Evaluation of selected library associations' web sites

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of the study reported in this paper is to evaluate 71 library association web sites using 15 selected Webometric criteria.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses Webometric analysis and ranking based on a scaling method and comparative means analysis (One Way ANOVA), and homogeneous subsets using criteria from SPSS13 and Excel2007.FindingsThe majority of library association web sites have “contact us” links, but few have Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ) links. Library association web sites are categorised into three groups: high, medium and low, with significant differences between and within the three groups. A combination of criteria scores and classified groups shows that among the 15 criteria, only four criteria have no significant difference between the three groups and the classified groups are heterogeneous based on 11 criteria.Research limitations/implicationsOnly 71 library association web sites were analysed is this study.Originality/valueThe paper provides a three category classification for library associations web sites.