DigiQUAL

DigiQUAL is a measure of digital library service quality developed under the auspices of the Association of Research Libraries with funding from the National Science Foundation. The DigiQUAL project modified and repurposed the existing LibQUAL+® protocol to assess the services provided for the user communities of the National Science, Math, Enginee... ring and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL) program. The work was supported under grant no. [DUE-0121769]. DigiQUAL identified 180+ items around twelve themes related to digital library service quality (see Lincoln, Cook, Kyrillidou, 2004 ), through focus group interviews with staff at DLESE (Digital Library for Earth System Education) and MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching). The first phase of DigiQUAL involved testing subsets of these elements with users at five pilot sites: DLESE, Math Forum, MERLOT, NSDL.org, and NEEDS (National Engineering Education Delivery System). After testing and analysis in spring and summer of 2005, the protocol was documented in the literature (see the articles listed under Publications on this site). DigiQUAL is not a protocol that ARL has operationalized as an online service. ARL continues to work, though, on the development of metrics for a digital environment. A similar protocol is supported, operationalized, and offered to the library community in the MINES for Libraries (Measuring the Impact of Networked Electronic Services) survey.Read More