Digital library support for scholarly research

摘要

Taking an iterative design approach, a user-centered field study investigated requirements to support remote scholarship. By observing scholars' use of a library special collection, a requirements analysis study established a model of scholarly inquiry and specified the initial design requirements for a web-based research library. Upon implementing a prototype providing intelligent information retrieval capabilities to access the full text and page image representations of twenty-eight books from the special collection, its use was evaluated by observing scholars conducting research remotely. Supporting the evaluation study, a web-based field laboratory administered survey instruments and instruction to participants. Promotional activities attracted an international group of scholars to use the prototype and participate in its evaluation. The results provide insight into web-based inquiry and requirements for remotely supporting scholarship.