Library Portal Research Articles

Evaluating academic library portal effectiveness

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a specific library portal at the University of Technology MARA based on the opinions of students in the Faculty of Information Management.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is survey based; 400 self‐administered questionnaires were sent out to students of Faculty of Information Management, University of Technology MARA.FindingsIn terms of information quality assessment, respondents had indicated that the library portal met their expectations. All the information quality attributes, namely completeness, comprehensiveness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability and appropriateness of format were rated highly by users. Equally important to information quality is systems quality and service quality. When asked to evaluate the systems quality aspect of the library portal, respondents have also rated highly.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper utilizes effective existing methods to determine portal effectiveness. It provides a study of only one portal, however, and as such the results are indicative only of the views of one group of students using the portal.Originality/valueThis paper offers a snapshot of a library portal and the opinions of users as regarding its effectiveness and would be of value to digital library researchers, or others interested in library portal effectiveness or design.

UDC and Folksonomies

Social tagging systems, known as ‘folksonomies’, represent an important part of web resource discovery as they enable free and unrestricted browsing through information space. Folksonomies consisting of subject designators (tags) assigned by users, however, have one important drawback: they do not express semantic relationships either hierarchical or associative between tags. As a consequence, the use of tags to browse information resources requires moving from one resource to another, based on coincidence and not on the pre-established meaningful or logical connections that may exist between related resources. We suggest that the semantic structure of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) may be used in complementing and supporting tag-based browsing. In this work, two specific questions were investigated: (1) Are terms used as tags in folksonomies included in the UDC? and (2) Which facets of UDC match the characteristics of documents or information objects that are tagged in folksonomies? A collection of the most popular tags from Amazon, LibraryThing, Delicious and 43Things was investigated. The universal nature of UDC was examined through the universality of topics and facets covering diverse human interests which are at the same time interconnected and form a rich and intricate semantic structure. The results suggest that UDC-supported folksonomies could be implemented in resource discovery, in particular in library portals and catalogues.

Semantic navigating an OPAC by subject headings meta‐information

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address a library service based on semantic web technologies capable of exposing knowledge that is otherwise hidden in a library's subject headings repository.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed service implements a web‐based information seeking process that combines browsing and searching of information assets within a library, based on their corresponding subject headings. The underlying subject headings hierarchy is the Greek translation of a subset of the official Library of Congress subject headings. The information seeking process exposes the expressiveness of an underlying ontology capable of modeling subject headings together with their relations.FindingsIn order to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach in a real‐world scenario, the library service is integrated into a working OPAC located at the Ionian University in Greece. Thus, the library service contributes to the fast retrieval of information. Moreover, during the information seeking process, users underpin their cognitive learning.Originality/valueThe paper introduces a novel service for the library domain capable of being integrated in many library portals. Serving as a semantic web application, the proposed work promotes interactive navigation in ontology structures that could be potentially exploited by ontologies developed in other domains.

The role of web services in portal design: approaches for an Algerian university library

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to present a conceptual model for the design of a scholarly web portal at the University of Tébessa, with which it is hoped that scholarly work stations that combine local and remote holdings, tools and documents will be created. Today, with access to enormous quantities of information facilitated by the web, boundaries between remote and local source documents become invisible. This is of extreme interest for libraries in Algeria, whose local holdings are very limited.Design/methodology/approachAn outlined conceptual model of library portal architecture, with ontological classifications and relationships is presented. The model comes from applying literature reviews to the needs and specifications of the authors and leads to a detailed breakdown of the planning and implementation process.FindingsThree findings in particular are worth noting. First, the contribution of web services to the seamless utility of a scholarly portal is indispensable: interoperable features, formats and protocols can be carefully customized. Second, the conceptual model assists not only in visualization but in implementation phases of the process from assessment of user needs and behaviors through interface creation and ongoing maintenance. Third, a method for recycling (or “porting”) existing applications in constructing new library services is a key component.Originality/valueThough this library portal is conceived for an Algerian library, which will ultimately benefit from inclusion in a nationwide network, Réseau Régional Inter Bibliothèques Universitaires (RIBU), the conceptual model may guide anyone interested in aggregating online information resources into a single, seamless terminal.

The Global Library: Providing Resources and Services to International Sites

As institutions of higher learning focus on positioning strategically in the global and online education market, it is critical for academic libraries to realize their roles in supporting the institutional missions, one of which is to assist scholars, faculty, and students, regardless of location. This responsibility is fulfilled not only through the talents and dedication of librarians and library staff, but also with technology. The Brooklyn Campus Library of Long Island University (LIU) seized the opportunity and took a proactive approach to providing library resources and services to the university's Global College (GC) community. After carefully evaluating the needs of faculty and students across the globe, the authors recount how the library supports the teaching and learning activities of this unique user group. A library portal enables users at various international sites to use the library's abundant resources and customized services with ease, as well as to ensure that the library serves the Global College's mission of scholarly achievement. This article describes the LIU Brooklyn Campus Library's efforts to promote and implement customized resources and services to users on different continents.

