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Abstract Prior research has shown the importance of latent user needs for enabling innovation in early product development phases. The success of a product is largely dependent on to what extent the product satisfies customer needs, and latent user needs play a significant role in impacting the way the product or service unexpectedly delights the user. Complications arise because traditional need finding methods are not able to account for the nuances of latent user needs. A user's need is multidimensional while traditional methods are built on deductive reasoning. The traditional method isolates parts of the user's needs, only pointing to what is deducible within its search space. To address this, we introduce abduction as a way to broaden traditional need finding methods. From a logic based argument it is shown that abduction accounts for the dimensionality of user needs by integrating various traditional need finding theories using design knowledge to isolate the latent need. This theoretical development shows that latent need finding must go beyond a deductive focus, to developing methods that are able to conjecture with the deduced facts in order to abduce the latent user need.

Background Information about airborne pollen concentrations is required by a range of end users, particularly from the health sector who use both observations and forecasts to diagnose and treat allergic patients. Manual methods are the standard for such measurements but, despite the range of pollen taxa that can be identified, these techniques suffer from a range of drawbacks. This includes being available at low temporal resolution (usually daily averages) and with a delay (usually 3–9 days from the measurement). Recent technological developments have made possible automatic pollen measurements, which are available at high temporal resolution and in real time, although currently only scattered in a few locations across Europe. Materials & Methods To promote the development of an extensive network across Europe and to ensure that this network will respond to end user needs, a stakeholder workshop was organised under the auspices of the EUMETNET AutoPollen Programme. Participants discussed requirements for the groups they represented, ranging from the need for information at various spatial scales, at high temporal resolution, and for targeted services to be developed. Results The provision of real‐time information is likely to lead to a notable decrease in the direct and indirect health costs associated with allergy in Europe, currently estimated between €50–150 billion/year.1 Discussion & Conclusion A European measurement network to meet end user requirements would thus more than pay for itself in terms of potential annual savings and provide significant impetus to research across a range of disciplines from climate science and public health to agriculture and environmental management.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the emerging and innovative technologies which integrate together to form smart libraries. Smart libraries are the new generation libraries, which work with the amalgamation of smart technologies, smart users and smart services. Design/methodology/approach An extensive review of literature on “smart libraries” was carried to ascertain the emerging technologies in the smart library domain. Clarivate Analytic’s Web of Science and Sciverse Scopus were explored initially to ascertain the extent of literature published on Smart Libraries and their varied aspects. Literature was searched against various keywords like smart libraries, smart technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Electronic resource management (ERM), Data mining, Artificial intelligence (AI), Ambient intelligence, Blockchain Technology and Augmented Reality. Later on, the works citing the literature on Smart Libraries were also explored to visualize a broad spectrum of emerging concepts about this growing trend in libraries. Findings The study confirms that smart libraries are becoming smarter with the emerging smart technologies, which enhances their working capabilities and satisfies the users associated with them. Implementing the smart technologies in the libraries has bridged the gap between the services offered by the libraries and the rapidly changing and competing needs of the humans. Practical implications The paper highlights the emerging smart technologies in smart libraries and how they influence the efficiency of libraries in terms of users, services and technological integration. Originality/value The paper tries to highlight the current technologies in the smart library set-ups for the efficient working of library set-ups.

PurposeMost of the existing studies on the evolution of emergency topics in social media focused on the emergency information demand of fixed user type in emergency while ignoring the changing roles of stakeholders during the emergency. Thus in this study, a three-dimensional dynamic topic evolution model is proposed, in which fine grained division of time, dynamic identification of stakeholders in the emergency, and emergency topic evolution based on both timeline and stakeholder's type are all considered.Design/methodology/approachParticularly the relevance between the tweets posted and the topic of emergency, the influence on the social network, and the attention of emergency topic are as well taken into account to quantitatively calculate the weight and ranking of stakeholders at different stages of the emergency. To verify the proposed model, an experimental demonstration was carried out under an emergency event posted on social media.FindingsThe results show that (1) based on the three-dimensional dynamic topic evolution model, the composition and ranking of stakeholders have obvious differences at different stages; (2) the emergency information needs and the sharing behavior of stakeholders on emergency information also indicate different preferences where the topic concerns of stakeholders at different stages have a strong relationship with their weight ranking; (3) the emergency topic evolution considering both the dynamics of emergency stakeholders and emergency information demand could more accurately reflect the changing regularity of social media users' attention to information in emergency events.Originality/valueThis study is one of first to investigate the emergency topic evaluation on social media by considering the dynamic changes of various stakeholders in emergency. It could not only theoretically provide more accurate method to understand how users share and search emergency information in social media, but also practically signify an information recommendation way in social media for emergency tracking.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-02-2021-0098.

