Looking at Indian academic library websites: A content analysis approach

Vasantha Raju N.Librarian Govt. First Grade College Periyapatna vasanthrz@gmail.com

&

Dr. N.S. Harinarayana Associate Professor Department o f Library and Information Science University of Mysore Mysore

ns.harinarayana@gmail.com

6th International Conference on Webometrics, Informetrics and Scientometrics (WIS) & 11th COLLNET Meeting

October 19-22, 2010 Senate Hall

University of Mysore, Mysore

Introduction

Research questions

Earlier studies

Methodology

Sampling Unit of analysis Coding scheme Data coding and inter coder reliability

Results

Limitations of the study/future research

Presentation outline

Introduction

Media and gadgets are ubiquitous parts of everyday life

- Lee Rainie (PEW Internet & American Life

Project)

Research questions

• What content features are made available on the Indian academic library web sites?

• Are there any differences among library websites in terms of content features found in state, deemed, institutes of national importance and central university library websites?

Earlier studies Website type Research area Selected article(s) Geographical

orientation Research method

School library websites Content features Clyde (1996, 1999, 2004) Various countries

(two international web directories)

Content analysis (longitudinal analysis)

Jurkowski (2004) USA Content analysis

College library websites Content and structural features

Cohen & Still ( 1999) USA Content analysis

University library websites

Content features Still (2001) Australia, Canada, UK and USA

Content analysis

Content and structural features

Wood (2009) South Africa Content analysis

Art library websites Content and structural features

Michalec (2006) USA Content analysis

Association of Research Libraries (ARL)

Content features Detlor & Lewis (2006) USA Content analysis

Academic, public and special library websites

Content features Qutab & Mahmood (2009) Pakistan Content analysis

Management library websites (IIMs)

Content features Sampath Kumar, Prithiviraj, Sadashiv Naik & Reddy (2009)

India Content analysis

National library websites

Content features Haneef & Anjana Venugopal (2010)

Asian countries Content analysis

Methodology

• Data sampling:

The Universities Handbook -31st Edition (Association of Indian Universities) was used for constructing the data sample*

Based on the universities handbook each of the websites of the respective university was visited and identify the library web links*

After excluding some of the university websites from the study, the total population of data limited to 135 University library websites (78 state university library websites, 39 deemed university library websites, 10 institutes of national importance and 8 central university library websites).

• Unit of analysis :

Entire library website was considered as a the “unit of analysis” for the study

*web pages which had only a paragraph and few words of information were excluded from the study

Methodology

• Coding scheme design (coding sheet) :

Coding sheet for examining library website was developed based of the previous literature

The coding sheet was consisted 50 variables (content features) divided into five categories viz.,

Library general information (14 variables) library services information (9 variables) library resources (9 variables) web 2.0 features (6 variables) other content related features (12 variables)

• Data coding and intercoder reliability : Sampled data was coded from 20th April to 30th May 2009

Two independent coders (one the researcher himself (first author of the paper) and an M Phil student coded the data sample) to check the intercoder reliability.

The inter coder reliability was 85.62%, (15 % of the sample) which was above the acceptance level

Few example of the screenshot of sampled library websites

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/images/drowning.jpg

Content features of library websites

Library General Information

Mission/Vision statement/objectives

Hours of operations

Policies and procedures

a. Collection development policy

b. Borrowing policy and procedure (privileges)

c. Online access policy and procedures

Staff directory/Employee list

descriptions of Services,

Library rules

Information for visitor/visitor info

Annual reports/ statistics

Library map/floor map

News & Events or What’s New

Contact information (contact us)

Library feedback form/suggestion box

FAQs (frequently asked questions)

Library newsletter (blog, PDF file, DOC file, other file format)

Library services

Document delivery/Inter library loan request info

Link to my (personal) account

Book renewal information/form

Online course reserves

Ask a librarian (Online reference desk/assistance)

a. Reference assistance through telephone

b. Reference assistance through e-mail.

c. Reference assistance through online form

d. Live reference assistance/Instant message services

Availability of RSS feeds (Real Simple Syndication)newsfeed New arrival list/new acquisitions

Research assistance (help)

Online instructional tutorials/virtual guides

a Learn how to use the library

b. Citation style guides/ Citation management tools

c. Evaluating WWW resources and web sites.

