Heurísticas para la evaluación de sitios web de bibliotecas universitarias

Reviewed by: University Libraries and Space in the Digital World ed. by Graham Matthews and Graham Walton Barbara I. Dewey University Libraries and Space in the Digital World, ed. Graham Matthews and Graham Walton. Surrey UK: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2013. 228p. $89.96 (ISBN-978-1-4094-2382-9). University Libraries and Space in the Digital World seeks to explore a variety of topics on library space in the digital age. Editors Graham Matthews and Graham Walton want readers to have greater insight into how university libraries will continue to use physical space in the 21st century and to understand the history and future of library space. They propose to achieve their goal by using library experts from “across the world” as chapter authors. The editors are experienced academic library practitioners, researchers, and academics at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. They both have a long-standing interest in library space and recently completed a project evaluating how social learning space was being used at Loughborough University Library, during which the rationale for this book emerged (J. Bryant, G. Matthews, and G. Walton, “Academic Libraries and Social and Learning Space: A Case Study at Loughborough University Library,” Journal of Library and Information Science, 41, 1 (2009): 7-18.) The book contains chapters by authors from the UK (most numerously represented), US, Australia, and Finland. Chapters begin with the history of libraries and library space and move on to aspects of library space transformation, including the philosophical context of space. The book ends with a speculative chapter on the future of library space. Chapter authors have varying degrees of expertise and currency in research librarianship. On balance the quality of content is very good to excellent. Chapter 1, Space in the University Library – An Introduction, stresses drivers for space justification such as the budget crises, but then correctly points out that regardless of the economy a number of factors move university libraries to transform spaces. Authors Sarah Childs, Graham Matthews, and Graham Walton outline trends in university library space by decade beginning with pre-1970s through 2000s. It is here that the information commons concept is mentioned. However, the authors missed the relevance of, and real beginning for, the commons movement, which occurred in the early 1990s with the onset of the Internet, pedagogical innovations, and generational changes. Groundbreaking installations of this era included the University of Iowa’s Information Arcade and University of Southern California’s Levy Library. More focus in this collection should have been placed on the commons movement and its striking effect on library space planning. Premier space experts such as Joan Lippincott, associate director of the Coalition of Networked Information, would have been nice additions to this collection for her knowledge of the history and development of information commons. However, Lippincott’s work, so important to library space transformation, is cited in several of the chapters. Chapter 5, Library Space and Print, includes a discussion of both special collections and the trend for student-focused [End Page 426] space in newly formulated special collections departments and libraries. Major library projects, such as the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, underscore the core importance of special collections as collectively bringing the world’s unique scholarship to the table of knowledge. If the reader had only time to read one chapter it would have to be Chapter 6, From Stronghold to Threshold: New Library and New Opportunities. Chris Banks provides incredibly useful strategies for space planning in his case study of building the University of Aberdeen’s new university library and special collections center. The most important aspects, many of which are overlooked in other projects, including consultation with stakeholders, fund raising, selection of a design team, project governance, staff engagement, print and noise management, and moving in are effectively covered. The chapter ends with an important and potentially useful list of success factors for the library project. Chapter 9, University Library Staff Accommodation: Why Space Matters for the Forgotten Army, is one of the only writings I have seen focused on staff and space. Hopefully this chapter will be a catalyst for more work on staff space in the 21st...

This chapter presents an experience shown by university and research library websites in Tanzania following the outbreak of COVID-19. Content analysis was the main method of data collection and analysis in which the contents of the selected websites were explored to establish various services. Thus, the analysis of the selected library website contents revealed that 12 of 24 library websites had the opening and closing hours, two university library websites had information related to the outbreak of the COVID-19, and 12 had no information related to the outbreak of COVID-19 or changes in the library services following the outbreak of COVID-19. This chapter concludes that library websites provide opportunities for the libraries to serve their users conveniently. However, the experience given by some of the university and research library websites in Tanzania shows a lack of information on how particular libraries serve their users when the working environment and style changed following the outbreak of COVID-19.

This study presents findings from a user-based evaluation of the use of Pakistani university's library websites. A questionnaire [printed and electronic] was used to collect the data from 17 universities. A purposive sample of 60 users from each university based on their academic role difference [faculty, researchers, graduates and undergraduates] was drawn. The findings of the study show that use of university library websites in Pakistan was satisfactory. Patrons who frequently used the Internet and library were found as frequent users of the library websites. University websites were found to be vital sources of awareness about the presence of the library websites and computers physically available at the university libraries were the significant places to use the library websites. Regarding users' academic role difference, faculty connected to the library websites from departments/faculties, while researchers and students preferred to use them from university libraries. The library websites were mainly used to find course related materials or search in online public access catalogue (OPAC). However, on the basis of users' academic role difference, faculty used the library websites to search in Higher Education Commission (HEC) Digital Library offering international scholarly literature; researchers accessed them to search in OPAC, while students preferred them to find course-related materials. The study recommends creating dynamic websites in all university libraries of Pakistan with useful content and state-of-the-art services for wider use

