colleges of
Engineering,!Business Administration and
Economics, Education, College of Agricultural,
Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Arts
and Sciences and Health and Social Services
" " " " Source: http://gradschool.nmsu.edu/

9. Demographic Information
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10. Demographic Information
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• 2 doctoral students
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11. Survey Questions
• What level are you at in your graduate studies?
• What is your discipline?
• How many instruction sessions have you attended
in your undergraduate and graduate studies?
• I rate my internet research skills as…
• I rate my library research skills as…
• How often have you used One Search?
• How did you find out about One Search?
• How important is the library to your research?

12. Interview Questions
Preliminary Findings

13. How do you conduct research?
What resources do you consult?
• Brainstorm with Google or Wikipedia then
use One Search or separate library databases
to find articles.
• Browse One Search for abstracts then use
the Internet if their search fails.
• Will use specific databases if they know the
subject well, otherwise One Search or
Google Scholar.

14. How do you conduct research?
What resources do you consult?
Consult with:
• Professors
• Advisors
• Other students

15. What methods do you use to find
academic/scholarly information?
• Internet, One Search and books to find
article citations
• Look up citations in traditional library
resources (subject specific databases, catalogs)
• Faculty, advisors and other students

16. What methods do you use to find
academic/scholarly information?
PhD students:
• Perform more focused research
• Search within a particular journal
• Develop research strategy with cohort

17. What do you expect to find when
searching One Search?
• Abstracts
• Full text journal articles
• Students look for books but find mostly
articles.
• Most students prefer searching the library
catalog separately for books.

18. Describe a research question that you
tried to answer using One Search?
• Most students use the Advanced Search.
• Limit search by selecting databases by subject
• Refine search by topic clusters, date, source
• Scan abstracts to see if results were relevant, if
not, will change search
• Some students were apprehensive about the
quality of their search skills.
• Confusion over selecting keyword, subject or title
fields

19. What are the strengths?
• Easy to find lots of information
• Searching reliable sources
• Searchable abstracts
• Sort by year
• View results by journal and database
• Convenient
• User friendly
• Good starting point for research

20. What are the weaknesses/limitations?
• Not intuitive
• Slow in searching/processing
• Problems accessing full text
• Shows too many results, overwhelming
• Outdated interface design
• Doesn’t search phrases well
• Defaults to title search
• “Wish I had faith in how it is searching”

21. Are you satisfied with the results?
• Yes
• For the most part
• Not completely, not bad
• Sometimes, not all of the time
• No
• It has great potential

22. How did students rate
One Search?
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Average rating = 7.7

23. What kinds of information can be
effectively found using One Search?
• Abstracts
• Books
• Background information
• Scholarly journal articles/literature reviews
• Very specific information when using narrow
search terms

24. Individual Databases vs. One Search
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25. The Next Steps...
• Change interface design
• Provide search tips on One Search interface
• Market One Search
• Incorporate in library instruction
• Publish findings

26. References
Barrett, A. (2005) The information seeking habits of graduate student researchers in the humanities. Journal of Academic
Librarianship, 31(4), 324-331
Belliston, C. J., Howland, J. L., & Roberts, B. C. (2007). Undergraduate use of federated searching: A survey of
preferences and perceptions of value-added functionality. College & Research Libraries, 68(6), 472-486.
Ellis, L. A., Hartnett, J., & Waldman, M. (2008). Building Bearcat. Library Journal, 133, 6-8.
George, C., Bright, A., Hurlbert, T., Linke, E. C., St. Clair, G., & Stein, J. (2006). Scholarly use of information: graduate
students' information seeking behaviour. Information Research, 11(4), 14-14.
Gerrity, B., Lyman, T., & Tallent, E. (2002). Blurring services and resources: Boston College's implementation of MetaLib
and SFX, Reference Services Review, 30, 229-241.
Kuhlthau, C. C. (1991). Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective. Journal of the
American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 361-371.
Lampert, L. D., & Dabbour, K. S. (2007). Librarian perspectives on teaching metasearch and federated search
technologies. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 12(3/4), 253-278.
Sadler, E., & Given, L. M. (2007). Affordance theory: a framework for graduate students' information behavior. Journal of
Documentation, 63(1), 115-141.
Tallent, E. (2004). Metasearching in Boston College libraries — a case study of user reactions. New Library World, 105
(1/2), 69-75.
Williams, S. C., Bonnell, A., & Stoffel, B. (2009). Student Feedback on Federated Search Use, Satisfaction, and Web
Presence: Qualitative Findings of Focus Groups. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 49(2), 131-139.

27. Questions?
Contact us!
Alisa C. Gonzalez acgonzal@lib.nmsu.edu
Sarah Baker sbbaker@lib.nmsu.edu