To read this content please select one of the options below:

Designing for specialized visual domains: A preparatory qualitative analysis for a digital collection in the Book Arts

Dan Albertson (School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA)
Amanda Haldy (Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, USA)

The Electronic Library

ISSN: 0264-0473

Article publication date: 30 September 2013

1370

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the organization and design of a real-life digital collection for the field of Book Arts. This paper also examines the challenges in building digital libraries for visual domains with specialized user pools.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study was conducted. An online survey asked participants from the field of Book Arts to provide free-text descriptions of randomized visual representatives taken from the collection using open-ended question and answer boxes. Themes extracted from the survey were coded and presented using basic statistical measures.

Findings

The results of this study identified a set of specialized access points for items that were selected as being significant for Book Arts and perhaps other areas in the Fine Arts. Results informed retrieval of visual information for this domain along with user interface design and evaluation strategies. In addition, the survey used in this study demonstrated the ability to collect longer, more in-depth answers and category terms alike from the participants.

Originality/value

This study was necessary for the practical purpose of organizing a digital collection of the Book Arts, a unique collection. While similar studies have been conducted, even for collections deemed to be from the “Fine Arts”, previous studies do not agree on what is important for organizing digital collections including varying opinions of certain bibliographic access points and visual representation.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the great support and feedback from the anonymous reviewer and the journal's editor, which helped improve this article. The authors also acknowledge the DePol family and Patricia DePol, in particular, for loaning this collection to the Book Arts Program at The University of Alabama and allowing us to use these resources for educational purposes. Finally, thank you to Steve Miller, Coordinator of the MFA in the Book Arts Program, for additional support and the opportunity to work with this collection.

Citation

Albertson, D. and Haldy, A. (2013), "Designing for specialized visual domains: A preparatory qualitative analysis for a digital collection in the Book Arts", The Electronic Library, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 561-573. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-12-2011-0176

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles