Beginning January 18, 2011, proposals submitted to The National Science Foundation (NSF) must include a supplementary Data Management Plan (DMP) of no more than two pages. The NSF DMP requirement has significantly redefined the role of scientists, researchers, and practitioners in the United States of America (USA) by presenting the opportunity to engage in effective data management planning and practices for current and future use. In order for data to be useful to research, science, scholarship, and education, data must be identified, described, shared, discovered, extended, stored, managed, and consulted over its lifecycle (Bush, 1945; Lord & Macdonald, 2003; Hunter, 2005; JISC, 2006; UIUC GLIS, 2006/2010; NSF, 2011). Within the scope of this research study data management planning is defined as the planning of policies for the management of data types, formats, metadata, standards, integrity, privacy, protection, confidentiality, security, intellectual property rights, dissemination, reuse/re-distribution, derivatives, archives, preservation, and access (NSF, 2011). The management of data includes analog [physical], digitized [made electronic] & born digital [no physical surrogate] data. NSF's data management plan requirements have incentivized the development of a multitude of programs, projects, and initiatives aimed at promoting and providing data management planning knowledge, skills, and abilities for NSF data management plan requirements compliancy. Without the specification, clarification, & definition of key concepts; assessment of current data management practices, experiences, & methods; interrelationships of key concepts; and utilization of multiple methodological approaches, data management will be problematic, fragmented, and ineffective. The accomplishment of effective data management is contingent on funders, stakeholders, and users' investment and support in Infrastructure, Cultural Change, Economic Sustainability, Data Management Guidelines, and Ethics and Internet Protocol (Blatecky, 2012, p. 5) across organizations, institutions, & domains. One of the goals of the researcher "is to select a theory or combine [multiple theoretical perspectives] so they resonate with the guiding research questions, data-collection methods, analysis procedures, and presentation of findings" (Bodner & Orgill, 2007, p. 115) within a conceptual framework that "places its assumptions in view for practitioners" (Crotty, 1998). The introduction of the Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Methodological Suppositions (Burrell & Morgan, 1979: Morgan & Smircich, 1980: Morgan, 1983, Solem, 1993) to gather competing approaches and paradigmatic assumptions for multiple paradigm integration and crossing via interplay (Schultz & Hatch, 1996) is an attempt by the researcher to build theory from multiple paradigms through Metatriangulation (Lewis & Grimes, 1999), a theory-building approach. Within this study, the Data Asset Framework (DAF) is framed as a sequential mixed methods explanatory research design (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011) and applies social science research to facilitate scientific inquiry. The purpose of this study is to investigate the data management and curation practices of scientists at several research laboratories at the Florida State University and select scientists associated with the National Science Foundation (NSF) EarthCube project. The goal of this research is not to provide extensive literature review to prove the need for effective data management practices but to provide empirical evidence to support current data management and curation practices. Within the scope of this dissertation, data management and curation practices will be generally defined as the effective aggregation, organization, representation, dissemination, and preservation of data. Data refers to analog and digital objects, databases, data sets, and research data. For purposes of discussions in this study, data is both singular and plural. Data management and curation practices include four key concepts: (1) data management planning, (2) data curation, (3) digital curation, and (4) digital preservation. Literature review suggests that these key concepts when applied with relevant standards, best practices, and guidelines can assist scientists in ensuring the integrity, accessibility, and stewardship of research data throughout its lifecycle. The combination of the conceptual framework for analyzing methodological suppositions (Burrell & Morgan, 1979; Morgan & Smircich, 1980; Morgan, 1983; Solem, 1993), Metatriangulation (Lewis & Grimes, 1999), and the Data Asset Framework (DAF) (JISC, 2009) contributes to the development of an interdisciplinary conceptual framework model concept capable of addressing the data management and curation issues common across disciplines. For the purpose of this dissertation "research data are being understood as both primary input into research and first order results of that research " (ESRC, 2010, p. 2). / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / June 23, 2014. / Conceptual frameworks, Data Asset Framework (DAF), Data curation, Data management, Digital preservation, Metatriangulation / Includes bibliographical references. / Paul Marty, Professor Directing Dissertation; Helen Burke, University Representative; Stvilia Besiki, Committee Member; Lorri Mon, Committee Member.