The purpose of the article is to summarise and present the peculiarities of optimising a university library website to improve access to information resources. Research methodology. The research uses general scientific (generalisation, comparison, induction, and deduction) and empirical-theoretical methods (analysis and synthesis). The use of system-structural analysis helped to distinguish the main features of optimising a university library website to improve access to information resources. The scientific novelty of the results obtained in the article is due to the solution of an important scientific task, which is to develop theoretical provisions and practical recommendations for the formation of a system to ensure the optimisation of the university library website to improve access to information resources. The article further develops the research on the strategy of optimising the university library website. Conclusions. It has been established that the website of a university library is an integrated resource that has information, search, educational, advertising, and navigation functions and can be a powerful tool for promoting information and library products and services, as well as for shaping the image of a university library. It has been determined that access to information resources of the university library is an essential component of the educational process and research, and optimisation of the university library website is a necessary element for improving the availability of information resources. It has been found that to ensure convenient communication with users, differentiated communication tools can be installed on the website of a university library, which should be accessible and visible to users on all pages of the site. It has been determined that an essential place in providing remote user service is given to the library website, since it contributes to the expansion of library capabilities in terms of informing about the range of information and library resources and services. It has been found that in order to optimise a university library website and improve access to information resources, the following measures should be implemented: improved navigation, fast loading, implementation of search and mobile optimisation, and data backup. Key words: university library, website, remote service, electronic resources, information space, information resources, optimisation, repository, digitalisation.

The paper is mainly web content survey based on library web pages of state-aided universities established up to the year 2008 in West Bengal, during study period October 2020 to January 2021. During this process sixteen state-aided university websites or webpage were appeared under this investigation. But three sate-aided universities did not have library webpage or not available content information from their university websites which were not selected for the study. Hence the study covered thirteen state-aided university library websites in West Bengal. The library websites of studied universities were identifed from Google, Wikipedia, and other E-Resources. Jadavpur University (JU) furnished the greatest number of information in their library website obtained 22 points score which is the highest points among the thirteen state aided universities in West Bengal, followed by Alia University (AU) with 21 points as 2nd highest and Vidyasagar University (VU) with 20 points as 3rd highest. Out of thirteen university libraries, none of the university library website obtained ‘Excellent’ and ‘Very Good/Above Average’ ranked of content analysis on library websites. Seven university libraries are ranked with ‘Poor/Below Average’. The university library websites of two universities are ranked with ‘Very Poor/Need Improvement’. The principal aim of the study is to lead the Library & Information Science Professionals in improving their existing library websites.

User-friendly libraries for active teaching and learning

Resultados de pesquisa apoiada pelo PIBIC CNPq/UFF, desenvolvida no período agosto/2004 a julho/2005, com o objetivo de identificar a existência de serviços oferecidos via web em bibliotecas universitárias brasileiras. Foram avaliadas as páginas de 209 bibliotecas universitárias de todas as regiões geográficas do país, tendo como critério de seleção as universidades com maior número de cursos de pós-graduação, segundo o site da CAPES, considerando-se as sete primeiras universidades de cada região. Os sites das bibliotecas destas universidades foram visitados e avaliados, com objetivo de identificar os tipos de serviços oferecidos via web. Verificou-se que este tipo de serviço ainda é pouco oferecido pelas bibliotecas universitárias brasileiras.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to impact the business environment in different ways. The current paper presents how the university and research library websites in Tanzania responded to the changes in the working environment and style following the outbreak of COVID-19. This study employed a content analysis method to collect and analyse data from academic and research library websites in Tanzania. This study focuses on how library websites in Tanzania were used to update and connect library users with relevant information resources and services during the outbreak of the COVID-19. The findings show that 12 of the 24 library websites had the opening and closing hours, two university library websites had information related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 and 12 had no information related to the outbreak of the COVID-19. This study has an important practical implication for the academic and research librarians on the effective use of library websites for information sharing and communication.