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the usability and information architecture of the digital library (DL) website of the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI). Design/methodology/approach This applied study used an exploratory mixed method, card sorting. Data were collected by interviewing, observation, usability test and card sorting. By interviewing users about problems of the DL, eight tasks were predefined and users’ problems in the path were identified. Their satisfaction of the tasks and the usability rates were measured via a questionnaire. Card sorting was done to inform on the information organization of the website elements. The study population included all users of the DL of the NLAI in two groups: ten initiator users (public users) and ten expert users (librarians). SPSS was used for analysing the usability test quantitative data. MaxQda was applied for analysing interview-driven qualitative data. Qualitative content analysis, categorization (data organization and grouping) and determining main and secondary codes were applied as well. The sort optimal application was used for analysing card sorting data in the form of similarity matrix and dendrogram. For validating qualitative findings, triangulation was used. The internal reliability of the used questionnaire amounted to a = 0.87 Findings Regarding the assigned tasks, new initiator users by consuming 367.67 s for registering and new expert users by consuming 403 s spent the most time. Task 2 ranked first in being incomplete among 40% of initiator users and Task 3 ranked first by 30% of incompleteness. Expert users had more unsuccessful attempts. Task 5 with the mean rate of 3.35 and Task 8 with the mean rate of 2.25 were the most difficult and the easiest tasks, respectively. Some usability components were rated lower than the moderate point. Only 30% of initiator users and 10% of expert users were satisfied with the website. A total of 12 categories and 452 codes were identified as main problems of the DL. The problems related to a vague perception of concepts and labels with 90 repetitions and digital source display with six repetitions ranked as the first and the last problems in working with the DL, respectively. The sort optimal package produced the card sorting results as a matrix similarity and a dendrogram. Card sorting reflected some changes in organizing information items. Interviews after card sorting emerged some new groups to be included, such as links to other digital libraries, shared databases in the organization and frequently asked questions. Originality/value The library’s website should be designed in a manner so that it can satisfy users with different traits. As the information technologies are increasingly developing, the importance of such a design increases for better service provision and effective competition.

This study evaluated level of service need before and after a short-term community mental health case management intervention from the perspective of both clients and case managers. Ontario Common Assessment of Need data were used to describe client needs. McNemar’s test was applied to assess differences in pre- and post- need scores. Psychological distress, company, daytime activities, and physical health were most commonly rated by clients as unmet needs at enrolment. At discharge, there was a significant change in psychological distress from the perspective of clients, and in psychological distress and daytime activities from the perspective of case managers. Statistically significant changes were observed for Total Need, Total Unmet Need and Met Need scores from the perspective of case managers. While both clients and case managers reported changes in total service needs between admission and discharge from short-term case management, clients were less likely to report a difference in needs.

The past decades have seen dramatic improvements to dictionary content and format. Yet dictionaries -- both paper-based and digital -- remain disappointingly underused. As a result, it is widely acknowledged that more needs to be done to train people in dictionary-consultation skills. Another solution would be to build lexicographic resources that require little or no instruction. In this paper, I present the ColloCaid project, whose aim is to develop a lexicographic tool that combines user needs, lexicographic data and digital writing environments to bring dictionaries to writers instead of waiting for them to get the information they need from dictionaries. Our focus is on helping writers produce more idiomatic texts by integrating lexicographic data on collocations into text editors in a way that does not distract them from their writing. A distinguishing characteristic of ColloCaid is that it is not limited to providing feedback on miscollocations. It also aims to 'feed forward', raising awareness of collocations writers may not remember or know how to look up. While our initial prototype is being developed specifically for academic English, the implications of our research can be broadened to other languages and usages beyond academic.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the needs of potential end-users of a database dedicated to Swedish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) literature (e.g. prose, poetry, drama, graphic novels/comics, and illustrated books), in order to inform the development of a database, search interface functionalities, and an LGBTQI thesaurus for fiction.Design/methodology/approachA web questionnaire was distributed in autumn 2021 to potential end-users. The questions covered people's reasons for reading LGBTQI fiction, ways of finding LGBTQI fiction, experience of searching for LGBTQI fiction, usual search elements applied, latest search for LGBTQI fiction, desired subjects to search for, and ideal search functionalities.FindingsThe 101 completed questionnaires showed that most respondents found relevant literature through social media or friends and that most obtained copies of literature from a library. Regarding desirable search functionalities, most respondents would like to see suggestions for related terms to support broader search results (i.e. higher recall). Many also wanted search support that would enable retrieving more specific results based on narrower terms when too many results are retrieved (i.e. higher precision). Over half would also appreciate the option to browse by hierarchically arranged subjects.Originality/valueThis study is the first to show how readers of LGBTQI fiction in Sweden search for and obtain relevant literature. The authors have identified end-user needs that can inform the development of a new database and a thesaurus dedicated to LGBTQI fiction.

Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of global deaths. The risk of their development and progression is increased by modifiable behavioral risk factors. Yet, despite the known benefits of primary and secondary prevention, people often do not follow recommendations for a healthier lifestyle. To this end, mobile health (mHealth) applications offer features for behavioral interventions. Yet, reported user engagement is often low. The objective of the work presented in this article is thus to evaluate the suitability of Design Thinking (DT) as a means to inform the development of an mHealth application that helps increase long-term engagement, and consequently supports individuals in sustainably changing their lifestyle. Applying the DT approach, key user needs and challenges were investigated and used to design a first low-fidelity mHealth application prototype. Think-Aloud analysis, task completion, and post-test interviews were then used to evaluate the prototype and generate early-stage insights. Subsequently, a structured, retrospective analysis of this process, evaluating the insight-generation potential of each step in the DT process cycle, was used to reflect on its suitability to inform mHealth application development. The respective results highlight (1) the distinct value of the DT method, particularly in the early stages of a development project; (2) the strong need for interdisciplinary collaboration in such projects, so as to capture realistic end-user requirements and improve the overall effectiveness of the application design; and (3) the significance of integrating behavioral change theories into the design of mHealth applications, in order to promote long-term engagement.

This paper discusses how the William G. Squires Library conducted a usability study on their LibGuides to identify student design preferences. The results of the study support previous research concerning best practices for LibGuide creation. This paper offers insight into how librarian-centric design hinders student success and provides suggestions for how to best develop a student-centric template design that offers consistency and increased user proficiency across all guides.