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Assessing an adaptive, profile-based PubMed search tool
1. Assessing an adaptive,
profile-based PubMed
search tool
Marisa Conte
meese@umich.edu
NLM Associate Fellow
University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries
2. MiSearch
Adaptive biomedical literature search tool
Utilizes implicit relevance feedback
Builds statistical profile to predict which results will be most
relevant to user
3. Objective
To compare the performance of a locally-
developed third-party PubMed search tool
to PubMed in terms of user satisfaction,
search success and efficiency
5. Methodology
N = 11 librarians (12 recruited)
Tasks derived from mediated search files
Each subject completed 2 tasks with each
search tool
Each task completed by 3 subjects with
each search tool
Pre-training conducted by tool developer
6. Data collection
Web-based surveys
Demographic survey
Task-specific survey
PubMed search histories
MiSearch data logfiles
7. Sample questions
In patients with diabetes mellitus, does
increasing hemoglobin A1c reduce the risk
of amputation and kidney failure?
What are the attitudes, beliefs and socio-
cultural factors that influence cervical
cancer screening in the US? What about
specifically among immigrant groups? And
I’m only interested in research from 1990 –
present.
8. Limitations
Convenience sample
Unclear survey questions
Study tasks too complicated
Problems with data collection
10. Overall satisfaction with searches
60
50
% responses
40
30
PubMed
20 Misearch
10
0
High Fair Low
User satisfaction
11. Overall satisfaction with tools
70
60
% responses
50
40
30 PubMed
20 MiSearch
10
0
High Fair Low
User satisfaction
12. Suggestions
Improve database response time
Add more filters
Add a “reset” function
Make search details more transparent
13. Next steps
Librarians suggested changes which:
were easy to implement
dramatically improved the tool’s functionality
First usability test – helped establish formal
usability protocols and heuristics
New roles for librarians
14. New roles for librarians
Usability experts
Heuristic evaluation of tools
Portal development
Formal usability studies
Weblog analyses
Education, promotion, dissemination
Research collaborations
16. Acknowledgments
Jean Song, Nirit Glazer, Barbara Mirel, David States
Librarians from UM’s Health Sciences and Shapiro
Science Libraries
National Center for Integrative Biomedical Informatics
(NIH grant #U54DA021519)
National Library of Medicine
This research was supported in part by an appointment to the NLM
Associate Fellowship Program sponsored by the National Library of
Medicine and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and
Education.