Information Therapy in Digital Libraries

摘要

This paper reports a pilot study to investigate how good current digital libraries (DLs) are in helping users understand their own needs ― a kind of information service or therapy traditionally provided by librarians in conventional libraries. A sample group of DLs and subjects were selected for this study. Findings indicate that this sample group of DLs, though providing some form of information therapy, could be more explicit in guiding subjects to understand their own needs and thus help them to accomplish their goals more effectively. Using this study as a basis, the paper highlights insights on how this important service currently provided by conventional libraries could be more efficiently and creatively provided in DLs.