An ethnographic study of music information seeking: implications for the design of a music digital library

At present, music digital library systems are being developed based on anecdotal evidence of user needs, intuitive feelings for user information seeking behavior, and a priori assumptions of typical usage scenarios. Emphasis has been placed on basic research into music document representation, efficient searching, and audio-based searching, rather than on exploring the music information needs or information behavior of a target user group. We focus on eliciting the ´native´ music information strategies employed by people searching for popular music (that is, music sought for recreational or enjoyment purposes rather than to support a ´serious´ or scientific exploration of some aspect of music). To this end, we conducted an ethnographic study of the searching/browsing techniques employed by people in the researchers´ local communities, as they use two common sources of music: the public library and music stores. We argue that the insights provided by this type of study can inform the development of searching/browsing support for music digital libraries.