Digital libraries must support the existing and emergent communities they serve, lest social opportunities to seek, use, and share information and knowledge become diminished compared to physical libraries. Despite many calls for a social view of digital libraries and the rise of social informatics and sociotechnical systems research, there is continuing need to examine how digital libraries support communities and facilitate collaboration. This research improves our understanding of the organizational, cultural, collaborative, and social contexts of digital libraries, conceptualizing social digital libraries to include content, services, and organizations, with a focus on facilitating information and knowledge sharing. A sequential mixed-methods design, drawing from the tenets of social informatics and social constructionism, explores and describes two cases of social digital libraries, LibraryThing and Goodreads, under a theoretical framework focusing on Star's boundary object theory and incorporating Strauss's social worlds perspective and Burnett and Jaeger's theory of information worlds. This framework conceives of social digital libraries adapting to the local needs of many communities, reconciling and translating meanings across them; supporting coherent norms, types, values, behaviors, and organizations; serving as sites and technologies for information behavior and activities; and supporting convergence of broader communities around their use. Content analysis of messages in five LibraryThing and four Goodreads groups, a structured survey of users, and semi-structured qualitative interviews with users identifies three roles LibraryThing and Goodreads play, as boundary objects, in facilitating and supporting translation, coherence, and convergence: (a) establishing community and organizational structure; (b) facilitating users' sharing of information values; and (c) building and maintaining social ties, networks, and community culture. Potential implications for digital library design and practice include highlighting translation processes and resources; providing user profiles and off-topic spaces and encouraging their use; taking a sociotechnical approach that tailors technology and community features to the right audiences; and facilitating the establishment of shared structure, values, and ties and boundary spanning activities. Further research on social digital libraries and in social informatics and information behavior should examine deeper facets of these roles, other digital libraries with less overt social features, and other ICTs in light of the processes of coherence and convergence, taking a boundary-sensitive view of information phenomena in community and collaborative contexts. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / July 3, 2014. / Boundary objects, Communities, Digital libraries, Information behavior, Online communities, Social informatics / Includes bibliographical references. / Michelle M. Kazmer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Deborah J. Armstrong, University Representative; Gary Burnett, Committee Member; Sanghee Oh, Committee Member.

Every day, people use information retrieval (IR) systems to find documents that satisfy their information needs. Even though IR has revolutionized the way people find information, IR systems can still fail to satisfy people's information needs. In this dissertation, we show how the addition of a simple user interaction mechanism, find-similar, can improve retrieval quality by making it easier for users to navigate from relevant documents to other relevant documents. Find-similar allows a user to request documents similar to a given document. In the first part of the dissertation, we measure find-similar's retrieval potential through simulation of a user's behavior with hypothetical user interfaces. We show that find-similar has the potential to improve the retrieval quality of a state-of-the-art IR system by 23% and match the performance of relevance feedback. As part of a case study that first shows how find-similar can help PubMed users find relevant documents, we then show how find-similar responds to varying initial conditions and acts to compensate for poor retrieval quality. In the second part of the dissertation, we characterize find-similar in the absence of a particular user interface by measuring the quality of the document networks formed by find-similar's document-to-document similarity measure. Find-similar effectively creates links between documents that allow the user to navigate documents by similarity. We show that find-similar's similarity measure affects the navigability of the document network and how a query-biased similarity measure can improve find-similar. We develop measures of network navigability and show that find-similar should make the World Wide Web more navigable. Taken together, the simulation of find-similar and the measurement of the navigability of document networks shows how find-similar as a simple user interaction mechanism can improve a user's ability to find relevant documents.

