Digital Library Users Research Articles

Key users of Polish digital libraries

PurposeThe article concerns efforts to identify the key users of Polish digital libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe research was based on a questionnaire containing 19 questions, on subjects which included ways of using the library, reasons for using it, and which types of publications were most often used. Use was also made of statistical data collected on the library's server. An attempt was made to characterize the dominant groups of digital library users, taking a user's interests as the main determinant. The analysis focused on age, sex, level of education, and size of town where users reside. An attempt was also made to determine approximately the total number of users.FindingsApproximately 60 per cent of users are amateur historians with an interest in the history of their place of residence or genealogists interested in the history of their family. The remaining 40 per cent consist mainly of academic researchers and students. The number of regular readers – those who use the library at least several times per year – is approximately 30,000. There will probably be a significant rise in the number of users in the amateur historians and genealogists category. One of the factors that may affect the number of users is the expansion of information technology infrastructure in rural areas. This will undoubtedly cause a significant rise in the number of internet users, although the number of digital library users will probably increase only marginally as a result of this. A second factor is the spreading of internet skills in the over‐70 age group. In a few years' time that group will be more numerous. The group that affords the greatest prospects for expansion is students. Firstly this is a group that numbers two million people in Poland, and secondly they require universal access to textbooks. A cause for concern is the minimal interest in digital libraries shown by teachers and school pupils.Research limitations/implicationsThis is the first stage of research into the function performed by digital libraries in Polish society.Originality/valueThis is the first study carried out in Poland to answer the question of who uses digital libraries, to what extent, and why.

MyTunes: Digital music library users and their self-images

This investigation explored the relationships between individuals’ self-images and their interactions with their digital music collections via the commercially predominant program iTunes. Sixty-nine university students completed an internet-based Musical Self-Images Questionnaire (MSIQ) along with a series of questions concerning their iTunes collections. The majority of participants were highly engaged with music, regardless of their varied musical backgrounds. Factor analysis of the MSIQ data revealed two distinct self-image groups, which we label as ‘musical practitioner’ (linking ‘overall musician’, ‘performer’, ‘composer’, ‘teacher’, and ‘listener’) and ‘music consumer’ (linking ‘listener’, ‘fan’, and ‘technology user’). Participants used an average of seven attributes to categorize their music, and most consistently used one in particular to sort their collections. Those who rated themselves as higher level performers and fans used the playlist function (which involves compiling sequences of selected tracks) more often than those with lower self-ratings on those scales.

Case study on digital library's user viscosity in Chongqing University Library

PurposeIt is important for digital library to attract users to be reliant on the library. Besides providing research resources, the library still has many ways to achieve this goal. This article aims to experiment on the library merit system which provides different ways to enhance users' viscosity on using library.Design/methodology/approachFor the experiment, a merit system was developed and implemented; users' feedback was collected by a questionnaire survey for analysis.FindingsThe results showed that the degree of users' viscosity on the digital library was increased and several areas for a successful digital library portal should be paid more attention to.Originality/valueThe merit system can successfully increase users' viscosity with digital library.

Improving access to digital music through content‐based analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report recent advances on a collaborative project that aims to develop content‐based methods for music information retrieval (MIR) as an alternative to standard text‐based modes of access to digital music libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes current practices and ongoing research, and it discusses potential applications for future use.FindingsContent‐based MIR approaches can extend and enhance the capabilities of traditional text‐based discovery and delivery systems and thus support the work of expert users such as musicians and musicologists. Examples of technologies developed in the context of the project include novel methods for automatic chord identification, motif finding, the visualization of musical structure, and retrieval of musical variations using harmonic and structural information.Practical implicationsThe paper looks at new, non‐verbal modes of interaction with digital music archives based on musically substantive features such as chords, motifs, rhythms, etc. By building more sophisticated dimensions of interactivity into a discovery‐and‐delivery system, these tools could give the end‐user a more meaningful and rewarding experience. The tools potentially would be less costly and more scalable than textual annotation and markup, and their applicability extends beyond digital libraries to other music services.Originality/valueThis article discusses the advantages and challenges posed by audio‐based MIR and shows, via project‐specific examples, its relevance to supporting the needs of digital music library users.

