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Finding Documents in a Digital Institutional Repository: DSpace and Eprints

Kim, Jihyun (2005) Finding Documents in a Digital Institutional Repository: DSpace and Eprints. In Grove, Andrew, Eds. Proceedings 68th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) 42, Charlotte (US).

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Abstract

Institutional repositories are “digital collections that capture and preserve the intellectual output of universities” (Crow, 2002). While still in their initial stages of development, much attention has been paid to the technical and administrative components. This paper examines the usability of the interfaces of two of the most commonly used institutional repository systems: DSpace and Eprints. By using heuristic evaluation and usability testing, eighteen undergraduate students were tested using a between subjects experimental design. Measures included time for completing tasks, the number of errors, and users’ satisfaction from post-test questionnaires. Results of the study indicated that DSpace users spent less time completing tasks and made fewer errors than Eprints users. Overall satisfaction of DSpace was also higher than Eprints. Based on this analysis of problem areas, the study suggests guidelines for institutional repository interfaces.

Keywords:institutional repositories ; IR ; Eprints ; DSpace ; user interface ; usability ; user satisfaction
Subjects:B. Information use and sociology of information. > BI. User interfaces, usability.
H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HS. Repositories.
ID Code:5189
Deposited By:Medeiros, Norm
Deposited On:08 February 2006
All fields:Show all fields

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