Two methods will be enlisted to conduct user studies: (1) analysis of transaction logs and (2) experimental search tests. Analysis of logged data and search-task data will enable the investigators to determine how people query institutional-repository systems, what they expect to find and whether they find it, what they do with the information they find, how easy or difficult it is to find what they wanted, what improvements they would make to the repository’s functionality, whether they return in the future, what prompts them to return, and whether they tell their friends and colleagues about the repository.

An estimate of nine months will be given to accomplishing Activity 5’s four subtasks: (1) drafting, pretesting and refining interviewer-administered data collection instruments, (2) collecting transaction log data, (3) conducting experiments with prospective repository users and follow-up contacts, and (4)analyzing search-task and transaction-log data.