Islamic Manuscript Collections on the Web: An Evaluation of the User Interfaces

This paper presents a survey conducted to provide an overview of the functions and features of digital library user interfaces within the Islamic manuscript context. Based on Internet and bibliographical keyword search, the survey identifies 49 digital libraries that contain Islamic manuscript collections. The findings illustrate varying patterns for browsing, searching, navigation, and page-viewing systems as well as uncommon yet relevant tools and features offered by the interfaces for digital libraries.

User’s Views About the Usability of Digital Libraries

In the past researchers have claimed that knowledge workers will transform important characteristics of work due to increased access to digital libraries over the Internet. In this paper the concepts of usefulness, usability and performance, as the main contributing factors for the creation of a rational and successful interaction is studied. Participants were 200 graduate students enrolled in an interdisciplinary and cross-functional degree programmes in different universities in Islamabad, Pakistan. The collected data was analyzed through statistical procedures. The overall results yielded significant differences in the variables of users’ prior experience with the Internet and users’ proficiency level with the digital library.

Determining evaluation criteria for digital libraries' user interface: a review

Purpose – The present study aims to review the literature concerning Digital Libraries (DLs) and user interfaces in order to identify, determine, and suggest evaluation criteria for a DLs user interface. Accordingly, this study's objectives are threefold: explore which criteria exert a significant relationship with the DLs user interface; identify a set of criteria that appears to be useful for evaluating DLs user interface; and determine evaluation criteria that have more frequency and occurrence in the related texts reviewed.Design/methodology/approach – To do it, first, identifying related texts was necessary. Consequently, keywords such as “DLs user interface evaluation”,” DLs user interfaces”, “DLs evaluation”, “DLs usability”, “user interface evaluation”, “DLs research”, “web sites user interface evaluation”, “user interface standards”, and the like have been searched in the web as well as in some leading databases including Emerald, Proquest, SagePub, ScienceDirect, LISA, ERIC, ACM, and Springer. A...

Measuring the usability of academic digital libraries

PurposeThis study aims to develop a measurement instrument, which involves four usability dimensions of efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, and learnability, as a way of assessing the usability of academic digital libraries.Design/methodology/approachTo generate measurement items, previous research related to usability frameworks, usability guidelines, and empirical usability tests was reviewed. The measurement instrument was then verified in terms of reliability and validity, empirically using data from 230 actual users of an academic digital library. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, internal consistency of measurements, measurement item reliability, and construct reliability were examined. Construct validity, which consists of convergent validity and discriminant validity, was also examined on the basis of confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe usability evaluation instrument suggested in this study comprises four dimensions: efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, and learnability, and three to four items were identified to measure each dimension.Originality/valueTo date, while many of the usability studies have relied on either experimental methods or inspection methods, few studies have been conducted to identify evaluation measures that can assess the usability of a digital library from a survey method. This study is one of a few studies to develop a measurement instrument tailored to academic digital library environments.

Design of a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a spoken language interface to information systems

Users of digital libraries and other information systems typically carry out searches with very short queries, on the order of two words or so. This makes it very difficult for the systems to disambiguate their queries and identify potentially relevant documents, resulting in sub-optimal retrieval performance. We hypothesize that users will provide better and more useful descriptions of their information problems if they are able to speak to the system and easily indicate through speech and gesture those documents and aspects of documents which they find useful, and not useful. In this paper, a spoken interface is described, and a planned wizard of oz study will be introduced.

Influences of users' familiarity with visual search topics on interactive video digital libraries

AbstractUser‐centered analysis can benefit the development of interactive video digital libraries. Findings from this study support the idea that having additional understanding about the intended users of video digital libraries can help researchers match system designs with the envisioned use of prototype systems. This study examines one user‐centered factor specifically, familiarity with visual search topics, to explore if and how this may be associated with other factors within an interactive video retrieval context. Twenty‐eight users from the field of science education were recruited to complete six visual search topics using a prototype system to retrieve video clips from a collection of NASA Science Education Programs. Analysis revealed that topic familiarity was associated with other factors that were examined throughout this study, including user‐assessed and experimenter‐assessed topic completion ratios, opinions of the prototype system, and interaction behaviors. Such results can have a variety of implications for developing video digital libraries, especially those designed to support queries and interactions of knowledgeable users from a defined domain.

