A study to evaluate the digitization level of Korean libraries (part II)

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current digitization levels of Korean libraries by identifying key elements of library services and measuring them for conventional vs digital approaches and use. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilized previous research related to digital libraries and consultations with experts to arrive at 13 evaluation elements and components within them to analyze. For the purpose of this study specialized libraries, college and university libraries, and public libraries were surveyed, and their responses analyzed to rate their current digitization levels vs more conventional approaches. Findings – First, after determining the elements that characterized the conventional and digital libraries by analyzing different pieces of literature and consulting with experts, 92 factors were identified for each of the conventional and digital elements based on the axis which was composed of 13 items. Second, this study indicated that the libraries obtained one of the conventional or digital characteristics independent of the situation, rather than that the digital library was more effective than the conventional library. Third, in evaluating the chosen libraries used as the examples, it was observed that the libraries had more conventional characteristics among the elements of the digital and conventional libraries. Also, based on the axis used for comparison of 13 items, elements such as the next generation service, the SNS service, and the library program service were more conventional, but elements such as classification and cataloging, acquisition, and the organization were more digitized. Originality/value – This study is the first study in the world to measure the level of digitization of the library. Therefore, hereafter, each library will be able to measure and determine its digital position based on these elements. Up to now, some research was performed in pursuit of extracting the elements of a library but it had relied solely on literature review. Comprehensive research had never been performed as in this study.