Academic libraries, the world over, have designed and developed Web sites to advertise their resources and services to the outside world. In line with this, many universities in Nigeria have provided their library with a Web site while more are developing Web sites for their library to meet the new information superhighway's challenges. However, in-depth studies on the assessment of these Web sites have not been undertaken and the studies have been especially neglected or ignored by the Nigeria researcher. The available existing study only focused on the rating of the Web sites on the basis of the number of hits. In view of this, there is a necessity to research the aspects of in-depth assessment of selected academic library Web sites in Nigeria, especially in view of the accelerating rate of university establishment in the country. This study is an attempt to fill this currently identified gap. Hence, the study assessed the university library Web sites in selected university libraries in Nigeria. The study uses content analysis as the research design. A total of 30 Nigerian university library Web sites were selected from the three categories to represent 110 universities in Nigeria using a purposely stratified sampling technique with a checklist as the research instrument. The criteria for the checklist were drawn on an assessment of library Web sites for Web 2.0 tools, access to electronic materials, and links to the National University Commission (NUC) virtual library. Four research questions were developed and answered and the result revealed low level of the integration of Web 2.0 in most of the universities' Web sites. The study concluded that the use of the current web development technologies for deploying mainstream web information services is not widespread as web information services are yet to take off widely in academic libraries as regards to web 2.0, electronic resources and links to NUC virtual library. The majority of university libraries are found to be working in the conventional library settings and the diffusion rate of web information services is relatively low. Based on the conclusions, the study recommends that Web 2.0 tools should be used as part of the accreditation criterion for university libraries and that the NUC should embark on a national university virtual campaign. Additionally, librarians need to adapt to the revolutionary changes in technology that lead to changes in scholarly communication. Further studies can be conducted as to the choice of libraries in integrating Web 2.0 tools.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP), an interagency program headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), carries out a broad range of toxicology research and testing and serves as a resource for identification of substances in our environment that are hazards for human health. One of the ways that the NTP identifies hazards is through carrying out literature-based health assessments. Approximately 2 years ago we began exploring systematic-review methodology as a means to enhance transparency and increase efficiency in summarizing and synthesizing findings from studies in our literature-based health assessments. A systematic review uses an explicit, prespecified approach to identify, select, assess, and appraise the data from studies that focus on addressing a specific scientific question (Institute of Medicine 2011). Although traditionally used to grade the quality of evidence and strength of scientific support for recommendations for clinical practice guidelines and healthcare interventions [Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) 2012; Guyatt et al. 2011; Higgins and Green 2011], we—and others—were interested in how systematic review methodology might be applied to environmental health questions (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 2012; National Research Council 2011; Silbergeld and Scherer 2013; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2013; Woodruff and Sutton 2011). With the establishment of the Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) in 2011, the NIEHS launched a new problem-solving resource for the NTP, particularly with respect to identification of noncancer hazards in our environment (Bucher et al. 2011). OHAT took the lead in investigating how systematic review methodology might be used by the NTP. We embraced systematic review methodology as a useful approach for providing thorough documentation of the steps, inputs, and decisions in a literature-based evaluation. However, we also recognized the necessity to extend existing systematic review methods to accommodate our need in environmental health to integrate data from multiple evidence streams (human, animal, in vitro) and focus on observational human studies rather than on the randomized clinical trials more commonly encountered in the field of health-care intervention (NTP 2012a, 2012b). In late February 2013, the NTP released the Draft OHAT Approach for Systematic Review and Evidence Integration for Literature-based Health Assessments – February 2013 [Draft OHAT Approach; Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) 2013] for public comment; the deadline for receipt of comments is 11 June 2013. The Draft OHAT Approach adopts or adapts guidance from authoritative systematic review groups (AHRQ 2012; Guyatt et al. 2011; Higgins and Green 2011) to handle the breadth of data from human, animal, in vitro, and mechanistic studies relevant for addressing environmental health questions. In developing a draft approach, OHAT sought advice on systematic review through educational webinars and consultation with technical experts, the NTP Executive Committee, a working group of the NTP Board of Scientific Counselors, the NTP Board of Scientific Counselors, and the public. The draft approach involves a seven-step framework for incorporating systematic review methodology into OHAT literature-based health assessments. In early April of 2013, OHAT will release protocols for two case studies to illustrate application of this framework in specific evaluations. We will test our approach in these case studies to help determine whether additional refinement or revision to the Draft OHAT Approach might be needed. To help the public understand the draft approach and protocols, the NTP will hold a web-based informational meeting on 23 April 2013 to provide an overview of the framework, describe the contents of the case-study protocols, and respond to questions (DHHS 2013). Our intent is to carefully consider all public comments received on the draft approach and to present the Draft OHAT Approach to the NTP Board of Scientific Counselors at its meeting on 25–26 June 2013, with discussion by the NTP of any plans to update the document on the basis of the public’s input. Moving forward, our goal is to increase efficiency and provide greater transparency to the rigorous and objective approach that has been the hallmark of OHAT literature-based health assessments.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the websites of university libraries to ascertain that libraries are effectively utilizing their respective websites to provide easy access to all electronic resources available in the library. The objective was also to a represent a comparative analysis between public and private university library websites regarding the presence of electronic resources with their easy access via the internet. For the purpose of this study, a research instrument in the form of comprehensive checklist of eighteen e-resources was developed to evaluate their accessibility in the websites of public and private university libraries. Twenty university library websites, comprised of ten top-ranked public and ten top-ranked private universities in Bangladesh, were studied for data collection using content analysis method. The findings demonstrate that the presence of e-resources on selected university library websites is still in its early stage, but it has been growing rapidly. The private university library websites are ahead of public university libraries in terms of the integration of web-resources. It is hoped that the findings of this paper will serve to assist the University librarians and other similar institutions in choosing, selecting and acquiring the most appropriate format of information resources, and making these available to their websites, which will both satisfy the needs of their library users and fit within their library budget.

