Testing a digital library of technical manuals

Abstract

This paper describes a methodology for testing the usability of a digital library. The paper also presents the results from using this methodology on a specific library of technical manuals. The testing process involves timing subjects while they look up facts in comparable libraries of online and paper documents. They are timed for both how long they take to find a desired manual in the library and how long they take to find a desired fact in a chosen manual. Next, the subjects fill out a questionnaire on which type library they prefer using and why. The objective time results and the subjective preferences are compared and analyzed.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
1998-06-01
DOI
10.1109/47.678553
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (14) · 1 in this index

  1. 10.1145/205323.205342
  2. History and philosophy of project Gutenberg
  3. Product documentation
  4. Welcome to IBM Web library
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Show all 14 →
  1. Future Libraries Dreams Madness and Reality
  2. Designing and Writing Online Documentation
  3. 10.1145/205323.205337
  4. 10.1145/205323.205340
  5. 10.1145/205323.205341
  6. the stanford digital library project
    Commun Assoc Comput Mach
  7. as we may think
    Atlantic Monthly
  8. 10.2307/808673
  9. 10.1145/205323.205339