The use of public Web portals by undergraduate students

The study explored how and why 144 randomly selected undergraduates’ from a large university in the U.S. use public Web portals such as Yahoo! or MSN. Demographic and use variables regarding information about particular portal features were collected with a standardized questionnaire including open-ended and closed questions from June to October 2002. All but two respondents were users of public Web portals. A second phase consisted of eight tape-recorded focus groups with 42 participants. In addition, 39 individual follow-up interviews were conducted. The questionnaire data were analyzed using Chi-Square (α = 0.05) to test hypotheses for statistical significance. The focus groups, interviews, and open-ended questions were content analyzed and identified a variety of problems that undergraduates faced using portals. The study provides empirical data about undergraduates’ characteristics, e.g., gender, major, classification, GPA, computer and network experience, times of portal use, and use of personalization in relation to the use of public Web portals and the possession of personal home pages. The study sheds light on why and how undergraduates seek information on public Web portals, what they do on these sites, and reasons for using and not using portals and particular portal features. According to the introduced Popularity Index of Public Web Portals, Yahoo! and MSN were the most popular portals, while searches, e-mail, world and national news were the most popular features for undergraduates using these sites. About 50% of the participants used personalization. Personalizers used portals to a greater extent and were satisfied. Lack of personalization and other factors were a reason for limited use of portals. Demographic variables such as gender, age, and major did not show statistical significance for the use of public Web portals, while use variables such as Internet access at home, frequency of portal use, and the possession of a personal home page showed significant relationships. Frequent redesign, privacy concerns, and unsolicited advertising were among reasons for limited use. The study’s results contribute to a better understanding of undergraduates’ information needs and behavior on public Web portals. The findings have implications for libraries, universities, governments, Web content developers, and marketers.Informatio

An Assessment of Use and Currency of Information on the Undergraduate Students’ Web Portal at the University of Ilorin

A portal is a public or private space that gives users the ability to organize information, readily access that information, manage documents, share calendars and enable efficient collaboration, all in a familiar, browserbasedenvironment. The introduction of web portal in Universities in Nigeria, especially at the University of Ilorin has been considered a worthwhile development. However, since the creation for the individual undergraduate students; no study has been carried out to examine its uses and the currency of information on it. In the light of this, this study examined the use and currency of information on the undergraduate students’ web portal at the University of Ilorin. The study adopted a survey design. The target population was the University of Ilorin Undergraduate students from which a total of two hundred and fourty (240) were selected through simple random sampling technique to represent the sample for the study. Four resesarch questions were developed. The results reveal among others that majority of the undergraduate students use the web portal to check their results, register their courses, print their school fees receipts and view their current session charges. Similarly, majority of the undergraduate students rated the contents on their web portal as excellent and agreed that the contents are always very current. An overwhelming majority of the  respondents (99.2%) were satisfied with the web portal at the University of Ilorin while the common problems encounter with the access to and useof web portal in the University include connection failure, slow server, power outage and processing errors. Base on these findings, the study  recommends that the University of Ilorin management should enhance theinformation content on the students’ web portal by including chatting icon so as to facilitate the exchange of information between the university management, the staffs and students as this would assist in adddressingimportant issues on time regardless of the users location. The study concluded web portal is a very nice discovery and very good information system which is contributing a great deal to the information disseminationbetween the university authority and the students and between the students and the authority

Exploring The Relationship among E-Service Quality, E-Trust, E-Satisfaction and Loyalty at Higher Education Institutions

We examine the effect of e-service quality through E-S-QUAL dimensions of efficiency, fulfilment, system availability, and privacy on e-trust, e-satisfaction and loyalty of students from public and private universities in Jakarta, Indonesia. A total of 304 undergraduates was employed as respondents, and the hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings revealed that efficiency and fulfilment significantly affect e-satisfaction, while fulfilment and privacy significantly affect e-trust. Fulfilment has the most substantial effect on e-satisfaction and e-trust that supports prior studies. Moreover, the relationships between e-trust, e-satisfaction, and loyalty are confirmed. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented

What is usability in the context of the digital library and how can it be measured?

This paper reviews how usability has been defined in the context of the digital library, what methods have been applied and their applicability, and proposes an evaluation model and a suite of instruments for evaluating usability for academic digital libraries. The model examines effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and learnability. It is found that there exists an interlocking relationship among effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. It also examines how learnability interacts with these three attributes

Digital Resources and Services awareness, use and other aspects among the students of JNTUK-Kakinada: a study

Abstract The tremendous growth of information technology and its advancement has made a drastic change in the way of retrieving, handling and storing information in the digital form became necessary to meet user needs of today. As per the user needs libraries are shifting from then traditional resources and services to digital resources and services. The present study paid most of its attention on the awareness, purpose of use, satisfaction and services amongst the users of Central Library of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada (JNTUK). The study discloses that among the digital resources majority of users are aware of e-books and e-journals and find these resources important for their study and research. The more frequently used service is OPAC/Web OPAC service. The study in its findings shows that the purpose of using digital resources and services amongst the users is to search for their area of interest. 69.4% of the respondents are satisfied with the available digital resources and services

Promoting ICT Careers Using a South African ICT Career Portal

South Africa is experiencing an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills shortage and a limited number of scholars and students are pursuing ICT careers. The provision of a web-based ICT career information platform as an effective solution to the growing demand for skilled ICT employees is the focus of this study. The study is grounded in the network theory of social capital. The aim of the development of an ICT career portal was to provide ICT career information to scholars, students and the ICT industry. Scholars can obtain information about ICT career opportunities and determine if they qualify for specific degree/diploma programs. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from students as well as Grade 9 – Grade 11 scholars from schools in the Port Elizabeth area. The results indicate that scholars became more aware of ICT careers and tertiary qualifications and students reported an increase in awareness of the number of careers and job opportunities in the ICT industry

Implementing a resource list management system in an academic library

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the key components of the introduction of a new resource list management system (RLMS) at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) using the Aspire application from Talis Education. It explains the key service goals; the implementation milestones; the main technical challenges which needed to be addressed; and the dynamic relationship between the rollout of the RLMS and existing selection, acquisition and resource delivery processes