Evaluating the Usability and Efficiency of the National Oil Corporation – Digital Library in Libya

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary discussion on some of the results from a survey aimed to explore, describe and explain some of the usability characteristics in digital library evaluation in the Libyan context. The study is framed in the evaluation of a bilingual digital library: The National Oil Corporation (NOC) – Digital Library in Libya. It is worth mentioning in this context that this study is the first of its kind to address evaluation issues in the context of Arabic language and it is limited to evaluate the effectiveness of the design of the prototype digital library which was designed using Greenstone digital library software. This paper discusses the evaluation of the prototype and reviews the analysis of the questionnaire, which was used for gathering data pertaining to the digital library that was built. The paper intends to discuss the methodology used for evaluating the prototype digital library, the framework, and the steps implemented to reach the final goal. Users’ opinions and views on the digital library are also presented in this paper. Evaluating the prototype digital library is considered an important stage towards developing a full-scale NOC digital library