University librarians' perspectives on an importance-performance analysis of authentication system attributes and their attitudes towards authentication log visualization

Abstract

The means through which the university libraries provide access to electronic resources (e-resources) for their patrons and the way they operate could be enhanced through an authentication system. Such a system can help address the challenges of seamless access to e-resources for patrons, and can also provide information for university librarians to further understand and explore patrons' demands. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception gap (i.e., importance and satisfaction) of university librarians regarding authentication services, and their attitudes towards the visualization of online libraries' usage logs. Moreover, this study developed a dashboard platform to visualize readers' behavior when using online resources and to understand university librarians' attitudes towards the library statistics dashboard. As a result, it was found that one system quality attribute and two information quality attributes were identified as high priorities for the intervention. University librarians gave positive feedback on the library statistics dashboard that can present visualizations of the authentication logs to further explore patron behavior of using e-resources. This also shows that the results can help identify strategic focus areas to evaluate authentication systems and library statistics dashboard as alternative technologies to assist university librarians in exploring patrons' e-resource usage behaviors.