In the global sphere, university library users’ needs continue to change thus university libraries are repositioning themselves to address the changing users’ needs. An important aspect of the change revolves around the library space and many university libraries are making efforts to change their spaces to meet the need driven by information technology, improved higher education systems and shifting of users’ expectations. This paper discusses the status of library spaces in Kenyan university libraries and is based on research conducted using pragmatic research paradigm and a convergent mixed methods design and multiple case studies strategy. The study population was university library users in Kenya consisting of six (6) participating universities (three public and three private) purposefully selected based on their age (time they have been in existence). Students and academic staff participated in a survey; librarians participated in focus groups while university librarians had interviews. This study collected data through online questionnaires, online focus group discussions and telephone call interviews. The qualitative data was thematically analysed while the quantitative data adopted a statistical approach that encompasses descriptive statistics. The results show some common available library spaces among the university libraries, the most preferred available library spaces and most frequently used library spaces by the users on daily basis. The study recommends continuous assessment of library spaces in the universities in order to understand library users’ needs and make informed decisions.

Context: An essential part of conducting software engineering (SE) research is the ability to identify extant research on tools, technologies, concepts and methods in order to evaluate and make rational and scientific decisions. The domain from which such knowledge is extracted is typically existing research literature found in journals, conference proceedings, books and gray literature. Empirical approaches that include various systematic review (SR) methodologies such as systematic literature review (SLR) and systematic mapping study (SMS) are found to be effective in this context. They adopt rigorous planning, follow repeatable and well-defined processes, and produce unbiased and evidence-based outcomes. Despite these significant benefits, the general trend on using these systematic review (SR) methodologies is not encouraging in SE research. The primary reasons emerging are twofold - a) SR methodologies are largely cited as time-consuming activities and b) lack of guidance to conduct systematic reviews. This tutorial discusses these concerns and describes an effective way of using SR methodologies for SE research.Objectives: Attendees will be introduced to the key concepts, methods and processes for conducting systematic literature reviews (SLR) and systematic mapping studies (SMS). The benefits, limitations, guidelines for using SR methodologies in an effective manner will discussed in the session. Attendees will be guided on the appropriate formulation of a research question and sub questions; the development of a review protocol such as inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria, quality criteria and classification structures; and execution of review protocol using digital libraries and syntheses of review data. A web based software tool1, for supporting the systematic literature review process will be demonstrated and attendees will get the opportunity to use the tool to conduct the review to help in identification of relevant research and extraction and synthesis of data.Method: We will use a blend of information presentation, interactive hands-on session and knowledge sharing session. The presentation will introduce the key concepts, benefits, limitations and how to overcome the limitations; hands on session will illustrate a review process with a case study, and finally the knowledge sharing session will discuss the experiences, best practices and the lesson learnt.

Libraries have always played important roles in information provision services. In particular, university libraries have become a major source for teachers and students to acquire important information. University libraries use websites as the media for information dissemination and the tools for extended services, thereby ensuring more extensive and comprehensive circulation of information that transcends time and space. Library websites provide community services that users can make the most direct and active contacts with libraries through the community platforms. Library information, on the other hand, can enhance user interactions with librarians through the website community services. Targeting the 148 university library websites, a survey was conducted in this paper to understand how the libraries cope with the Internet era, and give a focus to and enhance the library website services and readers’ effectiveness of use. The survey also allows one to gain an insight into the current social network services; SNS provided by the university libraries. In addition to the weblog (blog), micro-blogging community services, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Plurk have also been added in recent years. Regardless of which community platform the library uses, it hopes to strengthen the exchanges of messages between readers, thus achieving more interactive library services and enabling the user and librarian to establish close community relationships.

In the present study 62 web sites of university libraries in Argentina are analyzed and evaluated, with the objective of establishing a series of quality indicators to serve as a reference for present experiences and future developments. The degree of development, the use and the usability of the web sites were analysed based on 45 indicators of quality which were applied in direct observation of each site as it appears to end users accessing it by internet. The results obtained show that the web sites of the Argentine university libraries are in an initial phase of development and have only just begun to incorporate modern information technologies. Existing strengths and weaknesses related to the quality of the webs are discussed.