Scope

Features of uniqueness

a. It deals with practical and theoretical issues on digital libraries development and evaluation. The book structure and the methodology for the presentation of its content is articulated on the main evaluation issues: who, what and how. This approach is quite innovative and integrated, since it covers all the practical and theoretical issues on digital library evaluation.

b. It is multi-disciplinary due to its nature. The book makes explicit the views and perspectives of several known researchers and digital library developers, librarians, curators, information and computer scientists, who focus on a variety of scientific domains such as information retrieval, human computer interaction, information seeking and user behavior analysis, organizational and managerial theories and practices, etc. Moreover interesting case studies will be presented aiming to make the book a useful handbook for a large audience.

c. As evaluation domain focuses on the digital libraries improvement, the book aims to present a new user-centered perception on the development of digital libraries, based on the collection and analysis of user requirements. In this framework distinguished digital library researchers and practitioners present systematically powerful methods, techniques and practices ensuring the development of useful and usable digital libraries.

Structure

Introduction: ON THE FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL LIBRARY EVALUATION
by Tefko Saracevic

Section 1: To whom it might concern

Chapter 1: METRICS IN LIBRARIES AND EXPECTATIONS FOR THE EVALUATION OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES
by Brinley Franklin, Terry Plum and Martha Kyrillidou

Chapter 2: AN AGENCY PERSPECTIVE ON DIGITAL LIBRARY EVALUATION
by Michael Khoo, Lee Zia and David McArthur

Section 2: What to evaluate

Chapter 3: WHAT SHOULD WE TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN WE TALK ABOUT USABILITY?
by Judy Jeng

Chapter 4: USERS AND DIGITAL LIBRARIES: AN INSIGHTFUL STORY
by Manolis Garoufalou, Rania Siatri and Richard Hartley

Chapter 5: TOWARDS AN EVALUATION INFRASTRUCTURE FOR DL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
by Maristella Agosti and Nicola Ferro

Chapter 6: EMPLOYING DEEP LOG ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE THE INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF USERS OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES
by David Nicholas

Section 3: Behind the evaluation curtain

Chapter 7: THE PUSHMEPULLYOU OF DESIGN AND EVALUATION
by Ann Blandfordand David Bainbridge

Chapter 8: EXTENDING BORDERS: OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT IN THE ERA OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES
by Christos Papatheodorou and Giannis Tsakonas

Chapter 9: DIGITAL LIBRARY SERVICE QUALITY: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
by Martha Kyrillidou, Colleen Cook and Yvonna Lincoln

Section 4: How to evaluate

Chapter 11: EXAMINING HOW END-USERS USE AND PERCEIVE DIGITAL LIBRARIES: A QUALITATIVE APPROACH
by Maria Monopoli

Chapter 12: INVESTIGATING USERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND ACCEPTANCE OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES: A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH
by Yin-Leng Theng