Users’ information needs have to be fulfilled by providing a well-designed system.
However, end users usually encounter various problems when interacting with
information retrieval (IR) systems and it is even more so for novice users. The most
common problem reported from previous research is that novice users do not know how
to get started even though most IR systems contain help mechanisms. There is a deep gap
between the system’s help function and the user’s need. In order to fill the gap and
provide a better interacting environment, it is necessary to have a clearer picture of the
problem and understand what the novice users’ behaviors are in using IR systems.