The Internet Public Library and the History of Library Portals

Davidsen, Sue

doi:10.1300/j111v43n01_02

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…business, travel, homework, humanities) from people of all ages and educational levels. Founded in 1995 by Joseph Janes and his students as part of a course at the University of Michigan's School of Information, the library has evolved and developed with enhanced reference service to the public, training opportunities for graduate reference students, and volunteer opportunities for practicing professionals (Ryan, 1996;Irwin, 1998;Janes, 1998;Lagace and McClennen, 1998;Davidsen, 2005). As of 18 July 2007, the IPL has answered 64,354 reference questions (IPL, 2007b, Timeline).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unanswerable questions at the IPL: user expectations of e‐mail reference

Westbrook

2009

Journal of Documentation

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Purpose -In a 31-month period, 1,184 questions addressed to the Internet Public Library's (IPL) reference service remained unanswered on the grounds that they were "out of scope". This paper aims to analyze the questions as artifacts of users' expectations to better chart the distinction between user and librarian views of reference service. Design/methodology/approach -Each question is examined to identify two user expectations, i.e. what kinds of information librarians could provide and what kinds of needs librarians could help meet. Emergent coding with a code-recode rate of 97 per cent identifies 23 types of expected librarian assistance and 28 characteristics of expected applications of that assistance. Findings -Users expect IPL librarians to provide personal advice, analysis, facts, procedures, instruction, technology guidance and evaluation. IPL librarians are expected to help users in making decisions, solving problems, completing processes and developing understanding. Research limitations/implications -Limitations include the use of a single coder and the use of single institution's data set. Mapping these user expectations suggests a need for librarians to consider further development of reference service in terms of its judgment, form, and involvement parameters. Practical implications -Reference service policies and training should be examined to enhance librarians' abilities to consider judgment, form, and involvement parameters primarily from the user's perspective. Originality/value -This paper analyzes that which is rarely seen, i.e. e-mail reference questions which are considered beyond the scope of service. Additionally, the IPL question pool provides a broader range of user mental models than would be found in any geographically bound institution.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unanswerable questions at the IPL: user expectations of e‐mail reference

Westbrook

2009

Journal of Documentation

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“…These include restructuring OPACs, constructively embracing Web 2.0, and libraries unifying their electronic presence to provide superinformation sites that are more powerful and easily located. (Davidsen, 2005).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are, however, widgets that would be unsuitable for use on many library sites because of the adult (Sexy Bikini Babes) or otherwise inappropriate (inane joke sites) content (Valenza, 2008). But the pre-selection of high quality and useful sites by qualified librarians is one main purpose of the use of start pages in libraries (Davidsen, 2005). The unsuitable content is available on the internet anyway, and start pages allow librarians to harness the best sites and filter the less satisfactory (Jackson, 2002).…”

Section: Start Pagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the developer chooses to not add any of the listed sites, the back button must be used to relocate the start page, as the search process necessitates leaving the site (Travis & Norlin, 2002). Windows Live does not provide a central access point (Davidsen, 2005). There are a confusing amount of sites which are able to be opened that have 'Windows Live' incorporated into their title, indicating a branding issue for the company (Maltz, 2005).…”

Section: Web 20mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the other components of the site, most notably the site creation process, were as straightforward, the site would have been much more useful as a whole (Singer & Stephens, 2007). If there was a greater range of high quality widgets, or a comprehensive and accurate search process, Windows Live would have functioned as a useful web portal (Davidsen, 2005). But the lack of quality sites and the dull appearance limit this potential (Finder et al, 2006).…”

Section: Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Alternative to Existing Library Websites : Evaluation of Nine Start Pages using Criteria Extracted from Library Literature

Piggott¹

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<p>This research evaluates nine internet start pages to determine whether they would be suitable for use in a library context. The methodology involved extracting ninety-six evaluation criteria from library literature and measuring each start page against those criteria. A quantitative measurement method was used, with a single researcher awarding marks of 1.0, 0.5 or 0.0 for each of the tested criteria. Results are displayed in statistical and chart form, and then discussed in narrative form. It is found that there is scope for using some of the tested start pages in a library setting. Sites that provided public pages, consistent speed, rich display and a wide range of library applicable content tested most effectively. However, no single start page met all the criteria. Some, such as iGoogle, lacked a public page, while others had problems loading consistently or provided limited content. Netvibes was the highest testing site. User testing should be conducted as an extension of this research.</p>

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