d.Information literary skills

f. Legal and ethical use of information/plagiarism

g. Web search guides/tips

Library Resources

Subscribed Online bibliographic databases

Journal list (online/Off line)

Subscribed e-book collections

Online subject directories(pathfinders)

List of CD-ROM databases

Link to Online Public Access Catalogue(OPAC)

Link to other library OPAC(How many)

Unique Information/Special Collections

Link to govt. and local information

Web 2.0 features

RSS news feeds

Blogs

Wikis

Social networking sites (Face book, My Space, Orkut, twitter etc)

Podcasts

Social book marking and tagging feature etc

Other content related features

Book recommendations

Web master e-mail address

Link to librarians personal home page

Privacy statement

Library promotional materials

Library services for faculty

Book reviews and other web resources

Links to subject specialists

Remote access info

Information for disabled users

Job opportunities

Others (future plan, etc)

General library information in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance (INI) and central university (CU) library websites

Results-1

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

110.00%

SU DU INI CU

Percen

tage

Results-2Library service features in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance

(INI) and central university (CU) library websites*

ILL

Instructi

onal tutoria

ls

New arriva

l list

Ask a lib

raria

n

Research

assista

nce

Others

(news paper c

lippings,

photocopyin

g

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

SU DU INI CU

Percen

tage

*Only three websites (2 deemed university libraries and 1 institute of national importance library features chat reference service** There was no instructional materials on plagiarism, citation style guide, web search guides etc.

Results-3 Library resources in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance

(INI) and central university (CU) library websites

Links

to e-jo

urnals

links t

o databas

es

Online s

ubject g

uides

OPAC

Spec

ial co

llecti

ons

other

librar

y OPACs

E-books

Link t

o loca

l info

rmati

on

Others

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

SU DU INI CU

Percen

tage

Source: http://flickr.com

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

SU DU INI CU

Results-4 Web 2.0 features in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance

(INI) and central university (CU) library websites

Percen

tage

Results-5

other content features in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance (INI) and central university (CU) library websites

Book rec

ommendati

ons

Web

mas

ter e-m

ail ad

dress

Link t

o librar

ians pers

onal home pag

e

Privac

y stat

ement

Librar

y pro

motional mater

ials

Librar

y serv

ices f

or fac

ulty

Book rev

iews

Links

to su

bject sp

ecialist

s

Remote ac

cess

info

Inform

ation fo

r disa

bled use

rs

Job opportu

nities

Others

(futu

re plan

, etc)

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

SU DU INI CU

Overall results in a nutshell• Features like library services, contact information, opening hours,

staff directory, links to e-journals have found in more than 50.00% of the library websites.

• News & events, FAQs, comments, ILL, instructional tutorials, ask a librarian, link to online databases, web 2.0 features and some other important features were found in less than 50% of the library websites.

• This results showcase that Indian academic library websites have remained static in nature and represent web 1.0 phenomenon.

“Neanderthals of cyberspace” (Foerster, 1998 cited in Schweitzer, 2005).

What needs to be done to improve……….

• Improve the quality of website interface• Library systems need to look and function more like search engines,

i.e., Google and Yahoo, and Web services, i.e., Amazon.com, since these are familiar to users who are comfortable and confident in using them (Digital Information Seekers Report, 2010).

• Developing web design guidelines by ILA (Indian Library Association) or other stakeholders*

• Developing quality indicators for evaluating library websites• Conducting usability studies for creating users centered websites.• Training for library professionals longitudinally to keep pace with

changing information landscape. • Providing infrastructure and financial support for creating state of

the art facilities.

* Similar suggestions were made by Saima Quatab & Khalid Mahmood (2009) in their study on Pakistan library websites

Limitations of the study/future research

• This study was a snapshot of library websites in a given point of time. Thus some library websites might have changed now

• The study considered library website content features for analysis, design characteristics were not examined in this study

• Future research can be done on both content and design characteristics of the university library websites.

• Longitudinal content analysis of Indian library websites

• Examining the possibilities and implementation of other web genres (web 2.0 features) and mobile technologies for library services in Indian context

Thank You

?

Image courtesy : OCLC