APPENDIX H

INVITATION LETTER SENT TO DOCTORAL STUDENTS

Appendix H contains the text of the invitation letter that was sent to doctoral students of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. The letter was also used to get participating users' permission to record their interaction with CHESHIRE in transaction logs.

DATE: September 1991

TO: Doctoral Students

FROM: Yasar Tonta, Doctoral Student, SLIS

Dear Doctoral Student:

I am a doctoral student here at SLIS and currently working on my dissertation under the supervision of Professor Michael Cooper. My research topic has to do with the design of online library catalogs which, more often than not, fail to retrieve relevant materials. More specifically, I am trying to find out the causes of search failures so that we can improve the design of online library catalogs.

I am in the process of gathering data in order to test my hypotheses and would like to have your help in this respect. If agreed, you will be given access to the CHESHIRE system, an experimental online library catalog which provides access to the collection of the SLIS Library. Your interaction with the online catalog will be recorded for further analysis. Please be assured that under no circumstances will the individuals be identified, nor will the data be used for purposes other than research. A follow-up interview and questionnaire will be administered through the end of the fall semester.

Further information about this research will be provided should you agree to participate. A demo of CHESHIRE will be given along with the detailed written instructions for remote access to CHESHIRE.

Please provide the following information; it will be kept strictly confidential.

Name:

Address:

Phone #: (Please include your e-mail address)

I also need to know about your prior online catalog and computer experiences. Please kindly answer the following questions.

1. I am familiar with online catalogs such as MELVYL and GLADIS and I use them on a regular basis.

¨ Daily ¨ Weekly

¨ Monthly ¨ About four times a year

¨ About once a year ¨ Never

Please turn over

2. I am familiar with the following application programs (you may mark more than one):

¨ Word processing

¨ Spreadsheets

¨ Database management systems

¨ Online searching

¨ Electronic mail and bulletin boards

¨ programming language(s) (Please list the name(s).)

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

¨ Other Please explain _______________________

I hereby give my consent that doctoral student Yasar Tonta may record my interaction with the CHESHIRE system, an experimental online catalog. I understand that he shall not use the information I furnish for purposes other than his research. Under no circumstances will my identity be revealed to third parties.

Signed__________________________ Date: ______________________