Wayfinding is the method by which humans orient and navigate in space, and particularly in built environments such as cities and complex buildings, including public libraries. In order to wayfind successfully in the built environment, humans need information provided by wayfinding systems and tools, for instance architectural cues, signs, and maps. This is true of all built environments, including public libraries, but the issue is all the more important in public libraries where users already enter with information needs and possibly anxiety, which may interfere with their ability to wayfind successfully. To facilitate user wayfinding, which in turn facilitates user information seeking, public library facilities need to be designed with consideration of users' wayfinding needs, along with their information-seeking and other library-specific needs. The public library facility design literature identifies the importance of understanding user wayfinding behavior and designing around it, and this dissertation is a step toward answering that call. A single-method pilot study utilized unobtrusive observation to investigate library users' initial wayfinding behavior from the two entrances of a medium-sized public library, with the data analyzed and displayed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software (Mandel, 2010). The pilot study found certain routes to be more popular than others and suggested that such information could be gathered relatively easily and then used by the library to improve the library's wayfinding system and for marketing of library materials in high-traffic areas. However, the pilot study's largest limitation, namely the inability to ascertain any user opinions regarding their wayfinding in the library, indicated the need for a multi-method case study approach, replicating the original unobtrusive observation and adding document review of the Library's wayfinding tools such as maps and signage, intensive interviews with library users, and an expert review of findings with library staff and a library wayfinding and signage expert to gain a more comprehensive view of library user wayfinding behavior. This dissertation follows a multi-method case study research design, guided by Passini's Conceptual Framework of Wayfinding, to investigate library user wayfinding behavior from the entrance of a medium-sized public library facility. The case study design includes unobtrusive observation of library user wayfinding behavior, document review of the library's wayfinding tools, intensive interviews with library users to discuss their views on wayfinding in public libraries, and an expert review of findings with library staff and a library wayfinding and signage expert to test the validity of research findings. The researcher chose the case study design to guide this dissertation because of the ability to analyze data gathered from different methods, thereby mitigating the limitations of a single-method dissertation, strengthening the overall findings, and providing a more comprehensive view of library user wayfinding behavior than could be obtained from a single-method approach. The dissertation finds that users' wayfinding behavior is generally inconsistent over time as far as segments used to connect two given nodes, although high-traffic areas do show consistency of traffic levels. Also, of people connecting the same two nodes, some were very consistent in using the predominant segment (the one used most frequently) or other connecting segments used multiple times, but the behavior of other wayfinders was inconsistent with the majority in that they used unpopular segments to connect the two nodes. There also seems to be discrepancy between the segments and routes users are observed to utilize and those they say they utilize in navigating the entry area. Reasons for this discrepancy are unknown, but one possibility is interviewees' general difficulty in describing their entry area routes because of challenges in recalling their past behavior. Overall, it seems that users of the research site employ Passini's wayfinding styles more often than his wayfinding strategies, and two of the strategies were neither noted during unobtrusive observation nor mentioned during interviews. A possible reason for this lies in the difficulties in observing and articulating cognitive processes. Finally, although many users seem to struggle wayfinding in the library serving as research site, that does not seem to translate into recommended changes to improve this library's wayfinding system as interviewees were unlikely to indicate that any changes are needed, even after they had indicated struggling to wayfind in the facility. Ultimately, this research concludes that user wayfinding behavior in the research site is variant to some degree, but the degree to which that is so or why that is so remain unexplored. About half of observed users navigated via segments that other users also navigated, but the other half navigated via segments that they alone navigated. There does not appear to be any degree of consistency over time other than to say that user wayfinding behavior in this research site is consistently inconsistent. Additional research is necessary to compare this with user wayfinding behavior in other libraries and information organizations. Also, this research concludes that a significant amount of work remains to be done with regard to Passini's Conceptual Framework of Wayfinding (1981). This framework holds potential for explaining user wayfinding behavior, but additional research is necessary to investigate more fully the degree to which the styles and strategies are valid descriptors of how users wayfind. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Library & Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / January 30, 2012. / observation, public libraries, spatial behavior, user studies, wayfinding / Includes bibliographical references. / Melissa Gross, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephen D. McDowell, University Representative; Charles R. McClure, Committee Member; Lorraine M. Mon, Committee Member.