Gyanoday Portal: A Virtual Reference Point for Management Knowledge Repository

Librarians are constantly exploring various ways and means of supporting users in the emerging virtual community. The paper discusses how technological developments in libraries have led to the emergence of new service paradigms. Recent trends in electronic libraries, with particular reference to academic libraries to provide value-added library services to support virtual communities. Paper discusses the dynamic nature of reference services in the context of rapidly changing technologies and heightened quality of service/user expectations, and explores the issues associated with planning virtual reference services in an academic environment. With the usage of this Library Portal, the desktop user’s community of IIM Lucknow has been greatly benefited. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.29.239

Content Analysis of Indian Institutes of Technology Libraries Web Portals: A Study

Indian Institutes of Technology are identified as premier institutes of higher education and research in Technology in India. Having common goal, there is a need for cooperation among the libraries of the IITs. To achieve this kind of co-operation, there is need to design and develop a unique type of library portals containingresources and services of their individual libraries and also providing links to other IIT libraries. Further, there is also need to form an educational network specialized among the IIT libraries.

Heterodox economics and the future of academic publishing

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the role that academic publishers have historically played and how this is being undermined by the revolution in information and communications technology. A central issue here is that of copyright. Although authors need to be protected against plagiarists, the main role of publishers' control over copyright is to generate profits for the publisher by limiting access.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explores some open‐access models for academic publishing, the first involving a heterodox economics library portal and the second a more general open peer quality review site.FindingsIt identifies a residual role for commercial academic publishers in the new guise of fee‐for‐service providers of refereeing services, whose accreditations may accelerate the uptake of scholarly contributions.Originality/valueThe paper examines the role that academic publishers have historically played and how this is being undermined by the revolution in information and communications technology.

Library portal images that positively influence their users' perception of the portal

AbstractThis paper provides an example of how visual information – the images used on academic library Web portals (ALWPs) – transforms users' perceptions of, and preference for, the portal. As a result of the information derived from this research the manner in which visual information is presented in ALWPs may be transformed. The study reported here compared the effect that high‐image‐pertinent (HIP) academic library portals and low‐image‐pertinent (LIP) academic library portals have on the users' preference for one portal over the other.One hundred undergraduate students searched for the answers to two ten‐question information retrieval exercises using matched‐pairs of HIP and LIP academic library portals. The exercises were constructed of questions similar to those asked at an academic library's reference desk.Data collected and statistically analyzed included: the scores from the information retrieval exercises, the time to complete the information retrieval exercises, the mouse‐clicks used to complete the information retrieval exercises and the users' stated portal preference. The HIP portals outperformed the LIP portals and the subjects preferred the HIP portals to the LIP portals in 3 out of 4 measures of performance and preference.

The Customization and Personalization for Library Portal

The Customization and Personalization for Library Portal

Library and institutional portals: a case study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the experience of developing a library portal to provide integrated access to research information at the same time as an institutional or enterprise information portal was being implemented.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a case study.FindingsValid grounds for implementing vertical, specialised library portals alongside horizontal institutional portals include reduced risk, faster implementation and reduced maintenance costs.Practical implicationsOrganisations seeking to provide integrated access to distributed information resources must consider library portals.Originality/valueThis case study reveals that in practice there is little risk of overlap between institutional and library portals. Both types of product are complementary. However, some integration issues remain a challenge.

Testing the Federated Searching Waters

The MetaLib Library Portal (MetaLib) is a federated search tool that enables simultaneous searching of multiple electronic resources in a single interface and provides links to resources' native interfaces. Many libraries have already implemented this library portal or various components of it. Prior to launching MetaLib at the University of Florida, the authors conducted a usability study to ensure MetaLib features implemented were appropriate for UF's research community. A total of fifteen faculty researchers and graduate and undergraduate students participated in testing and discussing the product during the spring 2006 semester. This paper illustrates the process used to evaluate MetaLib, which included determining a timeline, developing scenario-based and focus group questions, recruiting participants, and conducting usability tests and focus groups. In addition, the authors describe some of the major findings of the study and the solutions recommended in the formal “Usability Test Report for MetaLib,” and provide an analysis of the challenges associated with usability testing of a federated search tool.

지역기반 도서관 포털구축의 요건에 관한 연구

본 연구는 지역기반 도서관 포털에 필요한 정책적, 기능적 요건을 도출하고 이를 평가하기 위한 목적으로 수행되었다. 따라서 도서관 포털에 대한 이론적 배경, 지역의 다양한 공공기관의 협력을 바탕으로 통합접근환경을 구축한 사례와 각종 문헌을 분석하고, 이를 통해 지역기반 도서관 포털의 정책적 기능적 요건을 도출하였다. 최종적으로 지역의 실무자와 전문가들을 대상으로 AHP 설문을 수행하여 이들 요건에 대한 중요도를 평가함으로써 연구자가 도출한 요건에 대한 타당성을 객관적으로 검증받고자 시도하였다. 평가결과, 지역기반 도서관 포털의 정책적 요건의 중요도는 표준화, 디지털 장서개발, 운영, 평가 순으로 나타났으며, 기능적 요건은 통합검색, 통합 인터페이스, 정보서비스, 분산환경의 디지털 장서관리, 접근관리 순으로 정책적 요건에 비해 요건들 간의 중요도 차이가 상대적으로 크게 나타났다. The purpose of this study is to analyze the political and functional requirements of the regional library portal and to evaluate such requirements. A literature review was carried out to discuss library portal, and introduce the best practices of the regional library portal. After analyzing the political and functional requirements of the regional library portal, AHP was applied to evaluate requirements. In the political requirements, standards, digital collection development, operation and evaluation were ranked according to importance, and copyright & licence management which belongs to digital collection development was underrated. There were differences in the importance among the functional requirements of the regional library portal, integrated search, integrated interface, information service, separated digital collection management and access management were ranked according to importance.

