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Understanding the user’s viewpoint is crucial so that any website be considered successful. Many organizations pay attention to their internal concerns first at the expense of the user. Libraries as service organizations should be committed to understanding the top-level tasks of their stakeholders by engaging in both cognitive and hierarchical task analysis.

One of the primary purposes of a library is to act as a facilitator to information. One way to accomplish that is via the library website. For the website to be effective, it is necessary to understand the top tasks that the user needs to engage in so that they can accomplish their goals.

This column takes a critical look at how technology projects are valued according to various cost factors. Those factors are examined, and a proposal is made regarding the use of agile scrum to overcome the limitations of standard cost analysis. Standard cost analysis based on time and financial burden limit the ability of library leadership to make innovative and visionary decisions concerning library strategy vis-à-vis technology.

This is a regular column. The material was written based on experience and familiarity with current issues as well as a literature review.

As this is a regular column that is exploratory and speculative in nature, there are no formal findings. The conclusion is based on the ideas presented in the column narrative.

The average approach to cost analysis, otherwise known as the return on investment, stifles the ability of library leadership to make strategic decisions that are focused on opportunities and relevance. Agile scrum is not simply a method to organize and manage software development projects. It transforms the thinking of an organization and establishes a decision-making model that places concerns at the appropriate level so that libraries can be nimble with regard to technology implementation.

This paper aims to describe several methods to expose website information to Web crawlers for providing value-added services to patrons.

This is a conceptual paper exploring the areas of search engine optimization (SEO) and usability in the context of search engines.

Not applicable

This paper explains several methods that can be used to appropriately expose website content and library services to the Web crawlers in such a way that services and content can be syndicated via those search engines.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of machine learning. Current trends in the field are explored, along with the potential impact on information science. Machine learning is both an old and new field. It has been theoretically explored since the 1940s, but advances in technology, statistics and mathematics have recently created conditions, wherein it can be put into practice.

This is a conceptual column exploring the notion of machine learning and the applications for information science.

Some of the objections to machine intelligence are common philosophical problems dealing with the nature of thinking, self-awareness, understanding and other human traits that allow us to relate to people, develop intuitions and have situational awareness.

While machine learning is being taken advantage of in the commercial sector, it has not been effectively exploited in the academic sphere. Libraries have traditionally focused on structured analysis and strictly controlled vocabularies to enable information discovery. Machine learning opens up possibilities for unstructured data to be analyzed intelligently. Over 80 per cent of regularly consumed information on the Internet is unstructured, so this field has huge implications for discovery from a library perspective.

The psychology of user experience is sometimes overlooked in favor of assumptions based on didactic principles that do not apply to the use of the Web. This column aims to explore the implications of some psychological principles that bear on user interface (UI) design and the implications those principles may have for the digital library.

This is a regular column – a literature review was completed and incorporated into the text.

Common perceptual biases, particularly related to our perception of the material world, heavily influence our interaction with Web UIs. Aligning Web UI design with our hardwired expectations regarding physical space and material objects has the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of those interfaces.

The psychology of user design is an important area of concern, and it should be considered by libraries engaged in the provisioning of online content and services. This has not been extensively explored in the literature, and these principles are rarely adhered to in the library community. The primary example given that seems to have successfully taken this seriously in the commercial sector is Google’s promotion of a recommendation called Material Design.

There are valuable lessons that can be learned from the software industry regarding process improvement. The modern library is now so closely wedded to technology that the way in which services are implemented mirrors that of software development.

Several methodologies are explored and compared to processes that involve the implementation of digital services in libraries.

Libraries have reconsidered how they might adopt various business practices to improve service delivery.

This column advocates a study of software development methodologies that have been adopted across the industry with the hope that lessons learned in the corporate world and also in manufacturing could be of value to the digital library.

This study aims to explore the use of the conversion rate metric as well as A/B testing which is complimentary to that measurement for the improvement of exposing and increasing usage of library digital services.

This column is a viewpoint piece. A literature search was performed as well as ideas from cited books.

There are no findings to speak of.

The use of certain marketing techniques such as the conversion rate and the use of user experience testing such as A/B analysis has the potential to increase the ability of libraries to objectively measure the impact of their online services and increase the efficacy of those services.

This paper aims to explore several methods for developing an effective content model for library websites.

This paper is conceptual.

Websites can take a couple of approaches to design. One is “top down” that focuses on the User Interface (UI) and graphic design. Another is “bottom up” that focuses on the organization of content. This paper encourages website designers to take a more “bottom up” approach to web design.

IN 1958 the College of Arts, Science and Technology was founded north of Kingston, Jamaica, on a campus of about 35 acres adjacent to the world‐famous Botanical Gardens at Hope, and opposite the University of the West Indies. A pleasanter site for a technical college would be hard to find. Overlooked by mountains, the college has a peaceful atmosphere, in sharp contrast to the feverish tempo of Kingston proper.

This paper aims to explore current developments in the semantic Web and the role libraries can play in exposing institutional and bibliographic content using linked data and unique identifier systems.

This is a regular journal column.

There are many ways in which libraries can contribute to the scholarly community through the description as well as traditional authority control work flow to integrate research and bibliographic content with the larger semantic Web.

The theory behind linked data is commencing to have a more pronounced impact on the way the Web operates. Major players including publishers and commercial entities are contributing to the semantic Web through partnerships with the wider Internet community as well as data providers such as Universities. Given the open nature of many of these systems as well as consortial participation, this is an opportune time for libraries to contribute to these efforts in service of their constituencies.