Computer-assisted assignment of educational standards using natural language processing

Educational standards are a central focus of the current educational system in the United States, underpinning educational practice, curriculum design, teacher professional development, and high-stakes testing and assessment. Digital library users have requested that this information be accessible in association with digital learning resources to support teaching and learning as well as accountability requirements. Providing this information is complex because of the variability and number of standards documents in use at the national, state, and local level. This article describes a cataloging tool that aids catalogers in the assignment of standards metadata to digital library resources, using natural language processing techniques. The research explores whether the standards suggestor service would suggest the same standards as a human, whether relevant standards are ranked appropriately in the result set, and whether the relevance of the suggested assignments improve when, in addition to resource content, metadata is included in the query to the cataloging tool. The article also discusses how this service might streamline the cataloging workflow.

Recommendation sources on the intention to use e‐books in academic digital libraries

PurposeFew library studies have investigated recommendation classifications for e‐book (electronic book) usage, while none have directly compared what recommendation sources (word‐of‐mouth, advertising, and expert recommendation) might influence e‐book usage intentions. To fill this gap in the literature, the main purposes of this study are to: examine how users perceive the influence of recommendations on the intention to use e‐books for academic purposes; and to measure the level of the perception of trust and perceived risk when users receive e‐book recommendations from peers, advertisers, and experts.Design/methodology/approachData for this study were collected from 382 academic digital library users between the ages of 18 and 25. A multiple regression analysis was then conducted to identify the key causal relationships.FindingsThe comparison of three recommendation sources (word‐of‐mouth, advertising, and expert recommendations) revealed that word‐of‐mouth (WOM) played a more important role than other recommendations in determining the intention to use e‐books in an academic digital library. In addition, enhancing the perceived trust and reducing the risk towards the use of e‐books can mediate the relationship between recommendation sources and the behavioural intentions to use e‐books.Research limitations/implicationsThis study assessed self‐reported behavioural intention as part of its survey and, as a result, could have introduced unintentional inaccuracies.Practical implicationsLibrarians should emphasise e‐book advantages (e.g. easy searching, easily accessible index) to get positive recommendation if users follow all of the recommendations of the source. They can also create online discussion forums to provide usage intention discussions, which can influence users' perceptions of trust and risk and increase the willingness of potential users to read e‐books.Originality/valueLittle has been written on the intentions of using e‐books. Therefore, this conceptual model is novel. This model is also useful in explaining how recommendations stimulate the intentions of using e‐books by enhancing the perceived trust and reducing the perceived risk; these findings may generally be applicable to librarians, current users, and potential users.

Using data mining to improve digital library services

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a solution for recommending digital library services based on data mining techniques (clustering and predictive classification).Design/methodology/approachData mining techniques are used to recommend digital library services based on the user's profile and search history. First, similar users were clustered together, based on their profiles and search behavior. Then predictive classification for recommending appropriate services to them was used. It has been shown that users in the same cluster have a high probability of accepting similar services or their patterns.FindingsThe results indicate that k‐means clustering and Naive Bayes classification may be used to improve the accuracy of service recommendation. The overall accuracy is satisfying, while average accuracy depends on the specific service. The results were better for frequently occurring services.Research limitations/implicationsDatasets were used from the KOBSON digital library. Only clustering and predictive classification was applied. If the correlation between the service and the institution were higher, it would have better accuracy.Originality/valueThe paper applied different and efficient data mining techniques for clustering digital library users based on their profiles and their search behavior, i.e. users' interaction with library services, and obtain user patterns with respect to the library services they use. A digital library may apply this approach to offer appropriate services to new users more easily. The recommendations will be based on library items that similar users have already found useful.

