Millions of dollars have been invested into the development of digital libraries. There are many unanswered questions regarding their evaluation, in particular, from users' perspectives. This study intends to investigate users' use, their criteria and their evaluation of the two selected digital libraries. Nineteen subjects were recruited to participate in the study. They were instructed to keep a diary for their use of the two digital libraries, rate the importance of digital library evaluation criteria, and evaluate the two digital libraries by applying their perceived important criteria. The results show patterns of users' use of digital libraries, their perceived important evaluation criteria, and the positive and negative aspects of digital libraries. Finally, the relationships between perceived importance of digital library evaluation criteria and actual evaluation of digital libraries and the relationships between use of digital libraries and evaluation of digital libraries as well as users' preference, experience and knowledge structure on digital library evaluation are further discussed.

Users' evaluation of digital libraries (DLs): Their uses, their criteria, and their assessment

Use of Electronic Journals by Faculty at Istanbul University, Turkey: The Results of a Survey

In the past two decades, the use of digital libraries (DLs) has grown significantly. Accordingly, questions about the utility, usability and cost of DLs have started to arise, and greater attention is being paid to the quality evaluation of this type of information system. Since DLs are destined to serve user communities, one of the main aspects to be considered in DL evaluation is the user’s opinion. The literature on this topic has produced a set of varied criteria to judge DLs from the user’s perspective, measuring instruments to elicit users’ opinions, and approaches to analyse the elicited data to conclude an evaluation. This paper provides a literature review of the quality evaluation of DLs based on users’ perceptions. Its main contribution is to bring together previously disparate streams of work to help shed light on this thriving area. In addition, the various studies are discussed, and some challenges to be faced in the future are proposed.

A review of quality evaluation of digital libraries based on users’ perceptions:

Purpose – This study aims to focus on the keenness of students of business schools of Orissa (India) on the use of electronic resources and attempts to evaluate the level of electronic information services offered by the primary information reserves of the respective business schools with an opinion pool of sample respondents. Moreover, it intends to elicit the barriers in use of e‐information with recommendations for the improvement of services and usage of e‐resources.Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the use of electronic resources by students of business schools of Orissa (India) through structured questionnaires. SPSS is used for data analysis.Findings – The study finds that students express keen interest in the use of e‐journals, followed by e‐books, e‐newspapers, e‐reports, and e‐articles. Least interest is shown towards the use of electronic theses and dissertations. The study reveals that the majority of students are aware of EBSCO, and Emerald Management Xtra. However, the awarene...

Students' keenness on use of e‐resources

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to encompass the assessment of the effectiveness of the digital library and the value of multidisciplinary databases in terms of user preferences and use frequency by academic ranking.Design/methodology/approach – This paper compares the results of two survey questionnaires carried out in 2002 and 2005. It examines the level of awareness by academic staff of digital library resources along with their use rate and to evaluate the preferences of faculty for specific electronic databases case studies were undertaken by means of separate questionnaires in both years.Findings – Findings were consistent that positive results have been observed in two studies conducted in two years, 2002 and 2005. According to the results of the current survey, increased numbers of the faculty members of Ankara University know about the existence of the digital library. Another result of the survey is that many of the faculty members, although not all, use electronic databases. The most pre...

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An Evaluation of the Second Survey on Electronic Databases Usage at Ankara University Digital Library

An evaluation of faculty use of the digital library at Ankara University, Turkey

Perspectives on ... An Evaluation of Faculty Use of the Digital Library at Ankara University, Turkey

Information Access and Digital Library use in University Students’ Education: The Case of Ankara University

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Özlem Bayram

Papers

An Evaluation of the Second Survey on Electronic Databases Usage at Ankara University Digital Library

An evaluation of faculty use of the digital library at Ankara University, Turkey

Perspectives on ... An Evaluation of Faculty Use of the Digital Library at Ankara University, Turkey

Information Access and Digital Library use in University Students’ Education: The Case of Ankara University

Efficiency of Electronic Records Management Systems: Turkey and Example of Ministry of Development☆