About

Anita Crescenzi, MSIS, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the UNC School of Data Science and Society (SDSS) with a secondary appointment at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS). Her research seeks to understand how people use information access systems, such as search engines and generative AI systems, in support of their broader goals. She evaluates novel information access systems and interaction features to better support learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. Crescenzi is also interested in methodological and measurement issues, particularly in developing better measures of search and learning during search activities. Her research interests include information-seeking in support of decision-making, FAIR data practices, designing and evaluating information access systems to enhance learning and problem-solving, adaptation in information-seeking due to situational factors, and metacognition and metacognitive regulation in information-seeking and use. Prior to her PhD, she worked in usability evaluation, user experience design, and applications development, including roles as a User Experience Analyst at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and as a User Experience Librarian at the UNC Health Sciences Library.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Information Retrieval
• Political Science
• Psychology
• World Wide Web
• Mathematics
• Human–computer interaction
• Data science

Selected publications

• A Multi-Year Survey of Use and Perceptions of Generative AI in Higher Education

  2026-02-28 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Generative AI (gen AI) tools are rapidly reshaping higher education, influencing research, teaching, learning, and administrative work. This study investigates when, how, and why gen AI is used and not used in a research-intensive university. We conducted in-depth surveys with faculty and staff in mid-2024 (n=102) and mid-2025 (n=101) to capture evolving adoption and perception. Across both years, over 90% of respondents reported intentional use of gen AI, though some described unintentional use or intentional non-use. The most frequently mentioned tools included ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, and Adobe Firefly.

  PublisherDOI

• Measuring the credibility of generative AI-produced information: An exploratory factor analysis

  2026-02-28 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Information credibility is a central concept in information science research and is closely linked to how people evaluate and use information. Credibility perceptions also play an important role in the adoption and continued use of technologies such as generative AI (gen AI). As gen AI becomes increasingly integrated into everyday life, it is essential to understand how people perceive the credibility of information produced by these systems. As part of a larger survey study on the use (and non-use) and perceptions of gen AI in higher education conducted in mid-2024 and mid-2025, we evaluated a set of questionnaire items to assess the perceived credibility of information created by gen AI. In this paper, we present the questionnaire items, descriptive statistics, and correlation matrices from the two surveys, and the results of our exploratory factor analysis examining the underlying structure of the credibility measure. Across both datasets, we identified two distinct factors—output credibility, which refers to the perceived credibility of AI-produced output itself, and relative credibility, which refers to perceptions of AI-produced output relative to human-produced information. We share the instrument and findings to support future refinement and adaptation in studying credibility in the context of gen AI.

  PublisherDOI

• Thinking inside the box: An evaluation of a novel search‐assisting tool for supporting (meta)cognition during exploratory search

  Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology · 2023-05-25 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Exploratory searches involve significant cognitively demanding aiming at learning and investigation. However, users gain little support from search engines for their cognitive and metacognitive activities (e.g., discovery, synthesis, planning, transformation, monitoring, and reflection) during exploratory searches. To better support the exploratory search process, we designed a new search assistance tool called OrgBox. OrgBox allows users to drag‐and‐drop information they find during searches into “boxes” and “items” that can be created, labeled, and rearranged on a canvas. We conducted a controlled, within‐subjects user study with 24 participants to evaluate the OrgBox versus a baseline tool called the OrgDoc that supported rich‐text features. Our findings show that participants perceived the OrgBox tool to provide more support for grouping and reorganizing information, tracking thought processes, planning and monitoring search and task processes, and gaining a visual overview of the collected information. The usability test reveals users' preferences for simplicity, familiarity, and flexibility of the design of OrgBox, along with technical problems such as delay of response and restrictions of use. Our results have implications for the design of search‐assisting systems that encourage cognitive and metacognitive activities during exploratory search processes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Report on the Dagstuhl Seminar on Frontiers of Information Access Experimentation for Research and Education

  ACM SIGIR Forum · 2023 · 28 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • World Wide Web

  This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 23031 "Frontiers of Information Access Experimentation for Research and Education", which brought together 38 participants from 12 countries. The seminar addressed technology-enhanced information access (information retrieval, recommender systems, natural language processing) and specifically focused on developing more responsible experimental practices leading to more valid results, both for research as well as for scientific education. The seminar featured a series of long and short talks delivered by participants, who helped in setting a common ground and in letting emerge topics of interest to be explored as the main output of the seminar. This led to the definition of five groups which investigated challenges, opportunities, and next steps in the following areas: reality check, i.e. conducting real-world studies, human-machine-collaborative relevance judgment frameworks, overcoming methodological challenges in information retrieval and recommender systems through awareness and education, results-blind reviewing, and guidance for authors. Date: 15--20 January 2023. Website: https://www.dagstuhl.de/23031.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Preceptor perceptions of a redesigned entrustable professional activity (EPA) assessment tool in pharmacy practice experiences

  Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning · 2023-06-24 · 5 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Report on the 1st Early Career Researchers' Roundtable for Information Access Research (ECRs4IR 2022) at CHIIR 2022

