Keeping Digital Libraries Alive: Designing an Interactive Scientific Publication to Drive Demands of Scholars Based on Participatory Design

Abstract

Digital libraries are one of the primary sources of sharing scientific knowledge. Presently, an article is located on the main interface of a digital library, which contains information about the publication, authorship, references, abstract, along with the indexed full text in PDF. However, how do scholars imagine the ideal design of this interface to be? What’s more, which features could the library provide to enhance the scholar’s reading experience and, consequently, the acquisition of knowledge? Along these lines, this study sought participatory design approaches to discuss and find interesting possibilities for an interactive scientific publication interface. A contribution to this endeavor is included in three consecutive steps: a participatory design workshop, a follow-up exercise, and a prototype to demonstrate designing solutions. Finally, it presents lessons learned about the interface that the scholars conceptualize, suggesting demands to be incorporated into publications as well as a discussion to drive changes regarding how to present and communicate scientific results.