Design and evaluation of a task‐based digital library for the academic community

Abstract

The paper discusses the design, development and evaluation of a task-based digital library, the Digital Work Environment (DWE), for the academic community of higher education institutions (HEI) with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as a test case. Three different information organisation approaches (alphabetical, subject category and task-based) were used to organise the wide range of heterogeneous information resources that were interfaced to DWE. A user evaluation study using a series of task scenarios was carried out to gauge the effectiveness and usefulness of DWE and these information organisation approaches. The time taken by respondents to identify and access the relevant information resources for individual tasks was also measured. The findings show that the task-based approach took the least time in identifying information resources. Regression analysis of information resource location time with gender, age, computer experience and digital resource experience of the participants are also reported.

Developing a holistic model for digital library evaluation

“…To a certain degree, continuous reuse intent may represent user loyalty as an outcome of using high quality library service, which was identified by Cullen (2001) from the review on the existing research on library ServQual-an ARL (Association for Research Libraries) project for libraries in the digital age. Mead & Gay, 1995] • Accuracy of task completion • Efficiency in terms of session time and redundancy of search procedure Meyyappan et al, 2004;Shim, 2000] • Intent to use & reuse a collection or system feature [Sumner & Melissa, 2001] • Learning effects [Borgman & Gilliland-Swetland, 2000;Greenberg, et al, 2002;Thebridge et al, 2002]) • Performance (of students) [Budhu & Coleman, 2002;Champeny et al, 2004;Borgman & GillilandSwetland, 2000] • Preference Park, 2000;Wildemuth et al, 2003;Jones, 2000;Meyyappan et al, 2000] • Productivity of users • Satisfaction Cullen, 2001;Wilson & Landoni, 2001] • Use/usage Borghuis et al, 1996;Baldwin, C., 1998;Bekele, 2002;Bishop, 1998;Brophy et al, 2000;Entlich et al, 1996;Jones et al, 2000;Khalil & Jayatilleke, 2000;Marchionini, 2000;Monopoli et al, 2002;Shim, 2000] Further, Cullen found that there might be a causal relationship between user satisfaction and loyalty. According to Saracevic (2000), satisfaction might contain material (e.g., desired information being found), cognitive (e.g., increased knowledge) and/or emotional (e.g., pleasant search experience) outcomes.…”

Evaluating digital libraries: a systematised review

“…Other topics of interest to researchers in the assessment of digital libraries are: efficacy (Buchanan & Salako, ) information security (Hariri & Nazari, 2012) task orientation (Meyyappan, Foo & Chowdhury, ) electronic resources (Hariri, Nooshinfard & Radfar, ) impact (Jabeen et al., ; Madle, Kostkova & Roudsari, ) open sources (Gkoumas & Lazarinis, ) …”

Skills – Structuring Knowledge and Information for Learning and Living of Students in Australian Universities

“…in relation to funding, health, accommodation, etc., that may indirectly facilitate learning. In a genuine managed learning environment, these information systems must be integrated in a way that facilitates students' education and lifestyle within the university, a group of activies and interests including accommodation, sports, and financial issues 12,13 .…”

“…Previous research 31 shows that in order to build such a system, a number of research and development activities may need to be undertaken, some of which are:…”

“…While some aspects of the proposed SKILLS project have been researched, on a small-scale, and have been reported in the literature 32,33,34 , large-scale collaborative research efforts are required to design, evaluate, and implement a system like SKILLS in order to meet the diverse information needs of Australian university students and support their learning and living. Different phases of the proposed SKILLS research scheme are discussed in the following sections.…”