ITAL Information Technology and Libraries (E-Journal)
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Usability Study of a Library's Mobile Website: An Example from Portland State University
Get PDFTo discover how a newly developed library mobile website performed across a variety of devices, the authors used a hybrid field and laboratory methodology to conduct a usability test of the website. Twelve student participants were recruited and selected according to phone type. Results revealed a wide array of errors attributed to site design, wireless network connections, as well as phone hardware and software. This study provides an example methodology for testing library mobile websites, identifies issues associated with mobile websites, and provides recommendations for improving the user experience
METS as an 'Intermediary' Schema for a Digital Library of Complex Scientific Multimedia
Get PDFThe use of the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) schema as a mechanism for delivering a digital library of complex scientific multimedia is examined as an alternative to the Fedora Content Model (FCM). Using METS as an 'intermediary' schema, where it functions as a template which is populated with content metadata on-the-fly using an XSLT transformation, it is possible to replicate the flexibility of structure and granularity of FCM while avoiding its complexity and often substantial demands on developers
Trends at a Glance: A Management Dashboard of Library Statistics
Get PDFSystems librarians at an academic medical library created a management data dashboard. Charts were designed using best practices for data visualization and dashboard layout, and include metrics on gatecount, website visits, IM reference chats, circulation, and ILL volume and turnaround time. Several charts draw on EZproxy log data that has been analyzed and linked to other databases to reveal use by different academic departments and user roles (such as faculty or student). Most charts are bar charts and include a linear regression trendline. The implementation uses Perl scripts to retrieve data from eight different sources and add it to a MySQL data warehouse, from which PHP/Javascript webpages use Google Chart Tools to create the dashboard charts
Autocomplete as Research Tool: A Study on Providing Search Suggestions
Get PDFAs the library website and on its online searching tools become the primary “branch” many users visit for their research, methods for providing automated, context-sensitive research assistance need to be developed to guide unmediated searching towards the most relevant results. This study examines one such method, the use of autocompletion in search interfaces, by conducting usability tests on its use in typical academic research scenarios. The study reports notable findings on user preference for autocomplete features, and suggests best practices for their implementation
Reference Information Extraction and Processing Using Random Conditional Fields
No full textFostering both the creation and the linking of data with the scope of supporting the growth of the Linked Data Web requires us to improve the acquisition and extraction mechanisms of the underlying semantic metadata. This is particularly important for the scientific publishing domain, where currently most of the datasets are being created in an author-driven, manual manner. In addition, such datasets capture only fragments of the complete metadata, omitting usually, important elements such as the references, although they represent valuable information. In this paper we present an approach that aims at dealing with this aspect of extraction and processing of reference information. The experimental evaluation shows that, currently, our solution handles very well diverse types of reference format, thus making it usable for, or adaptable to, any area of scientific publishing
Building an Open Source Institutional Repository at a Small Law School Library: Is it Realistic or Unattainable?
Get PDFDigital preservation activities among law libraries have largely been limited by a lack of funding, staffing and expertise. Most law school libraries that have already implemented an Institutional Repository (IR) chose proprietary platforms because they are easy to set up, customize, and maintain with the technical and development support they provide. The Texas Tech University School of Law Digital Repository is one of the few law school repositories in the nation that is built on the DSpace open source platform.1 The repository is the law school’s first institutional repository in history. It was designed to collect, preserve, share and promote the law school’s digital materials, including research and scholarship of the law faculty and students, institutional history, and law-related resources. In addition, the repository also serves as a dark archive to house internal records
Web Accessibility, Libraries, and the Law
Get PDFWith an abundance of library resources being served on the web, researchers are finding that disabled people oftentimes do not have the same level of access to materials as their nondisabled peers. This paper discusses web accessibility in the context of United States’ federal laws most referenced in web accessibility lawsuits. Additionally, it reveals which states have statutes that mirror federal web accessibility guidelines and to what extent. Interestingly, fewer than half of the states have adopted statutes addressing web accessibility, and fewer than half of these reference Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. Regardless of sparse legislation surrounding web accessibility, librarians should consult the appropriate web accessibility resources to ensure that their specialized content reaches all
Cloud Computing: Case Studies and Total Cost of Ownership
No full textThis paper consists of four major sections: The first section is a literature review of cloud computing and a cost model. The next section focuses on detailed overviews of cloud computing and its levels of services: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Major cloud computing providers are introduced, including Amazon Web Services (AWS),Microsoft Azure, and Google App Engine. Finally, case studies of implementing web applications on IaaS and PaaS using AWS, Linode and Google AppEngine are demonstrated. Justifications of running on an IaaS provider (AWS) and running on a PaaS provider (Google AppEngine) are described. The last section discusses costs and technology analysis comparing cloud computing with local managed storage and servers. The total costs of ownership (TCO) of an AWS small instance are significantlylower, but the TCO of a typical 10TB space in Amazon S3 aresignificantly higher. Since Amazon offers lower storage pricing for huge amounts of data, the TCO might be lower. Readers should do their own analysis on the TCOs