Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington
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From Paper to Pixels : Evaluating the Usability of Digitised Books online

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thesis
posted on 2021-11-15, 00:27 authored by Robertson, Richard

Research problem: Digital libraries have invested significant resources digitising and providing access to an increasing number of books. The various approaches taken to visualise digitised books online, has potential to effect the usability and usefulness of the book to the user. Previous usability studies focus on the digital library as a whole, this study narrows the focus to the digitised book. The intention being to identify usability issues and investigate the effects a visualisation approach may have on users.  Methodology: An anonymous survey was conducted, employing the Interaction Triptych Framework (ITF) to frame the relationships between the user and digitised books. Two examples of digitised books from the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection and the Internet Archive were used. Participants from library, archives and history fields, as well as general users, were invited to participate.  Results: 132 participants began the survey, with 86 participants completing all of the required parts. Results suggest a slightly positive attitude towards the usability and usefulness of the examples, with Open Library rated higher for usability and both examples rated similarly for usefulness. Participant comments suggest many users appreciate features analogous to physical books, with regard to aesthetics, learnability and navigation, while for ease of use and reading, rich text appeared to be preferred over digital image based visualisation.  Implications: Digital Libraries need to continually strive to improve the usability and usefulness of digitised books to satisfy their users, further research is suggested creating prototypes and conducting user testing to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between users and digitised books online.

History

Copyright Date

2015-01-01

Date of Award

2015-01-01

Publisher

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Rights License

Author Retains Copyright

Degree Discipline

Information Studies

Degree Grantor

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Degree Name

Master of Information Studies

ANZSRC Type Of Activity code

970108 Expanding Knowledge in the Information and Computing Sciences

Victoria University of Wellington Item Type

Masters Research Paper or Project

Language

en_NZ

Victoria University of Wellington School

School of Information Management

Advisors

Shep, Sydney