User Groups and Scenarios
From Digital Libraries - Fall 2009
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[edit] Scenarios
[edit] Students
Megan is taking a history class at Simmons College. She has to write a paper based on documents in the Helyar scrapbook. Megan's professor gave her several topics to choose from, but she has to find sources on her own. She picks a topic she likes and searches the scrapbook for sources. She finds some documents that might be useful, and she also finds an article about Helyar. Megan starts studying the sources carefully, to prepare for writing her paper.
[edit] Faculty
Dr. Baker, a Simmons professor, is planning for the classes she will teach next semester. She is looking for new ways that she can use the Simmons College archives in her classes. She finds the Notable Women of Simmons College websites, and goes to the Daisie Miller Helyar scrapbook. She starts browsing the website, and finds suggestions on how to use the site in teaching. She soon has several ideas about how to incorporate the Helyar scrapbook into her class.
[edit] Alumni
Alice is considering making a large donation to Simmons. She stumbles upon Daisy's scrapbook while exploring the Simmons website, and it catches her interest. She doesn't usually spend a lot of time on the computer, but decides to poke around. She graduated in 1952 and remembers her time at Simmons fondly. She hopes that her gift will help her to be fondly remembered as well, and dreams of having her own scrapbook made digital.
[edit] Researchers
Elroy is writing a historical fiction novel set in the early 20th century. He is basing one of his characters on his great aunt, who attended Simmons as a young woman, and he wants to include realistic details about her life, habits, clothing and environment. He hasn't written about the character yet. He is coming to the archives for both factual data and inspiration.
[edit] General Public
Jimmy, a fifth-grader, is playing on the computer after school. He types a word into Google and one of the sites on the results list is Daisy's scrapbook. He likes the description and clicks on the link, then begins exploring the book. He likes history, and thinks it's really cool to look at old photographs.
[edit] Profiles
[edit] Students
Students who use the Simmons College archives are usually undergraduates. Most are 18 to 22 years old, but about a quarter of Simmons's undergraduates are Dix Scholars, who are over 24 years old. Students usually go to the archives to get sources for assignments in their history or first-year writing classes (the Multidisciplinary Core Course). Students are experienced computer users, who use the internet for leisure and for research. They have access to new computers and a fast internet connection on campus, and probably at home as well.
[edit] Faculty
Some faculty members regularly use the college archives in their classes. History professors often have their students use the archives for their assignments, as do professors who teach the Multidisciplinary Core Course. Professors in journalism, social work, and library science and archives take their classes to presentations in the archives. Like students, faculty have access to new computers and a fast internet connection on the Simmons campus, but not all faculty are comfortable with using computers.
[edit] Alumni
Simmons alumnae/i incorporate a broad range of ages and computer skills. The college has been granting degrees since 1906 (http://my.simmons.edu/library/collections/college_archives/briefhistory.shtml). Technological skills and comfort levels could range from people who rarely touch computers to those who use computers daily. As graduates of a small private college, alumnae/i may possess the means to purchase a new computer and fast internet connection, but that does not guarantee that they have the interest or skills. They do not constitute a major user group for the Archives, but they have the right to access and donate materials, and might be interested in browsing the information for nostalgic purposes or otherwise.
[edit] Researchers
While researches might find the information in the Archives useful when searching for primary sources, they are not a major user group, and we will assume that their needs will be similar to the needs of students who use the Archives for research.
[edit] General Public
Like alumnae/i, the general public presents a broad range of ages and computer skills. For our purposes, the most important subset would be the younger generation, such as elementary school teachers and students. They would be interested in historical facts and primary source material, and would presumably have access to newer computers and fast connections. Other groups would include users with no computer access of their own, who might visit the Archives or use a public computer to access the Archives website. With the limited time-frame of our project, the general population (including elementary school users) are considered a minor user group, whose needs should be considered after those of our primary users.
