Assessment:User Studies

The User Studies Working Group compiled resources, conducted research, and drafted literature to assist those who are interesting in evaluating users of digital repositories and their needs. The group released Surveying the Landscape: Use and Usability Assessment of Digital Libraries (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/9NBQG) in December 2015.

Current Projects

The User Studies Working Group is not currently active.

Get Involved

The working group maintains a Google Drive folder, which contains meeting notes and drafts of working documents. Their work is also archived using the Open Science Framework.

If you have any questions please contact Santi Thompson.

Past Projects

Closer look at usability and reuse (2016-2017)

After discussions at the 2015 DLF Forum Assessment Lunch, the User Studies Working Group decided to form two subgroups to explore:

• Developing guidelines and best practices for user/usability study development
• Drafting a grant proposal to conduct a needs assessment for a toolkit to assess digital library reuse

Based on this work, the User Studies Working Group focused on two projects in 2017:

• Developing guidelines and best practices in digital library user experience
• Conducting a needs assessment for a toolkit to assess digital library reuse

Both groups are still active and, as of 2018, exist as their own separate working groups.

Usability Standardization

Building off of data used to write Surveying the Landscape: Use and Usability Assessment of Digital Libraries, the Usability Standards Subgroup focused on standardizing usability terms and processes by creating tags from existing literature on digital library usability. You can find more information on their work from the subgroup's Google Drive.

The User Studies Working Group white paper (2014-2015)

Participants identified four assessment topics to explore during the Assessment Breakout Session at the 2014 DLF Forum:

1. User/Usability studies
2. Identifying users and uses
3. Return On Investment (ROI)
4. Reuse of content/what do users do with content

These four groups will make up the focus of a white paper on assessing users and user needs. The working group will complete a series of tasks to generate the white paper:

1. Compile a bibliography
2. Develop a literature review -- Completed
3. Release Surveying the Landscape: Use and Usability Assessment of Digital Libraries for public comment
4. Release final draft of Surveying the Landscape: Use and Usability Assessment of Digital Libraries

White Paper Participants

White Paper Team

• Joyce Chapman, Duke University
• Megan Hurst, Athenaeum21 Consulting
• Elizabeth Joan Kelly, Loyola University New Orleans
• Caroline Muglia, University of Southern California
• Genya O’Gara, Virtual Library of Virginia
• Ayla Stein, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Santi Thompson, University of Houston (Co-Leader)
• Liz Woolcott, Utah State University (Co-Leader)
• Tao Zhang, Purdue University

Literature Review Team

• Joyce Chapman, Duke University
• Jody DeRidder, University of Alabama
• Elizabeth Joan Kelly, Loyola University New Orleans
• Martha Kyrillidou, Association of Research Libraries
• Caroline Muglia, University of Southern California
• Genya O’Gara, Virtual Library of Virginia
• Ayla Stein, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Santi Thompson, University of Houston (Leader)
• Rachel Trent, State Library of North Carolina
• Liz Woolcott, Utah State University

Bibliography Team

• Elizabeth Joan Kelly, Loyola University New Orleans
• Santi Thompson, University of Houston (Leader)
• Rachel Trent, George Washington University
• Liz Woolcott, Utah State University
• Tao Zhang, Purdue University

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