| Research in Information Retrieval (IR) demonstrates that users typically proceed through multiple iterations, involving multiple information seeking strategies within one information seeking episode. It is therefore a central problem for IR to understand how to support a variety of interactive strategies, and furthermore, to provide ways to adaptively assist users as they employ different strategies in their attempts to achieve their information seeking goals. This study addresses this issue by investigating the relationship between users' information seeking goals and their information seeking behavior. The particular focus of this study is on specifying hierarchical levels of users' goals, and the in-depth examination of one micro-goal level—“interactive intentions”—in relation to information seeking strategies. This study is based on the idea of IR as interaction, and attempts to address the relationship between planned and situated aspects of IR interaction.; The data used for this study were collected as part of an earlier study of library users. A total of 150 users from academic, public, and special libraries were recruited to participate. The investigation was designed to study the context of users' goals, tasks and behaviors with OPAC and other library use. Multiple methods were employed to collect the data: questionnaire survey, semi-structured interview, verbal protocols, transaction logs, and unobtrusive observations. Most importantly, users were probed for their intentions associated with every behavior over the entire information seeking episode.; The analysis of these data illustrates the ways in which changes in interactive intentions are associated with patterns of information seeking behavior. From this, several intention-based interactive strategies and their dimensions have emerged. Moreover, this study also identifies users' shifts of current search goals, plans, interactive intentions and information seeking strategies in the process of accomplishing current goals. In addition, factors that lead to the change of interactive intentions and information seeking strategies are analyzed. The results of the study are further discussed within the model of information seeking behavior. |