With the aim of improving information retrieval system design, this study explored the effect of cognitive load on the propensity to reformulate queries during information seeking on the Web, specifically the effect of manipulating three affective components that contribute to cognitive load--mental demand, temporal demand, and frustration A significant difference in the propensity of query reformulation behavior was found between searchers exposed to cognitive load manipulations and searchers who were not exposed. Those exposed to cognitive load manipulations, namely, mental demand, temporal demand, and frustration, made 2.18 times fewer search queries than searchers not exposed. Furthermore, the NASA-TLX cognitive load scores of searchers who were exposed to the three cognitive load manipulations were higher than those of searchers who were not exposed. However, the propensity of query reformulation behavior did not differ across task types. The findings suggest that a dual-task method and NASA-TLX assessment serve as good indicators of cognitive load. Because the findings show that cognitive load hinders a searcher's interaction with information search tools, this study concludes by recommending strategies for reducing cognitive load when designing information systems, or user interfaces. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Library and Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2012. / April 3, 2012. / Cognitive load, Cognitive load manipulation, Information retrieval, Mental workload, NASA-TLX, Query reformulation / Includes bibliographical references. / Kathleen Burnett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil Charness, University Representative; Gary Burnett, Committee Member; Besiki Stvilia, Committee Member.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policy formulation and implementation by analyzing the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations' FOIA policies. The problem this study addresses is why the Clinton and Bush administrations pursued different FOIA policies even though it appears that "an informed citizenry" was a basic FOIA principle shared by federal FOIA employees through both administrations. This study assumes that the President's comments and statements greatly affect the actions and decisions of the Executive Branch. This study used the principal agent theory, which identifies "hierarchical control," "goal conflict" and "difficulty in monitoring" as significant concepts. To answer the research questions, this study employed multi-qualitative methods, which are mainly non-reactive or unobtrusive research methods including content analysis, secondary analysis and document analysis. The author collected quantitative data from the OIP newsletter, the FOIA Update (1993 to 2000) and the FOIA Post (2001 to 2006), distributed quarterly in paper format until 2000. The FOIA was not a main agenda item of the Clinton and Bush administrations, although both Presidents Clinton and Bush showed some interest in the FOIA. The president's role in FOIA policy formulation is more than symbolic; Presidents Clinton and Bush had different political philosophies regarding the FOIA. Clinton considered the FOIA an essential facet of democracy, whereas Bush considered that the FOIA could be limited for national security, effectiveness of government performance, and personal privacy; The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks seemed to have added impetus to extend the Bush administration's restrictive FOIA policy, accelerating the administration's drive to regain presidential power. The Ashcroft memorandum and the Card memorandum seemed to change the climate of FOIA implementation from encouraging information release to protecting national security information. The similarities in FOIA policy between the two administrations are issuing FOIA directives, user-friendly ways, and acknowledgement of the importance of national security, effective government performance, and privacy. The differences in FOIA policy between the two administrations are opposite FOIA initiatives, different political environments, and structural changes for FOIA organization. Finally, the main implications of this study are that the president's philosophy on the FOIA had effects on federal FOIA policies; high level officers and political appointees were also able to affect FOIA policy formulation and implementation; middle-level FOIA officers had a critical role in FOIA implementation, a dual role in which they served both as principal and as agent; FOIA culture seemed to affect federal departments' FOIA implementation; insufficient and poor guidance have been a major hindrance to FOIA implementation; and Congress is one of the most important principals in FOIA policy formulation. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Library and Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2011. / October 17, 2011. / Bill Clinton, FOIA, George W. Bush, information policy, principal agent theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Charles McClure, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gary Burnett, Committee Member; Chris Hinnant, Committee Member.

While access to images in general has improved in the last 20 years, due to both advances in electronic storage and dissemination and to improvements in the intellectual provisions of them, access to editorial cartoons lags behind access to other types of images. While there have been piecemeal or ad hoc efforts to organize large cartoon collections, these efforts have been based on the wants and needs of the organizers, publishers, or collectors. The purpose of this research was to gather information about user's descriptions of editorial cartoons. Specifically, it gathered terms and phrases provided by users to describe a set of editorial cartoons, both in an image tagging environment and in a simulated query environment. The population for this research was a blended sample; one population consisted of academics in fields that were assumed to have an interest in the research itself, and who were seen as likely to give a full, rich description of each image. The second population consisted of non-degree holding participants, against which the first results could be compared. The images used in this study were political cartoons from the five most recent Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists. Content analysis of the cartoons' descriptions placed each description into one of Jörgensen's 12 Classes of image description, and the frequencies of each Class in this study were compared to similar studies. The results of this research show that while editorial cartoons can be described using Jörgensen's 12 Classes, they are described in very different ways than are other images. It was found that the Class ABSTRACT CONCEPTS was far more dominant when describing and searching for editorial cartoons than was so for other types of images; the Class LITERAL OBJECT was dominated by the attribute Text in both scenarios; VIEWER REACTIONS play a far larger role for these images than for others; and four Classes that are at least somewhat useful in searching for other types of images were almost unused when searching for editorial cartoons. Demographic variables show major differences in behavior among those of different education levels in tagging, and among different political views and genders when querying. Confirmatory interviews with image professionals and editorial cartoonists showed that the results would be of some use when implemented in the field. The results of this research would help inform efforts to index any image where the meaning of it was more important than the image content, and may help to describe all types of non-textual records of history and commentary. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Library and Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2013. / January 16, 2013. / Communication and the arts, Editorial cartoons, Hstorical documents, Image description, Images, Metadata, Political cartoons / Includes bibliographical references. / Corinne Jörgensen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lois Hawkes, University Representative; Michelle Kazmer, Committee Member; Paul Marty, Committee Member; Besiki Stvilia, Committee Member.