The automated understanding of simple bar charts

While identifying the intention of an utterance has played a major role in natural language understanding, this work is the first to extend intention recognition to the domain of information graphics. A tenet of this work is the belief that information graphics are a form of language. This is supported by the observation that the overwhelming majority of information graphics from popular media sources appear to have some underlying goal or intended message. As Clark noted, language is more than just words. It is any “signal” (or lack of signal when one is expected), where a signal is a deliberate action that is intended to convey a message (Clark, 1996 [15]). As a form of language, information graphics contain communicative signals that can be used in a computational system to identify the message that the graphic conveys. We identify the communicative signals that appear in simple bar charts, and present an implemented Bayesian network methodology for reasoning about these signals and hypothesizing a bar chart's intended message. Once the message conveyed by an information graphic has been inferred, it can then be used to facilitate access to this information resource for a variety of users, including 1) users of digital libraries, 2) visually impaired users, and 3) users of devices where graphics are impractical or inaccessible.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Underrepresented Populations in LIS Research

Previous articleNext article No AccessResearch in PracticeDiversity, Inclusion, and Underrepresented Populations in LIS ResearchPaul T. Jaeger, John Carlo Bertot, and Renee E. FranklinPaul T. Jaeger1. Assistant professor and director of the Center for Information Policy and Electronic Government, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland. Search for more articles by this author , John Carlo Bertot Search for more articles by this author , and Renee E. Franklin3. Assistant professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Library Quarterly Volume 80, Number 2April 2010 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/651053 Views: 688Total views on this site Citations: 22Citations are reported from Crossref © 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Raj Kumar Bhardwaj Information system for visually impaired in Indian universities: a user’s perspectives, Information Discovery and Delivery 50, no.33 (Oct 2021): 312–325.https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-05-2021-0053Xiaoai Ren, Nicole D. Alemanne, Lenese M. Colson How MLIS Programs Prepare Students to Serve Diverse Populations: The North American Context, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 63, no.33 (May 2022): 301–320.https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis-2021-0021Muhammad Asim Qayyum, Mohamed Taher How LAM Sector Can Improve Quality of Life for Underserved Groups via a Whole Person Approach, (Jan 2022): 283–294.https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8363-0.ch015Iris Xie, Rakesh Babu, Tae Hee Lee, Shengang Wang, Hyun Seung Lee Coping tactics of blind and visually impaired users: Responding to help-seeking situations in the digital library environment, Information Processing & Management 58, no.55 (Sep 2021): 102612.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2021.102612Iris Xie, Rakesh Babu, Hyun Seung Lee, Shengang Wang, Tae Hee Lee Orientation tactics and associated factors in the digital library environment: Comparison between blind and sighted users, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 72, no.88 (Mar 2021): 995–1010.https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24469Alex H. Poole, Denise Agosto, Jane Greenberg, Xia Lin, Erjia Yan Where Do We Stand? Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice in North American Library and Information Science Education, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 62, no.33 (Jul 2021): 258–286.https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis.2020-0018Jodie Boyd, Ian McShane The ‘Difficult Balance Between Equity and Differentiation’: Developing a Transformative Praxis, Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association 70, no.11 (Mar 2021): 3–20.https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2021.1880357Rebecca Muir, Kim M. Thompson, Asim Qayyum The Diversity We Seek: A Document Analysis of Diversity and Inclusion in the Australian Library and Information Sector Job Advertisements, Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association 69, no.44 (Oct 2020): 473–495.https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2020.1812023Iris Xie, Rakesh Babu, Tae Hee Lee, Melissa Davey Castillo, Sukjin You, Ann M Hanlon Enhancing usability of digital libraries: Designing help features to support blind and visually impaired users, Information Processing & Management 57, no.33 (May 2020): 102110.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2019.102110Marta Bladek Latino students and the academic library: A primer for action, The Journal of Academic Librarianship 45, no.11 (Jan 2019): 50–57.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2018.12.001Jonas Söderholm Tool lending librarianship, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 50, no.44 (Sep 2016): 374–385.https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000616666627Keren DaliNadia Caidi Diversity by Design, The Library Quarterly 87, no.22 (Mar 2017): 88–98.https://doi.org/10.1086/690735Hui-Yun Sung, Paul Parboteeah Diversity-related research reported in high-impact library and information science journal literature: A content analysis, Library & Information Science Research 39, no.22 (Apr 2017): 77–84.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2017.03.002Paul T. Jaeger, Diane L. Barlow, Beth St. Jean The Arc of Activism: The James Partridge Award in the Context of 50 Years of Attempts to Influence Diversity and Inclusion in the Field of Library and Information Science by the University of Maryland, (Dec 2016): 21–32.https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020160000042003Paul T. Jaeger, Renee F. Hill The Long Walk: Diversity in Information Studies Educational Programs, Professions, and Institutions, (Dec 2016): 209–215.https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020160000042020Fiona Jardine The Role of Students in Diversity and Inclusion in Library and Information Science, (Feb 2016): 399–416.https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020160000041016Nadia Caidi, Keren Dali Can we talk?, New Library World 116, no.11/1211/12 (Nov 2015): 748–780.https://doi.org/10.1108/NLW-08-2015-0056Paul T. JaegerLindsay C. SarinKaitlin J. Peterson Diversity, Inclusion, and Library and Information Science: An Ongoing Imperative (or Why We Still Desperately Need to Have Discussions about Diversity and Inclusion), The Library Quarterly 85, no.22 (Oct 2015): 127–132.https://doi.org/10.1086/680151Paul T. JaegerJohn Carlo BertotMega Subramaniam Preparing Future Librarians to Effectively Serve Their Communities, The Library Quarterly 83, no.33 (Jul 2015): 243–248.https://doi.org/10.1086/670699Mega M. Subramaniam, Howard Rodriguez-Mori, Paul T. Jaeger, and Renee Franklin Hill The Implications of a Decade of Diversity-Related Doctoral Dissertations (2000–2009) in LIS: Supporting Inclusive Library Practices, The Library Quarterly 82, no.33 (Jul 2015): 361–377.https://doi.org/10.1086/665931David Baker, Wendy Evans Libraries, society and social responsibility, (Jan 2011): 1–16.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-84334-131-4.50001-7Charlotte L. V. Thoms, Sharon L. Burton Understanding the Impact of Inclusion in Disability Studies Education, (): 186–213.https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7324-3.ch008

