A study of academic library users' decision-making process: a Lens model approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role different information
sources (or cues) play in forming users’ mental representation of a work in an academic library setting.
Of particular interest is discerning how these information sources influence borrowing decisions.
Design/methodology/approach – A large-scale user survey featuring two-part questionnaires was
utilized in an academic library setting. The questionnaires were designed to ascertain those
information sources exerting a formative influence on users’ information-seeking behavior, especially
the routes by which users came to know of a title and the sources by which they infer its content.
Findings – Evidently users adaptively make use of a variety of cues to help them fulfil their
information needs. These cues significantly reduced the uncertainty faced by users making a
borrowing decision, even after their sense of domain familiarity was controlled for. The paper
concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for library services. It is suggested that
libraries could provide a more “cue-rich” environment that supports users’ decision making and
facilitates exploration of their collection.
Originality/value – The research questions were framed in the language of decision-making theory,
which, as the research demonstrates, sheds light on the dynamics between “cue validity” and
judgment uncertainty. It also demonstrates the applicability of the “accuracy-cost” framework in the
study of human information-seeking behavior.