Academic Library Websites Research Articles

Content analysis of medical college library websites in Pakistan indicates necessary improvements.

Library websites are important for marketing library services and providing access to electronic resources. To determine the extent and quality of medical college (school) library websites in Pakistan, according to predetermined criteria. A checklist of 40 items was developed from the literature on academic library website evaluation as well as observation of known best practice. The checklist was used on the 45 medical college websites that fitted initial inclusion criteria. Of the possible 114 candidates for inclusion, 52 institution websites contained no information about the library, 17 only provided minimum details, leaving 45 medical college library websites that could be included. Library websites lack uniformity, and most of the important features as only three library websites contained more than 20 items from the checklist. The Agha Khan University Medical College, Karachi library website contained the highest (27) number of items. The findings indicate the design of medical college library websites is generally inadequate in Pakistan. The websites are not performing a useful role in communicating with faculty and students. The findings point to inadequate website design skills among librarians or the lack of co-operation with professional website designers. Marketing of library services and good customer relations demand improvements in the information architecture of medical college library websites as well as continued maintenance of the content to ensure that it is up to date.

User Experience Desires Personalization from Academic Library Websites

User Experience Desires Personalization from Academic Library Websites

RETRACTED: Comparative analysis of Iranian medical academic libraries websites the base Google SEO component

The main purpose of this study was to compare the websites of Iranian medical academic libraries from the perspective of SEO components or visibility in Google, in addition to identifying the differences between SEO rules in the two general search engines of Google and Watson Smart. The present study is of a practical study with webometric method and a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical approach. To achieve the purpose of this article, first a researcher-made checklist or checklist derived from the common components of Google SEO agreed between the two tools “SEO Site Check-up” and “SEO p timer” were designed, then members of the research sample were reviewed and compared based on the said checklist (analytical survey). Other components of Google SEO were obtained by documentation method (without online SEO analysis tools), and the research sample was compared according to them too, (Descriptive survey). Iranian medical academic libraries often are under-visited and under-used because few libraries are sufficiently active and strategic in search engine optimization. Library administrators can achieve worth information about their organizations via a good managed SEO program that ensures websites and digital object metadata are comprehensible and usable by search engine crawlers. Most of the existing studies on SEO have been confined to popular literature, outside of scholarly academic research in library and information science. Also, few studies have been done on library SEO in Iran, So, this study compared analysis of Iranian Medical Academic libraries website from the perspective of components affecting Google SEO.

Library Websites During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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.

Users with Disabilities, Especially Invisible Disabilities, Provide Insight into How Libraries Can Frame Accessibility Webpages

A Review of: Brunskill, A. (2020). “Without that detail, I’m not coming”: The perspectives of students with disabilities on accessibility information provided on academic library websites. College & Research Libraries, 81(5), 768–788. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.81.5.768 Abstract Objective – To understand the needs and preferences of users with disabilities for libraries’ accessibility webpages (webpages dedicated to information on disability and accessibility). Design – Semi-structured interviews. Setting – A large public university in the United States of America. Subjects – 12 students who self-identify as having a disability. Methods – Participants were asked about their expectations (if any) and experiences using library accessibility webpages, how they felt they should be organized, and where and how they would expect to find such webpages. Two lists were printed out and provided to the participants. The first, compiled from a previous study, listed common website headings (categories) under which accessibility webpages had been found, and this aided participants in selecting where they would go to find such a webpage. The second listed common types of information found on accessibility webpages. Participants were asked to use the second list to come up with their five highest priority items for accessibility webpages to cover. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for responses to specific queries, but inductive coding was also used. Main Results – In most of the five response clusters of interest to the author (experience/expectation of such a page existing, navigation and language preferences, overall tone and feel for the website, organization for the page, and content for the page), answers were mixed. No consensus emerged with respect to participants’ expectation of an accessibility webpage existing, how they would find the page (including the best website heading), and what content the page should contain. Participants noted that language should be welcoming and inclusive and vetted for sensitivity. The physical layout of the library and information about ambiance and furniture was frequently noted as being an important and overlooked detail to include. Some services, such as shelf pulling and online chat, were highlighted as appealing to those with “invisible” disabilities. Conclusion – The needs and preferences of users with disabilities are varied and sometimes mutually conflicting. Based on the findings, fourteen recommendations are suggested, including providing detailed information about sensory aspects of the library, listing contact information (preferably to a named individual or group), providing useful headings within the page, and evaluating whether language on the website is welcoming.

