Evaluating digital libraries: a systematised review

Alireza Rahimi; Mohammad R Soleymani; Alireza Hashemian; Mohammad R Hashemian; Azra Daei

doi:10.1111/hir.12231

Evaluating digital libraries: a systematised review

Health Info Libr J. 2018 Sep;35(3):180-191. doi: 10.1111/hir.12231.

Authors

Alireza Rahimi¹, Mohammad R Soleymani¹, Alireza Hashemian², Mohammad R Hashemian³, Azra Daei²

Affiliations

¹ School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
² Medical Library and Information Sciences, School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
³ Medical Library and Information Sciences, Health information Technology Research Center, School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

PMID: 30160384
DOI: 10.1111/hir.12231

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the models and methods for evaluating digital libraries.

Methods: Springer, Science Direct, ProQuest, Emerald, Wiley, LISTA, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, Magiran (Persian), Irandoc (Persian), SID (Persian) and Noormags (Persian) databases were searched systematically based on the defined criteria. Selection criteria included full-text articles and dissertations published in English and Persian languages in 2004-2017. The final included articles (n = 64) were reviewed, selected and analysed by group discussions.

Results: The results of analysing 64 included articles for this systematised review specified that the evaluation of digital libraries is mostly focused on the service quality aspect, and DigiQual was the most frequently used model. Few studies have evaluated digital libraries in the health sector. The researcher developed questionnaire is the most frequently used method to evaluate digital libraries.

Conclusion: Because there are fewer studies of digital libraries evaluation in the health sector, the specific features of health digital libraries should be addressed by librarians and health digital library designers to develop specific models.

Keywords: digital information resources; information management; review, systematic.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Health Information Management / methods*
Humans
Libraries, Digital / standards
Libraries, Digital / trends*
Libraries, Medical*