  ACM SIGIR Forum · 2022-06-01 · 4 citations

  article

  The First Early Career Researchers Roundtable for Information Access Research Workshop , in conjunction with the Seventh ACM Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (CHIIR) 2022, looked into the future of research, collaborations, and self-development to ask the following. Where are the opportunities for researchers in a (post-)pandemic environment, especially for Early Career Researchers (ECRs)? What do we need to do to get there? Which practical implementations can the broader CHIIR community support? The workshop started with an invited talk. Instead of conventional paper presentations, the attendees discussed the lessons learned from working in a pandemic. This report, co-authored by the workshop's organisers and its participants, summarises the discussion. This report aims to provide the broader CHIIR community with feedback on the workshop and foster ideas raised by ECRs to support ECRs. Two primary outcomes are (i) ECRs are often enthusiastic about taking on roles within a community, but formal validation and recognition are needed for their efforts and (ii) that the role of a conference needs to be reevaluated optimising the benefits of attending the event. Date: 14 March 2022. Website: https://sites.google.com/view/ecrs4ir/home.

  PublisherDOI

• Assessing Realism in Simulated Work Tasks

  2022-03-12 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  In this paper, we describe our use of realism check questions in an exit questionnaire as a method for assessing the realism of scenarios and simulated tasks. We used realism check questionnaire items found in the decision-making literature to assess the realism of the scenario and tasks (i.e., simulated work task scenarios) used as part of a broader study of decision-making. The realism check results indicated that participants could imagine themselves in the scenario (i.e., making recommendations for a friend) and could imagine making recommendations like the ones in the study. The findings suggest that realism check questions are a relatively low effort method to assess the realism of simulated work task scenarios used in an interactive information retrieval study. Future research is needed to understand the relationship between realism and other important factors in IIR studies (e.g., topic interest or prior knowledge, search behaviors).

  PublisherDOI

• Adaptation in Information Search and Decision-Making under Time Constraints

  2021 · 23 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Information Retrieval

  Prior work in IR has found that searchers under time constraints may adapt their search processes and perceive their task or their performance differently. In many of these prior studies, the task descriptions implicitly or explicitly conveyed an expectation of the amount of information needed to satisfy the task requirements in terms of number of pages (e.g., find N webpages on topic X) or the time to spend on the task (e.g., search until time is up) rather than allowing the participant to determine how much information was needed. In this lab-based study, we investigated the effects of time constraints on information search and decision-making. Participants completed a series of decision-making tasks with half of the participants receiving a 5-minute time constraint and half given no time guidance. They were asked to make good, specific recommendations for a friend, and they had considerable latitude in deciding how much information they needed. Results showed that participants in the time constraint condition made their decisions faster but there were few significant differences in measures of search behaviors between the time constraint conditions (RQ1). Qualitative analysis indicated that participants adapted their decision task by varying their recommendations in their specificity, justification strength, and contents in both time conditions (RQ2). Finally, we found evidence that the impact of the time constraint on time- and task-related perceptions was moderated by the extent to which participants adapted their decision task (RQ3).

  PublisherDOI

• Supporting metacognition during exploratory search with the OrgBox

  UNC Libraries · 2021-05-10

  articleOpen access

  Appendix for Crescenzi, Ward, Li, & Capra, 2021. Anita Crescenzi, Austin R. Ward, Yuan Li, Rob Capra. 2021. Supporting metacognition during exploratory search with the OrgBox. In Proceedings of the 44th International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval (SIGIR ’21), July 11–15, 2021, Virtual Event, Canada. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 11 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3404835.3462955

  PublisherDOI

• Supporting Metacognition during Exploratory Search with the OrgBox

  Proceedings of the 45th International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval · 2021 · 25 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Information Retrieval

  Current search systems provide effective support to users engaged in fact-finding and look-up oriented tasks. However, they provide relatively little support for users engaged in exploratory search tasks that involve cognitive and metacognitive activities such as learning, synthesis, planning, and reflection. We conducted a within-subject user study (N=24) that investigated the effects of a novel knowledge organization tool called the OrgBox, designed to assist users with organizing and synthesizing information, and metacognitive activities. The OrgBox included features to allow users to drag-drop information they found through search into "boxes" that could be created, labelled, and re-arranged. Study participants completed two exploratory search tasks, one with the OrgBox, and one with the OrgDoc, a baseline tool that included features of a rich-text editor (e.g., formatting, bullets) for taking notes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• R. Capra

  8 shared

• Jaime Arguello

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  4 shared

• Diane Kelly

  University of Oxford

  4 shared

• Austin R. Ward

  Amazon (United States)

  3 shared

• Leif Azzopardi

  2 shared

• Dolinkumar Patel

  University of Regina

  1 shared

• Philipp Schaer

  TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences

  1 shared

• Benno Stein

  Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

  1 shared

Education

• Ph.D. Information and Library Science, School of Information and Library Science

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  2019

• Master of Science in Information Science, School of Information and Library Science

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  2005

• Secondary Education, School of Education

  University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

  1996