Usability of digital libraries: a study based on the areas of information science and human-computer-interaction

By Sueli Mara Ferreira and Denise Nunes Pithan (Please note: the foregoing hypertexts link to Portuguese curricula vitae. If you cannot read Portuguese, a handy tool for translation is Babel Fish.)

School of Communication and Art, University of Saõ Paulo, Saõ Paulo, Brazil

How to Build Useful Digital Libraries

Useful digital libraries don’t just happen. They require substantial effort. Two areas the authors believe should be brought to bear in tandem are information science and human-computer interaction. They employed a half-dozen subjects in order to gauge the effectiveness of an online digital library; through a series of interviews and monitoring of basic tasks the authors attempted to gauge the success of a digital library using Carol Kuhlthau’s constructivist model and Jakob Nielsen’s usability criteria.

According to the journal article, successful online resources exhibit the following characteristics.

1. “Learnability”
2. Efficiency
3. “Memorability”
4. Errors
5. Satisfaction

(“Learnability” and “memorability” aren’t really words, but when you’re a professor, you get to make things up. You cannot do this if you are the President. So, it’s better to be a professor.)

Through a series of video-recorded interviews, the authors also assessed the following user attributes.

1. Feelings
2. Thoughts
3. Actions

How do all these characteristics and attributes measure the quality of your digital library? Jeff Foxworthy, noted syllogistic expert, might explain it this way.

How to Know if Your Digital Library Sucks

Learnability: if your website is less intuitive than a game of scrabble – Koine Greek edition … your digital library might suck.

Efficiency: if Columbus’ western voyage to Asia was more direct than your required search path … your digital library might suck.

Memorability: if the sequence from a random number generator is easier to recall than the site’s required mouse-click sequence … your digital library might suck.

Errors: if mental multiplication of two eight-digit numbers returned more accurate results than your last search … your digital library might suck.

Satisfaction: if the air in an empty plastic bag of rice cakes tastes better than your last search experience … your digital library might suck.

Feelings: I you want to strangle the “incompetent retard” who put “that piece of steaming dog crap” together … your digital library might suck.

Thoughts: If you find yourself often thinking “How could I make the webmaster’s murder look like an accident?” … your digital library might suck.

Actions: If, while using the online tool, you experience dizzy spells, fainting, uncontrollable rage, or projectile vomiting … your digital library might suck.

Well, that’s not exactly how they put it.

Anyway, in assessing a digital library, Ferreira and Pithan found these dimensions to be useful, and now you will never forget them – and after all – isn’t that what good learning is all about?