User Studies for Digital Library Development

Citation

Guek QUEK, T. (2013), "User Studies for Digital Library Development", Library Management, Vol. 34 No. 4/5, pp. 388-390. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121311328735

The arrival of the digital world since the 1960s has made significant impacts on human information behavior. Information has gone digital and so has its final format. Retrieval of information can be made online without visits to physical libraries. New acquisition for prints is getting less in modern libraries and the so called “special libraries” in many companies is being replaced by information systems. Former library staffs are deployed to man helpdesks and to be responsible for maintenance and organization of such systems. There is much to learn and adapt in this digital age for information retrieval, digital library design and development.

The nature of digital collection is diverse as they can include anything “born digital” – such as word documents and spreadsheets in any business organization; collection of images of manuscripts; collection of images of art objects, etc. This diversity and the nature of digital collections raise challenges in the exploration of human information behavior. Challenges include different information needs, various learning styles, needs for special people, cross‐sectoral user‐driven priorities, user study design, analysis methods, etc. The study of human behavior or user studies in the development of digital libraries is critical as it is an enabler for systems which are designed to meet information retrieval needs, has user‐friendly layout and functions and are necessary for users. Dobreva et al., 2011 sums up common situations where “decisions about aspects of digitization that impact [on] users are frequently taken without direct user involvement.” The result is “white elephant” systems and waste in resources. The major reference models developed for user studies in digital libraries include Digital Library Reference Model (DLRM) and Streams, Structures, Spaces, Scenarios, Societies (5S). According to editors, Dobreva, O'Dwyer and Feliciati, both models incorporated notion of users but they are regarded as clusters or homogenous groups. There is therefore an imperative need to research on how knowledge about different users and types of users can help the developmental process of digital libraries.

This text attempts to give a comprehensive view of what user studies are, why user studies are essential for digital library development and how user studies work. It is suitable for researchers interested in user studies for the digital library and who may be keen to know more on how such studies can be done in different digital environment. The issues and aspects highlighted in this text are pertinent ones valid in the last one to six years and therefore it can be a good resource for novice readers. There is an array of essays contributed by 27 authors spanning from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. With an impressive collection of essays, one would expect the coverage to be expansive and not very in‐depth. Indeed, further research and exploration of topics is necessary by any reader. The case studies used in this text are noted to be biased towards the “west”, and this is especially so since The Europeana project was often mentioned throughout the text. The content of this text is divided into five major parts. Part 1 provides general knowledge. Readers who have understanding of digital libraries may zoom into parts 2 to 4 on areas they wish to explore further. Part 5 is the concluding chapter.

Part 1: “Setting the scene” comprises of four essays to give a fundamental introduction to areas that contextualize user studies in digital libraries. Elaine G. Tom gives an overview of the design of digital libraries and the models that made up digital library space. Sudatta Chowdhury employs briefly four case studies to demonstrate that the study of different digital libraries requires different research methods and instruments. Petar Mihaylov makes comparison between traditional libraries and digital libraries and recommends the need to adopt human behavior research, human‐computer interaction and user‐centred studies into design of digital libraries. Giannis Tsakonas describes the role of the user in digital library evaluation studies, gives introduction of the DLRM and the 5S models and further examines how user studies, user‐centred design and digital library evaluation relate to one another.

Part 2: “Methods explained and illustrated” focuses on five essays that presents specific methods used for user study projects in digital libraries for the past one to six years. Jillian Griffiths reiterates the DiSCmap (Digitisation in Special Collections: mapping assessment and prioritization) project experience to illustrate the application of methods used to elicit user engagement in setting up of a digital collection. These include focus groups, interviews and online questionnaires. Claus‐Peter Klas presents expert evaluation methods which are generally similar to heuristic or qualitative in nature. Through two case studies, Klas highlight very briefly the complexities, framework and findings using the expert evaluation method. David Nicholas and David Clark recommend the use of deep log analysis for better understanding of user behavior and usage analysis of digital information services. The Europeana gateway project is used to show the application of deep log analysis. Panos Balatsoukas explains the eye tracking method for the evaluation of digital libraries, the justification for such a method, how to use the method and analyze the data collected. The Europeana Digital Library is used as a case study. Katja Guldbaek Rasmussen and Gitte Petersen share the use of personas to assist in development of digital libraries. A case study from the Europeana Connect project is used to validate this method and its advantage to assist developers of digital libraries to gain common perception of users.

Part 3: “User studies in the digital library universe: what else needs to be considered?” gives the reader detailed explanation on the range issues that can be addressed by user studies in the digital library domain. The seven essays deliberated on issues relevant and identifiable in digital library context. The topics include multilingual access to multimedia collections (by Paul Clough), design of digital libraries for children (by Ian Ruthven, Monica Landoni and Andreas Lingnau), user engagement and social media (by Jeffery K. Guin), relationship between user studies and digital preservation (by Kathleen Menzies and Duncan Birrell), the usage shift to mobile devices for information (by Lina Petrakiev), resource discovery for research and course design (by Zsuzsanna Varga) and the educational applications of social media (by Nicola Osborne).

Part 4: “User studies across the cultural heritage” sector draws case studies of user studies in six different settings. Derek Law covers the familiar modern library which contains print and electronic materials. This is followed the Wendy Duff who examines the archives. Susan Hazan visited the museum and brings forward briefly the experiences of users in the Google Art Project and Europeana Project. Leo Konstantelos went on to cover online digital art and shares perspectives on user needs, documentation and retrieval. Andy O'Dwyer uses the Video Active project to demonstrate the support given to users for access to its audiovisual collection. Harry Verwayen and Martijn Arnoldus explore the topic of open metadata and its role in business models.

The final part of this text attempts to recommend to readers the type of user studies to use at various stages of digital library projects. These include front‐end involvement, normative and summative evaluation, and direct engagement.