Design and usability of digital libraries : case studies in the Asia-Pacific (2005)
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- Abstract
- Design and Usability of Digital Libraries: Case Studies in the Asia Pacific showcases some of the best digital library practices from organizations in the Asia Pacific. Particular emphasis has been placed on the design, use and usability of digital libraries. Not only are digital libraries examined, but related technologies, the management of knowledge in digital libraries, and the associated usability and social issues surrounding digital libraries are all examined. Design and Usability of Digital Libraries will benefit practitioners, researchers, educators and policy makers from a variety of disciplines. In particular developers/designers of digital libraries, librarians, users and researchers will all find this collection of case studies a valuable tool to understanding digital libraries.
- Footnote
- The chapters are generally less than 20 pages, which allows for concise presentations of each case study. Each chapter contains, more or less, a brief abstract, introduction, related works section, methodology section, conclusion, and references. The chapters are further categorized into six thematic sections. Section I focuses on the history of digital libraries in the Asia Pacific. Section II, composed of four chapters, focuses on the design architecture and systems of digital libraries. The next five chapters, in section III, examine challenges in implementing digital library systems. This section is particularly interesting because issues such as multicultural and multilingual barriers are discussed. Section IV is about the use of and impact of digital libraries in a society. All four chapters in this section emphasize improvements that need to be made to digital libraries regarding different types of users. Particularly important is chapter 14, which discusses digital libraries and their effects on youth. The conclusion of this case study revealed that digital libraries need to support peer learning, as there are many social benefits for youth from interacting with peers. Section V, which focuses on users and usability, consists of five chapters. This section relates directly to the implementation challenges that are mentioned in section III, providing specific examples of cross-cultural issues among users that need to be taken into consideration. In addition, section V discusses the differences in media types and the difficulties with transforming these resources into digital formats. For example, chapter 18, which is about designing a music digital library, demonstrates the difficulties in selecting from the numerous types of technologies that can be used to digitize library collections. Finally, the chapter in section VI discusses the future trends of digital libraries. The editors successfully present diverse perspectives about digital libraries, by including case studies performed in numerous different countries throughout the Asia Pacific region. Countries represented in the case studies include Indonesia, Taiwan, India, China, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, and Malaysia. The diversity of the users in these countries helps to illustrate the numerous differences and similarities that digital library designers need to take into consideration in the future when developing a universal digital library system. In order to create a successful digital library system that can benefit all users, there must be a sense of balance in the technology used, and the authors of the case studies in this book have definitely proved that there are distinct barriers that need to be overcome in order to achieve this harmony.
Even though each chapter is short, the entire book covers a vast amount of information. This book is meant to provide an introductory sampling of issues discovered through various case studies, not provide an in-depth report on each of them. The references included at the end of each chapter are particularly helpful because they lead to more information about issues that the particular case study raises. By including a list of references at the end of each chapter, the authors want to encourage interested readers to pursue more about the topics presented. This book clearly offers many opportunities to explore issues on the same topics further. The appendix at the end of the book also contains additional useful information that readers might want to consult if they are interested in finding out more about digital libraries. Selected resources are provided in the form of a list that includes such topics as journal special issues, digital library conference proceedings, and online databases. A key issue that this book brings up is how to include different cultural materials in digital libraries. For example, in chapter 16, the concerns and issues surrounding Maori heritage materials are introduced. The terms and concepts used when classifying Maori resources are so delicate that the meaning behind them can completely change with even a slight variation. Preserving other cultures correctly is important, and researchers need to consider the consequences of any errors made during digitization of resources. Another example illustrating the importance of including information about different cultures is presented in chapter 9. The authors talk about the various different languages used in the world and suggest ways to integrate them into information retrieval systems. As all digital library researchers know, the ideal system would allow all users to retrieve results in their own languages. The authors go on to discuss a few approaches that can be taken to assist with overcoming this challenge.