This dissertation presents the results of an exploratory study which examined the use of synchronous text-based communication technologies (SMS texting and instant messaging) by undergraduate university students generally 18 to 24 years old. Preliminary focus groups were conducted in order to gain additional understanding of their usage of these communication technologies and to help refine the final questions used in the online survey. About a third of the over 200 students contacted, participated in the online survey investigating their usage of these technologies. The study revealed that among this group, SMS texting is the most frequently used synchronous text-based technology but many are also using other types such as Facebook Chat and instant messaging. This group used multiple devices to conduct their communications with text-enabled cell phones and laptop computers being the most widely used. While mobility is claimed to be an important advantage of these devices and technologies, over 82% of their communications take place from their home, dorm room, or workplace. The students also find these synchronous text-based technologies to be overwhelmingly effective for communicating with friends, siblings, and acquaintances but much less so for communicating with parents, teachers, and employers. One unanticipated finding from the study was that 37% of the undergraduate students were actually over 24 years old. This finding opened up another avenue of investigation, a comparison of the responses of the students from the two age groups. Numerous measurable differences were discovered between the two age groups when their responses we analyzed. Finally, the study explored some relevant theories which may explain in part or in whole the texting behaviors of undergraduate students as observed in the study. Three theories that fall into this category were examined: Media Richness Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model, and the Uses and Gratifications Theory. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Library and Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2012. / October 25, 2012. / College Students, Information Behavior, Instant Messaging, SMS, Technology, Texting / Includes bibliographical references. / Gary Burnett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Laura Arpan, University Representative; Michelle Kazmer, Committee Member; Mia Lustria, Committee Member.

Previous studies indicated inadequate health literacy of American adults as one of the biggest challenges for consumer health information services provided in public libraries. Little attention, however, has been paid to public users' health literacy and health information behaviors. In order to bridge the research gap, the study aims to investigate users' self-perceived health information behavior according to their health literacy abilities. The proficiency levels of health literacy were determined by the scores of the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy Ability (S-TOFHLA). The study applied Sense-Making theory and self-perception theory for understanding users' self-perceived ability to find, evaluate, and use health information. The study employed self-administered surveys as a principal quantitative method and semi-structured in-depth interviews as the follow-up qualitative method. The study used non-parametric tests and descriptive statistics to analyze the data from surveys, and content analysis using open-coding, axial-coding, and theory notes to analyze the data from interviews. According to the findings of surveys, 98.5 percent of study participants had proficient levels of health literacy, and most of them perceived their abilities to find, evaluate, and use health information as high. There were some significant associations between health literacy and user demographic characteristics such as gender and the level of education. In comparison with a majority of the study participants' proficient health literacy and perception of their abilities, most of the interviewees encountered considerable barriers to using health information services in public libraries. Since users do not have sufficient knowledge about assessing the quality of health information, and have difficulty in making a treatment decision based on the health information they found, public libraries need to promote user education or health literacy workshops, particularly by collaboration with health-related organizations in a community. The study suggests that public libraries can contribute to public health of their communities by enhancing the health literacy of users and overcoming challenges of health information services by better understanding their health information behavior. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Library & Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / February 17, 2012. / consumer health information, health information behavior, information behavior, mixed methods, public library / Includes bibliographical references. / Don Latham, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert Glueckauf, University Representative; Besiki Stvilia, Committee Member; Lorri Mon, Committee Member.

This thesis is an exploratory study of the information seeking behavior of junior enlisted United States Army veterans of Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. During this study, twenty-five qualitative interviews were conducted with veterans residing in the vicinity of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Veterans in this study discussed their experiences with the Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP), the Veterans Affairs Office, non-profit agencies, and extended families as primary sources of information during and after transition using their reported "out date" as a frame of reference. The types of information that the veterans sought prior to transition and currently seek were discussed and compared to analyze their information seeking behavior and how it changes as veterans seek to contextualize and make sense of their place in the civilian world. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Library and Information Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2013. / May 3, 2013. / army, junior enlisted, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, veterans, veterans affairs / Includes bibliographical references. / Melissa Gross, Professor Directing Thesis; Mia Lustria, Committee Member; Sanghee Oh, Committee Member.