Purpose and usability of digital libraries

Theng, Yin Leng; Mohd-Nasir, Norliza; Thimbleby, Harold

doi:10.1145/336597.336674

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…We recognize that there are limitations to our work -we would have liked to have evaluated our solution with a greater sample size, although it is not uncommon in user-centered digital library studies (Fox et al, 1993;Theng et al, 2000); moreover it is a prototypical implementation, offered as a proof-of-concept rather than a final product. This does not mean, however, that the work is without merit.…”

Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Web 2.0 and folksonomies in a library context

Anfinnsen¹,

Ghinea

Cesare

2011

International Journal of Information Management

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Folksonomies represent a supporting technology to existing classification systems helping to describe library resources more flexibly, dynamically and openly. As a review of the current literature shows, the adoption of folksonomies in libraries is novel and limited research has been carried out in the area. This paper presents research into the adoption of folksonomies for a University library. A Web 2.0 system was developed, based on the requirements collected from library stakeholders, and integrated with the existing library computer system. An evaluation of the work was carried out in the form of a survey in order to understand the possible reactions of users to folksonomies as well as the effects on their behavior. The broad conclusion of this work is that folksonomies seem to have a beneficial effect on users' involvement as active library participants as well as encourage users to browse the catalogue in more depth.

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Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Web 2.0 and folksonomies in a library context

Anfinnsen¹,

Ghinea

Cesare

2011

International Journal of Information Management

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“…Studies have included Orlikowski's work on the introduction of new groupware, Lotus Notes, across a large organisation [36], and Tracy's account of conflicting frames of reference between callmakers and calltakers at 911 dispatch center [42]. The second concerns the implications of digitising 'traditional' libraries [7,11,14,26,28,29,32,33,34,41]. These researchers and others have problematised the assumption that building a digital library is just a case of translating the components of traditional libraries into their digital equivalents.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community design of DLESE's collections review policy

Khoo

2001

Proceedings of the 1st ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries

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In this paper, I describe the design of a collection review policy for the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). A distinctive feature of DLESE as a digital library is the 'DLESE community,' composed of voluntary members who contribute metadata and resource reviews to DLESE. As the DLESE community is open, the question of how to evaluate community contributions is a crucial part of the review policy design process. In this paper, technological frames theory is used to analyse this design process by looking at how the designers work with two differing definitions of the 'peer reviewer,' (a) peer reviewer as arbiter or editor, and (b) peer reviewer as colleague. Content analysis of DLESE documents shows that these frames can in turn be related to two definitions that DLESE offers of itself: DLESE as a library, and DLESE as a digital artifact. The implications of the presence of divergent technological frames for the design process are summarised, and some suggestions for future research are outlined.

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“…Few researchers have investigated the usability and evaluation of digital libraries and repositories of cultural heritage. This is not the case, however, in the field of traditional scholar digital libraries and bibliographic or fulltext databases, where many studies have been conducted on the evaluation of their usability (Ahmed, McKnight, & Oppenheim, 2004, 2005; Jeng, 2004; Marchionini, 2001; Morris & Balatsoukas, 2006; Theng, Mohd‐Nasir, & Thimbeby, 2000). In one of the few studies on the evaluation of digital cultural heritage collections, Bennett et al (2002) used both focus groups and statistical analysis of use to assess the usability and quality of the Illinois Digital Cultural Heritage Community project.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual maps–virtual worlds: Testing the usability of a greek virtual cultural map

Garoufallou

Siatri

Balatsoukas

2008

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci.

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The authors report on the findings of a usability test conducted to evaluate the usability of the VeriaGrid online system. The VeriaGrid (www.theveriagrid.org) is a prototype virtual map that focuses on the provision of information related to the cultural heritage of the city of Veria (Greece). It has been developed under the Light Project by the Central Public Library of Veria (www.libver.gr). It is an interactive application that includes various functional or thematic areas such as an interactive digital map of Veria, image gallery, videoclips, panoramic site photos, and general information about the city of Veria. The findings of the usability test revealed that users had some difficulties in using novel features of the digital map (such as the Recommended Points and the Routes functions) and finding textual information about cultural heritage of the city of Veria. Users, however, were satisfied with the overall usability of the system. In light of these findings, some recommendations for improving the usability of the system are made.

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Purpose and usability of digital libraries

Abstract: A preliminary study was conducted to help understand the purpose of digital libraries (DLs) and to investigate whether meaningful results could be obtained from small user studies of digital libraries. Results stress the importance of mental models, and of "traditional" library support.

Cited by 21 publications

References 1 publication

Web 2.0 and folksonomies in a library context

Web 2.0 and folksonomies in a library context

Community design of DLESE's collections review policy

Virtual maps–virtual worlds: Testing the usability of a greek virtual cultural map

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