Working together: Using student-driven UX projects to improve library websites

Web design standards have evolved considerably since the introduction of smartphones and tablets, but many academic library websites have fallen behind, perhaps due to a lack of internal user experience (UX) research and design practices. This article presents a discussion of various UX research and design methods undertaken by the Pratt Institute Libraries via collaboration with courses in Pratt’s School of Information. Projects discussed include web analytics, user testing, online surveys, personas definition, card sorting, and prototyping. The insights gained from this study may be of assistance to other academic libraries planning to redesign and improve their online experience.

User Experience of Academic Library Websites

User Experience of Academic Library Websites

Planning and Assessing Patron Experience and Needs for an Academic Library Website

This article describes a research study performed at Northeastern State University during the spring semester of 2020. The authors detail the initial phase of a website redesign process informed by responses gathered from an online survey of website design and functionality. Results from the patron experience survey were used to gauge respondents' level of satisfaction with the library website, as well as to inform potential redesign strategies. Data will be used to plan and assess the next phase of the university’s website design project. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for implementing and “going live” with a new library website. The methods presented are within the context of library planning and assessment, and may serve to inform future migration efforts for web design in an academic library setting.

Usability Analysis of Library Websites of National Institutes of Technology of India: An Evaluation

To maintain the standard, design and structure of Indian academic library websites, regular assessment of library web portals to increase their usability and accessibility is necessary. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usability, efficiency, and effectiveness of thirty National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Libraries websites in India. Most of the selected Libraries websites are very simple and had very basic and common usability features in terms of General Information, Available library services, about website, Website search facility, Use of web 2.0 applications, Page load time and Mobile friendly test, etc. There is enormous scope for improvement. Findings of the study will help to improve upon the usability features of selected libraries websites that will finally benefit the library users who are using library facilities and services remotely. Study will also help the webmasters to check their websites on timely basis to increase usability scores based on online usability tools.

Investigating the Development of a Research Portal as Part of an Academic Library Website for Scholarly Communication Guidance in a Public University in Ghana

This article discusses the benefits of having a research portal as part of an academic library website to enhance trainings in scholarly communication by the academic library. The article seeks to educate academic librarians and library stakeholders on the contents of a research portal for scholarly communication guidance to doctoral students irrespective of their year of study. It also seeks to address the gap in literature on research portals as part of academic library websites for library user trainings on scholarly communication using Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as the case study. The study used web-based questionnaires for data collection from KNUST doctoral students and doctoral supervisors as well as through interviews with the dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Senior ICT Assistant in the Library system, professional librarians and the two deputy librarians within the KNUST library system. The study established that a research portal is a one-stop shop containing all the guidance on the ethics and specifics in conducting a research study and disseminating research findings. The article recommends that academic libraries in Ghana should consider research portals as part of the library website for scholarly communication guidance.

Global Trends in Marketing Technologies to Promote Library Websites

In recent decades, the scope of library activities has changed. In addition to providing traditional resources and services, today libraries themselves are becoming developers of digital content and providers of access to electronic content. The user base of libraries is also undergoing significant changes: there are changing the user generations, employment trends, areas of interest and habits. Realizing that marketing activities can increase user loyalty, form public opinion about both — a particular institution and libraries in general, increase the visibility of library resources and enlarge market share, the most active specialists are adapting marketing to the conditions of libraries operation. In 2019, there was organized the study on the websites of libraries in Russia, Australia, the United States and Canada, Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, as well as in a number of countries in South and South-East Asia in order to identify the main trends in the organization of library promotion in the Internet environment. There were considered the websites of public, national, University and academic libraries. Library websites were analysed for the use of 10 most common tools in Internet marketing, such as: the transition to a modern web site design, effective linking with social networks, marketing in social networks (Social Media Marketing, SMM), the use of banner advertising, the availability of subscription to e-mailing, the publication of press and post releases, the presence of a blog in the library domain, the availability of content evaluation and sharing tools in social networks. The study conclusion was the identification of trends in the development of library sites over a large area and the compilation of heat maps, which clearly demonstrate such trends, where the libraries of the countries of North America, Australia and Northern Europe showed greater consistency with the parameters selected for the study; Central and Southern Europe, Russia and part of the countries of Latin America are in the transition zone, and the least compliance are found in the countries of South Asia. The most common means of promotion is the publication of press and post releases. Among the least used marketing technologies are blogs in the library domain, embedded video and Internet broadcasts, as well as work on optimizing sites for an audience from social networks.

