Digital libraries evaluation: Measuring Europeana’s usability

Abstract

Europeana is an international trusted digital initiative providing access, from a single entry point, to prized collections from a number of European cultural institutions. Advanced Internet and digital technologies present new ways to connect with users; and there is a need continued evaluation of digital libraries. This paper reports on a task oriented, usability study exploring a number of aspects including user satisfaction specific to the Europeana Digital Library. Participants were students from Library Science and Information Systems department, who had some basic experience searching digital collections for information. Participants performed 13 tasks, and focused on the Hellenistic collection. Methodologically, the test was consisted of a list of tasks that among others aimed to assess user satisfaction and interest while performing them. The method applied was measuring Effectiveness, Efficiency, Learnability and Satisfaction. Despite the fact that it was not the first time that they came in contact with a digital library, several participants had difficulties while performing selected tasks, especially when they involved a variety of search types. In general, all of the participants seemed to comprehend how Europeana is organized, although the results also indicate that participants had feelings that expectations were not met when performing more complex tasks.