Organizational Factors in Human Memory: Implications for Library Organization and Access Systems
Suzanne E. Najarian · The Library Quarterly · 1981
Psychological studies on memory and learning are examined for what they might reveal about human categorizing processes and the organizing principles and limitations of human memory. Particular attention is given to evidence for a model which represents the organization of knowledge in memory in terms of a hierarchical type of structure. The experimental findings suggest several considerations for the design of library systems of organization and access that would take into account characteristics of the conceptual organization of knowledge. Such systems are likely to be particularly effective in aiding the user in his search for information since they would (1) employ organizational schemes that are familiar to the individual, (2) permit a strategy for the exploration of a subject area similar to the type of search procedure which seems to facilitate the retrieval of items from memory, and (3) take into consideration the apparent limits on the amount of information that the individual can successfully attend to at one time.