Bridging the Digital and the Physical User Experience: Analysis of Academic Library Floor Plans

In library user experience (UX) literature, physical and digital spaces are often studied separately. In academic libraries, different stakeholders often control and operate the logistics of each set of spaces. Additionally, library UX studies seldom consider the physical experiences of users beyond the borders of library websites or buildings. Our survey of 37 U.S. academic library websites found that 97% had some kind of digital representations of physical spaces – predominantly floor plans. A content analysis of those floor plans found that many were poorly designed, and identified two specific themes: non-accessible content and a lack of comprehensive information to facilitate the user journey. This paper offers several recommendations for building more accessible digital representations of physical spaces for the library website. These trends and recommendations are intended to be instructive for managers of library websites and elucidate larger themes about academic libraries.

“Without That Detail, I’m Not Coming”: The Perspectives of Students with Disabilities on Accessibility Information Provided on Academic Library Websites

Although most academic library websites include a webpage of information intended for users with disabilities, no research was located that solicited feedback about users’ needs or preferences for these pages. To address this discrepancy, 12 university students with disabilities were interviewed about their perspectives on navigation, search terms, organization, desired content, and the overall look and feel for such a webpage. These interviews revealed numerous important considerations around accessibility and inclusivity, and a list of recommendations was compiled.

Shaping scholarly communication guidance channels to meet the research needs and skills of doctoral students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

This article as part of a more comprehensive study, investigated the level of research and scholarly communication skills of doctoral students and the channels to be adopted by the academic library for the provision of scholarly communication guidance at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). It was ascertained that doctoral students at KNUST had moderate level of skill in research and scholarly communication issues; indicating the need for guidance. Both doctoral students and supervisors acknowledged the need for research and scholarly communication skills guidance and training. They also preferred online scholarly communication guidance and a research portal as part of the academic library website.

Usability of Central Library Websites of Iranian Universities of Medical Sciences an Evaluation


 
 
 With regard to the potential of huge knowledge dissemination by academic library websites, their usability is considered as a matter of great interest to university administrators as well as users. In the present study, a descriptive survey was designed aimed at evaluating usability of central library websites of type-1 universities of medical sciences in Iran in order to identify their usability issues and to provide inputs for possible remediation efforts to improve the design of similar websites in the future. The research procedure involved a library study to identify the tasks typically needed on library websites, use of the identified tasks to design a checklist for measuring three dimensions of usability (effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction), and finally a usability evaluation by two specialists of medical informatics and two librarianship experts. The given websites were rated “good” (60 % - 80 %) in terms of usability and no statistically significant difference was found between evaluations by different experts. It was concluded that more attention to website usability could improve users’ interest in services and facilitate realisation of goals in parent organisations. The results of this study could provide a basic framework for website design and improvement through giving proper attention to usability dimensions.
 
 

Design effectiveness of academic library web sites

PurposeAcademic library websites need evaluation to determine whether users can derive useful experiences while visiting them to perform tasks. This is more so because visiting an academic library website is by voluntary action rather than compulsion as is the case with university, polytechnic and college sites where students must conduct academic transactions that cannot be reasonably avoided. The result of such an evaluation provides signposts for improvement so that academic library websites can continue to be useful to their users. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to assess the structural effectiveness of academic library websites in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThe case study, research strategy and survey research approach were adopted for the study. Through a Web search, 14 universities, one polytechnic and one college of education were identified while three academic library websites were selected for the study. The evaluation of the websites was un-moderated and conducted remotely by user participants who were recruited across the three tertiary institutions under study. A five-point scale questionnaire served as the research instrument while data were presented in tables and analyzed using the median score. The Kruskall–Wallis test by ranks was used to test the null hypothesis at a five per cent level of significance.FindingsOut of the 20 items presented for assessment, Group 1 and 2 disagreed to 11 (55 per cent) while agreeing on the remaining 9 (45 per cent) on Lib 1 and Lib 2 websites. Group 3 agreed to 11 (55 per cent) while disagreeing on 9 (45 per cent) on the Lib 3 website. The null hypothesis proposed for the study was rejected as the p-value of 0.04 was significant at p < 0.05. This indicated that most of the critical issues pertaining to design effectiveness were perceived to be ineffective.Originality/valueThe findings from this study call for a review of the design of academic library websites in Nigeria so that users can identify which websites are easier to use.

Where is QDA hiding? An analysis of the discoverability of qualitative research support on academic library websites

This study explores the discoverability of qualitative research support services, using a purposive sample of academic library websites (n=95). These services were hard to find on most of the websites in our sample. In this paper, we outline the site characteristics that make discoverability easy or hard. Previous studies on qualitative resources at academic libraries have not addressed this topic. Our study fills this gap in the literature. Our aim is to provide information that can help libraries to improve the visibility of their resources for qualitative researchers and their students.

