Studies for developing new methods of shelving mainly for browsing

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26730164
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Library and information science/Humanistic social informatics
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Sho 同志社大学, 免許資格課程センター, 助教 (90707168)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 情報行動 / 視線追尾 / 利用者行動 / 書架 / 情報探索行動 / 閲覧 / 視線追尾マーケティング / ブラウジング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

[Object]The purpose of this study is developing new methods of shelving mainly for browsing. [Methods] 1) Eye-tracking experiments in browsing a shelf of books in experimental settings. 2) Eye-tracking experiments in a public library. [Results] 1) When people browsed a bookshelf with enough time, they look at the top row of shelves first, and check each row to bottom. The direction of eye movements reversed with row changing. 2) Book title typeface, book cover color and horizontal locations of books has an effect on times the books are looked at. Gothic typeface is more attractive than Ming-style. Black and dark violet cover are less attractive. Books located at center of bookshelves will be gazed more than others. 3) In real public library settings, vertical location of books has a great impact on times the books are looked at. More than 80% of time spent looking at bookshelves was spent on books on the top to fourth rows.

Free Research Field

図書館情報学