Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Winter 1-24-2019
Abstract
The study evaluates the content of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) library websites using qualitative (11 checkpoints) and quantitative (170 checkpoints) evaluation. The qualitative parts covered 11 features which belong to the homepages of the websites, which helps as recording devices of the descriptive information, moreover, quantitative part of the checklists covered 170 dichotomous question affiliated to the different aspect of the features such as; multimedia, general information, services, resources, my library features, web2.0/library2.0 features, currency accuracy and relevance, organization and structure features, links and maintenance features, user-interface features, search features and informative feedback and support features. A quantitative 5-points rating scales was executed to provide a numerical rating for each feature and rank them on the bases of numerical facts. The study has shown that the library websites are lagging behind to take full advantage of advance web2.0 features. Findings show that the JNU library website is scored 128 out of 170 (75.29%), which ranked above average, whereas BHU library website has ranked average by scoring 74 out of 170 (43.52%) features. This research is one of the unique studies should help the website developers in both the Universities to improve the quality of library websites. The study attempts to show certain features in both the libraries that need enhancement to make them user-friendly and improve user engagement. The study can serve as a benchmark for other library websites for evaluating the progress of their websites. Moreover, it can also help in discovering the nature of library websites in the era of ICT.