Abstract
The aim of this research is to study the usefulness of the New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH, www.njdigitalhighway.org) and its portal structure. The NJDH intends to provide an immersive and user-centered portal for New Jersey history and culture. The research recruited 145 participants and used a Web-based questionnaire that contained three sections: for everyone, for educators, and for curators. The feedback on the usefulness of the NJDH was positive and the portal structure was favorable. The research uncovered several reasons why some collections did not want to or could not participate. The findings also suggested priorities for further development. This study is one of the few on the evaluation of cultural heritage digital library.
Highlights
The aim of this research is to study the usefulness of the New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH, www.njdigitalhigh way.org) and its portal structure
The NJDH uses a metadata structure based on MODS (Metadata Open Description Schema, www.loc.gov/ standards/mods), METS, NISO, and PREMIS (Preservation Metadata, www.loc.gov/standards/premis) metadata standards to support preservation of digital objects, to ensure scalability for projects and interoperability with other systems through OAI-PMH
This paper reports the evaluation of the NJDH
Summary
The aim of this research is to study the usefulness of the New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH, www.njdigitalhigh way.org) and its portal structure. The NJDH uses a metadata structure based on MODS (Metadata Open Description Schema, www.loc.gov/ standards/mods), METS, NISO, and PREMIS (Preservation Metadata, www.loc.gov/standards/premis) metadata standards to support preservation of digital objects, to ensure scalability for projects and interoperability with other systems through OAI-PMH This hybrid approach enables NJDH collection managers and metadata creators to provide information through multiple presentation standards in a schema understood within distinctive cultural heritage organization communities. The section for everyone contained twenty-six questions, including seven-point Likert scales and open-ended questions with a focus on the digital library’s usefulness, navigation, design, terminology, and user lostness In addition to this general section, educators were asked to complete another fifteen questions pertaining to the educators’ portal; the cultural heritage professionals had another thirteen questions regarding the librarians and curators’ portal. 127 89.4 of what they teach, 27% (7 respondents) teach New Jersey history, 23%
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