I think that reducing the use cases to these two historical functions of the catalog might miss Karen's point in why she raises the knowledge card enhancement of a discovery experience. We would not have invested the time in the prototype if we believed our catalog could serve only known item and simple topical discovery.
Here I would draw upon the *formal* definition of a user story from agile software development practices (As a..., I want..., So that...). These two cases below only cover up to the want, but not the purpose (so that).
As a student writing a term paper
I want to find information about Gertrude Stein
So that I can develop the understanding required to discuss her work's meaning and impact
The library's job wraps up at the discovery and access, but the user's job is just beginning at this point of actually using and engaging with the material. So if we conceptualize information seeking as not the end, but a step en route to understanding, then yes, a knowledge/info card card is an attempt to enrich the end goal (understanding) not intermediary goal (finding).
> On Feb 3, 2017, at 1:02 PM, Jeff Edmunds <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> The 2 basic use cases for libraries (that involve collections) are:
>
> 1) User wants to find a specific item (howsoever item is defined).
>
> 2) User wants to find a manageable amount of information about a
> specific topic.
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