An evaluation based on the digital library user: An experience with greenstone software

Digital libraries are a product of digital information aimed at satisfying users’ information needs, through collections of documents to which value added services are provided. To ensure the correct functioning of digital libraries and the services they provide it is essential to adequately include an understanding of the needs of users and their behavior in the design and creation processes. The evaluation of digital libraries has benefited from an effort to establish theoretical frameworks. The model that is proposed is based on techniques centered on the user. The focus is on defining the structure of the analysis, establishing evaluation levels and criteria, and verifying these through an evaluation process, carried out by a group of end users. The user activity identified, and which was the subject of the study, is the process of creating, enriching and configuring a collection for a digital library. A basic evaluation instrument was designed, which combined closed and guided questionnaires with the collection and study of individual opinions of users in the test groups. The results obtained made it possible to confirm that the instrument has produced valid results. The weaknesses and problems inherent in the tool, and the tool's deficiencies which must be corrected, were identified