This landmark text captures a global cross-section of leading voices and provides a clear and coherent overview of the user studies domain and user issues in digital libraries.
As the information environment becomes increasingly electronic, digital libraries have proliferated, but the focus has often been on innovations in technology and not the user. Although user needs have become a popular concept, in practice the users are rarely consulted in the development of services. Research and analysis of users is essential to fine-tune the content and approach of digital libraries to the diverging requirements and expectations of incredibly varied communities and to ensure libraries are effective, accessible and sustainable in the long term.
Key topics include:

• what is the place of user studies in digital libraries and what are the basic user study methods?
• explaining user-centric studies, information behaviour and user experience studies
• exploring user-study methods such as surveys, questionnaires, expert evaluation methods, eye tracking, deep log analysis, personae and ethnographic studies
• critical issues around user studies such as evaluation of digital libraries, digital preservation, social media, the shift to mobile devices and ethics
• user studies in specific types of institutions: libraries, archives, museums, audiovisual collections and art collections
• the most popular questions and what to do next.

Readership: Information professionals involved in supporting, developing or designing digital library services, researchers wanting to address the user dimension in their work and students on LIS and computer science courses who want to understand the importance of the user in information services.

About the Author

Dr Milena Dobreva is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Library Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta. She managed the DiSCmap project on user priorities in digitisation of special collections and coordinated the Europeana user and functionality study.
Andy O'Dwyer has been with the BBC since 1986 applying technical solutions to the long term preservation of broadcast material. He has managed several European collaborative projects providing online access to parts of the BBC's newly digitized content.
Pierluigi Feliciati is a Researcher in the University of Macerata, Italy.

Reviews

"This book is a timely one...The chapters are written by highly competent researchers and professionals known in the digital libraries and user studies world. The research world meets the professionals, the mature and authoritative researchers are represented side by side with young ones just starting their career."

-- Information Research

"This is a publication I can wholeheartedly recommend to academics, researchers, students and practitioners. It is solidly embedded in the theory and literature of information behaviour and user studies. However, the text should not overwhelm practitioners who wish to enter the fascinating area of user studies research in the ever-expanding world of digital libraries."

-- Online Information Review



Book Information
ISBN 9781856047654
Author Milena Dobreva
Format Paperback
Page Count 302
Imprint Facet Publishing
Publisher Facet Publishing
Weight(grams) 209g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 20mm