Evaluating Digital Libraries: A Longitudinal and Multifaceted View

published or submitted for publicatio

The End-Users' Requirements of The Library of Arab International University (AIUL)

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has radically affected the way of accessing information and performing research in academic libraries. With the adoption of ICT, end-users’ requirements (EURs) have increased and changed. Thus, the main concern of academic libraries has shifted to address and accommodate these requirements. The purpose of this study is to identify EURs of the AIUL in Syria. Mixed methods approach, using questionnaires and interview, is adopted to collect data from different end-users’ groups; 228 of undergraduate students (USs), and 30 of academic staff (AS) participated in this study to understand their requirements of the AIUL. Furthermore, 8 academic librarians were involved in obtaining further understanding. Findings showed that EURs were high in terms of providing supportive IRs, experts, high-quality services and personal services. There was a difference on the EURs regarding their groups

The Development and Usage of the Greenstone Digital Library Software

The Greenstone software has helped spread the practical impact of digital library technology throughout the world-particularly in developing countries. This article reviews the project’s origins, usage, and the development of support mechanisms for Greenstone users. We begin with a brief summary of salient aspects of this open source software package and its user population. Next we describe how its international, humanitarian focus arose. We then review the special requirements imposed by the conditions that prevail in developing courtiers. Finally we discuss efforts to establish regional support organizations for Greenstone in India and Africa

Digital libraries and minority languages

Digital libraries have a pivotal role to play in the preservation and maintenance of international cultures in general and minority languages in particular. This paper outlines a software tool for building digital libraries that is well adapted for creating and distributing local information collections in minority languages, and describes some contexts in which it is used. The system can make multilingual documents available in structured collections and allows them to be accessed via multilingual interfaces. It is issued under a free open-source licence, which encourages participatory design of the software, and an end-user interface allows community-based localization of the various language interfaces - of which there are many

Beyond the hybrid library : libraries in a Web 2.0 world

Considers the development of social networking and the concept of Web 2.0. Looks at the implications for libraries and how traditional competences remain relevant. Explores what libraries are doing and must do to remain relevan