LIBER 39TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE - Statsbiblioteket

PaRaLLEL sEssIons 1.4 to 4.4
30 JunE 2010
sEssIon 2.4
gIusEPPIna vuLLo (unIvERsIty
of gLasgoW, uk):
a gLoBaL aPPRoach to dIgItaL
LIBRaRy EvaLuatIon
This paper will describe the key research
advances on digital library evaluation
models.
Digital library evaluation has a vital
role to play in building DLs, and in understanding
and enhancing their role in
society. The paper will cover the theoretical
approach, providing an integrated
evaluation model which overcomes the
fragmentation of quality assessments, and
propose some examples of DL evaluation
methodologies, undertaking a comparative
analysis of them.
Digital library evaluation is a growing
interdisciplinary area. Researchers and
practitioners have specific viewpoints
of what DLs are, and they use different
approaches to evaluate them. Each
evaluation approach corresponds to
a DL model, and there is no common
agreement on its definition. Despite that,
more and more efforts have been made
to evaluate DLs. However, a methodology
that encompasses all the approaches does
not yet exist. There are two main reasons
for this:
1. digital libraries are complex entities
which need interdisciplinary approaches
2. digital libraries are synchronic entities:
the speed of evolution of DLs coupled
with their lack of historical traces makes a
longitudinal analysis difficult if not impossible.
Nevertheless, DLs and DL research have
reached a level of maturity such that a
global approach to their evaluation is
needed. It would encourage exchange of
qualitative data and evaluation studies,
allowing comparisons and communication
between research and professional communities.
This paper will provide the research
advances in the field and a theoretical
framework for digital evaluation models.
giuseppina vullo is DL.org Co-Principal
Investigator in the EU-funded Digital
Library Interoperability, Best Practices &
Modelling Foundations (DL.org), where
she coordinates the Working Group
on Quality for Digital Libraries, and
researcher at HATII AT THE University of
Glasgow. She has been a DPEX fellow
at HATII in 2008, where she worked on
digital collections assessment, applying
DRAMBORA and InterPARES 3. Her
research interests range from quality to
contextualization in digital libraries and
enhancement of special collections within
digital environments. Giuseppina completed
in 2009 her Ph.D in Library Science at
the University of Udine, Italy, focusing on
digital libraries evaluation. Before joining
HATII, Giuseppina has been working as
librarian for international organisations in
Italy and in Switzerland.
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