Towards a Web-based Digital Repository: Identification of Needs and Behavior of Users

Abstract

Web usage behavior of users have an impact on the development of a web-based application. Web usage analysis is therefore necessary so as to better serve the needs of a webbased application. The process involves analyzing interaction of a user with a web application. Web usage analysis provides useful information that can help improve the service delivery and functioning of a web-based system. The aim of the study reported in this paper is to elicit and study users’ needs and requirements towards establishment of an institutional webbased repository for scholarly communication. Questionnaires were used to collect data that reflected web usage behavior and the underlying technical, legal and financial requirements. Analysis results show that there is high usage of the internet as a source of scholarly information and users access their institution websites regularly. Although there is no proper resource management system, the legal requirement for publishing guarantees high research throughput. Results also show that majority of researchers consulted support repository establishment as alternative publishing platform to remove subscription and distribution barriers imposed by journals. In addition, most web usage studies have been system focused. Statistics extracted from web log files and web usage behavior from the users’ perspective revealed useful information from which a requirements specification model is developed for the proposed repository system. General Terms Requirements, repository, user needs, user-centered approach.