Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are the premier autonomous public technical and research universities located across India, created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technology in India. Every IITs being centres of Excellence with predefined goals objectives, each one has its own exclusive achievements to boast of. Part of every successful IIT is its well-developed library and its very supportive website to assist academics in their training and research endeavour. The Homepages of the websites being the firsthand view of the quality of the website, it is imperative that the Homepage contain a capsule view of the entire website. The study evaluates the content of the Homepages of select library websites of IITs analysing both qualitative and quantitative aspects using a checklist prepared on the basis of previous studies performed. The study compares the content and usability of the various Homepages of the top 10 IIT libraries as ranked by NIRF. A web survey is conducted using a checklist prepared with 60 questions grouped under 9 criteria based on qualitative and quantitative content features offered by IIT library websites in India. The data collected is tabulated and the total score per Homepage derived to identify the best among the 10. Most homepages have ignored some important basic components needed on a website homepage. The homepages have not exploited the use of Web 2.0 tools. A platform for co-ordination and development of every website is the need of the hour to devise well-developed websites to meet the objectives of the institution and the needs and expectations of its users.