Sequential Patterns Mining from Digital Library User’s Retrieval Behavior Based on Concept Lattice

Sequential Patterns Mining from Digital Library User’s Retrieval Behavior Based on Concept Lattice

Usage-based Market Segmentation of Digital Library Users Based on Concept Lattice ——Association Rule Mining of Digital Library Users’ Usage

Usage-based Market Segmentation of Digital Library Users Based on Concept Lattice ——Association Rule Mining of Digital Library Users’ Usage

A Study on the Search Behavior of Digital Library Users: Focus on the Network Analysis of Search Log Data

A Study on the Search Behavior of Digital Library Users: Focus on the Network Analysis of Search Log Data

Evaluation of a personalized digital library based on cognitive styles: Adaptivity vs. adaptability

Personalization can be addressed by adaptability and adaptivity, which have different advantages and disadvantages. This study investigates how digital library (DL) users react to these two techniques. More specifically, we develop a personalized DL to suit the needs of different cognitive styles based on the findings of our previous work [Frias-Martinez, E., Chen, S. Y., & Liu, X. (2008) Investigation of behavior and perception of digital library users: A cognitive style perspective. International Journal of Information Management]. The personalized DL includes two versions: adaptive version and adaptable version. The results showed that users not only performed better in the adaptive version, but also they perceived more positively to the adaptive version. In addition, cognitive styles have great effects on users’ responses to adaptability and adaptivity. These results provide guidance for designers to select suitable techniques to develop personalized DLs.

Understanding help seeking within the context of searching digital libraries

AbstractTo date, there has been little empirical research investigating the specific types of help‐seeking situations that arise when people interact with information in new searching environments such as digital libraries. This article reports the results of a project focusing on the identification of different types of help‐seeking situations, along with types of factors that precipitate them among searchers of two different digital libraries. Participants (N = 120) representing the general public in Milwaukee and New York City were selected for this study. Based on the analysis of multiple sources of data, the authors identify 15 types of help‐seeking situations among this sample of novice digital library users. These situations are related to the searching activities involved in getting started, identifying relevant digital collections, browsing for information, constructing search statements, refining searches, monitoring searches, and evaluating results. Multiple factors that determine the occurrences of each type of help‐seeking situation also are identified. The article concludes with a model that represents user, system, task, and interaction outcome as codeterminates in the formation of help‐seeking situations, and presents the theoretical and practical implications of the study results.