Guest editors' notes: Special issue on qualitative research support

Welcome to the second issue of Volume 43 of the IASSIST Quarterly (IQ 43:2, 2019). Four papers are presented in this issue on qualitative research support. This special issue arises from conversations in the Qualitative Social Science and Humanities Data Interest Group (QSSHDIG) at IASSIST about how best to support qualitative researchers. This group was founded in 2016 to explore the challenges and opportunities facing data professionals in the social sciences and humanities, and has focused on using, reusing, sharing, and archiving of qualitative, textual, and other non-numeric data.&#x0D; In ‘Annotation for transparent inquiry (ATI),’ Sebastian Karcher and Nic Weber present their work on a new approach to transparency in qualitative research by the same name, which they have been exploring at the Qualitative Data Repository at the University of Syracuse, New York. As one solution to the problem of ‘showing one’s work’ in qualitative research, ATI allows researchers to link final reports back to the underlying qualitative and textual data used to support a claim. Using the example of Hypothes.is, they discuss the positives and negatives of ATI, particularly the amount of time required to annotate a qualitative article effectively and technical limitations in widespread web display.&#x0D; The next article highlights how archived materials can be re-used by qualitative researchers and used to build their arguments. In ‘Research driven approaches to archival discovery,’ Diana Marsh examines what qualitative researchers need from the collections at the National Anthropological Archives in the United States, in order to improve archival discovery for those not as accustomed to working in the archives.&#x0D; In ‘Bringing method to the madness,’ Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh, Leader of the Research Data Services Team at the Georgia State University Library, outlines a project created to bridge the gap between training researchers to use qualitative data software and training them in qualitative methods. Her answer has been a collaborative workshop with a sociology professor who provides a methodological framework while she applies those principles to a project in NVivo. These successful workshops have helped to encourage researchers to consider qualitative methods while at the same time promoting the use of CAQDAS software.&#x0D; Jonathan Cain, Liz Cooper, Sarah DeMott, and Alesia Montgomery in their article ‘Where QDA is hiding?’ draw on a study originally conducted for QSSHDIG to create a list of qualitative data services in libraries. When they realized that finding these services was quite difficult, they expanded the study to examine the discoverability of library sites supporting QDA. This study of 95 academic library websites provides insight into the issues of finding and accessing library websites that support the full range of qualitative research needs. They also outline the key characteristics of websites that provide more accessible access to qualitative data services.&#x0D; We thank our authors for participating in this special issue and providing their insights on qualitative data and research. If you are interested in issues related to qualitative research, then please join the Qualitative Social Sciences and Humanities Data Interest Group. Starting with IASSIST 2019 in Australia, our interest group has a new leadership team with two of our authors, Sebastian Karcher and Alesia Montgomery, taking over as co-conveners. We are certain that they would love to hear your ideas for the group, and we look forward to working with the qualitative data community more in the future.&#x0D; Lynda Kellam, Cornell Institute for Social &amp; Economic Research&#x0D; Celia Emmelhainz, University of California, Berkeley

Web 2.0 use in academic libraries of top ranked Asian universities

PurposeThis paper aims to explore recent trends of how Web 2.0 applications were used in 75 academic libraries in Asia through their library websites.Design/methodology/approachThe Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2016 was considered for this study and out of 200 top universities ranked, 75 universities were selected for data collection. Using a multi-method approach, this study evaluated key design elements, library service platforms and website content of each academic library website, examining their site features, Web 2.0 types and applications. The criteria for selecting the websites were first the website was in English and second had Web 2.0 applications integrated into the main website. For the ranking of websites, a library web service index was developed, benchmarking from these groups – resource discovery tools, Web 2.0 applications, e-resources, mobile applications, library guides, digital reference services and digital inclusion – as indicators.FindingsThe authors found that over two-thirds of Asian university libraries have deployed one or more Web 2.0 applications, though their popularity and implementation vary greatly. Most widely used Web 2.0 applications are Facebook (61.3 per cent), RSS (53.3 per cent), Twitter (46.7 per cent) and YouTube (37.3 per cent). Instant messaging (5.3 per cent) and podcasting (4 per cent) were least applied. With an average of 44 per cent, the diffusion rate of Web information is moderately high among the majority of the Asian university libraries.Originality/valueMany studies explored Web 2.0 applications from developed countries. However, this study attempts evaluating the use of Web 2.0 applications through content, sites and features of academic libraries in Asia, from developing countries perspective.

Library Services Navigation: Improving the Online User Experience

While the discoverability of traditional information resources is often the focus of library website design, there is also a need to help users find other services such as equipment, study rooms, and programs. A recent assessment of the Brigham Young University Library website identified nearly two hundred services. Many of these service descriptions were buried deep in the site, making them difficult to locate. This article will describe a web application that was developed to improve service discovery and to help ensure the accuracy and maintainability of service information on an academic library website.