From online catalogs to library portals: empowering users

PurposeThe paper aims to highlight both major and minor features of the library portal, which empowers users to get access to a wide variety of e‐resources with a single sign‐on.Design/methodology/approachThe study is mainly based on a review of the literature. It briefly discusses the transition from the library OPAC to the library portal.FindingsA library portal is an extension of the Web OPAC. It continues to improve with the new features and capabilities, some of which may go beyond the library portal.Originality/valueLibrary portals are changing too rapidly and the information would be out of date within a few months. So the currency of information is the value of this paper.

Digital contents and libraries in future. Library Portal from a viewpoint as a college librarian(<Special feature>Digital contents and libraries in future)

Digital contents and libraries in future. Library Portal from a viewpoint as a college librarian(<Special feature>Digital contents and libraries in future)

The geography of virtual questioning: Mapping Florida's Ask‐a‐Librarian service

AbstractThis study examined virtual questioning in geographic context by using GIS mapping to explore digital reference question‐asking in the 67 counties and school districts served by Florida's statewide consortial “Ask a Librarian” service. Two levels of geographic analysis were used. Locations of online library portals through which users asked their questions were mapped, as well as the locations where users were situated according to their IP addresses while they asked their questions. The geographic data was analyzed in conjunction with users' demographic data (youth/adult and student/non‐student status of questioners), and data on the types of questions that users asked. Results found that users' IP address locations did not always match the geographic locations of library portals which they used in accessing the service, and that some library entry portals attracted more widely geographically dispersed users with different questioning patterns than other portals. Issues in methodology and implications for further geographic studies in digital reference information‐seeking research are discussed.

디지털도서관의 통합포털 모형 개발에 관한 연구

이 연구는 디지털도서관의 통합포털에서 제공되는 서비스의 모형을 개발하는 목적으로 수행하였다. 모형개발을 위해 먼저 도서관 포털에 대한 이론적인 접근을 시도하였다. 그런 다음 5 가지의 주요 사례를 선정하여 포털의 주요한 특성을 구분하고, 도서관 포털이 갖추어야할 기본요건을 정의하였다. 마지막으로 현재 운영을 준비하고 있는 국립디지털도서관을 기반으로 국내 환경에 적합한 포털 서비스의 모형을 정의하고, 기본이 되는 검색과 참여 서비스의 구성요소를 제안하게 된다.

The Depository Library Community and Collaborative Participation in E-Government

The continuation of the Federal Depository Library Program's historic information dissemination, access, and preservation roles are now dependent upon multi-agency e-government collaboration. The collections and research expertise of Federal Depository libraries are the critical features missing in current e-government service models. The authors propose that the public service and resource discovery features now available at FDLP libraries be coordinated nationally via an AskUS-FDLP Library Portal.

Library portal: A Tool for Web-enabled Information Services

In the modern digital information environment, a well-defined mechanism is needed to organise, store, and access information. A library portal is highly beneficial for this as well as for web-enabled information services. Most of the libraries are adding e-resources to their collection. The utility of these e-resources will be limited in the absence of a functional website that facilitates the users to exploit these to the maximum extent. Web portals are the tools that enhance access to the e-resources by providing visibility to these. This paper highlights the role of a library portal for various user services. An attempt has been made to explain the portal of Technical Information Resource Centre of Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory of Defene Research and Development Organisation and the services provided through this portal.

도서관 포털 통합 유저인터페이스 시스템 비교.분석

다양한 도서관 포털시스템의 서브셋인 통합 유저인터페이스 시스템을 (1) 검색(searching)기능, (2) 이용자 상호작용, (3) 인터페이스 customization, (4) 이용자 인증(authentication), (5) 디자인, (6) 데이터베이스 통신 프로토콜, (7) 벤더의 지원, (8) 소프트웨어 플랫폼 같이 8개 기준으로 비교 분석하였다. 그 결과 통합 유저인터페이스는 EnCompass. MetaLib, Musesearch, SingleSearch가 가장 높은 평가 점수를 얻었으며 국내에서는 KDB의 메타서치가 가장 좋은 점수를 얻었다. A common user interface system, a subset of library portal software products was evaluated in terms of eight broader categories; searching, user interaction; customization; authentication; design; database communication protocols; after sale support; and software platforms supported. As a result, Muse search ENCompass, MetaLib were the three highest scoring common user interface software products. and KDB metasearch in domestic area was the highest scoring products.