Hypertext for the electronic library?: CORE sample results

The Chemistry Online Retrieval Experiment, or CORE project, is studying the possibility of creating a useful, usable electronic library for chemistry researchers. In a preliminary study, chemists were observed performing five different tasks representative of typical uses of the scientific journal literature. The tasks simulated browsing journals, answering specific questions given a citation to an article, answering specific questions given no citation, writing essays to summarize and integrate information, and finding “analogous transformations” for chemical reactions. Chemists carried out these tasks using one of three systems: (a) t.lheprinted journals supplemented with a widely used printed index system, (b) a hypertext system (the SuperBook@ document browser), or (c) a new electronic system (Pixlook) that incorporates traditional document retrieval methods plus full text indexing and delivers bitmap images of journal pages. Both electronic systems had a large advantage over the printed system for search and essay tasks. SuperBook users were faster and more accurate than Pixlook users at finding information relevant to browsing and search topics. Certain SuperBook hypertext features, however, did not work as well as Pixlook for displaying target articles. The patterns of data and log files of subjects suggest how SuperBook, Pixlook and related systems might be improved.