© Copyright 2006 Texas Digital Library. All Rights Reserved.
Vol 1, No 1 (1997)
Editorials
Lab Report: Center for the Study of Digital Libraries, Texas A&M University
The Center for the Study of Digital Libraries (CSDL) was established in 1995 by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and builds upon research developed in the Hypermedia Research Laboratory established in 1987. A member of the global digital library research community, the Center provides a focal point for digital libraries research and technology for the State of Texas. Its mission is to foster pioneering research on the theory and application of digital libraries and to create flexible and efficient new technologies for their use.
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Articles
An empirical comparison of the usability for novice and expert searchers of a textual and a graphic interface to an art-resource database
The present paper reports an experimental test of a prototype graphic and textual search interface for a university database on art-resource works. Novice and expert searchers were tested on both interfaces with performance assessed in terms of search speed and accuracy. Verbal protocols and navigation strategies were also examined. Experts performed significantly faster than novices though both user groups performed slightly (but not significantly) faster with the graphical interface. Furthermore, the graphical interface significantly reduced navigation effort. While there were no significant task accuracy differences, novices failed to complete more searches with the textual interface. Implications of these results for search interfaces to digital resources are briefly discussed.
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The World Wide Web - Past, Present and Future
Tim Berners-Lee was awarded a Distinguished Fellowship of the British Computer Society on July 17, 1996 at the new British Library in London. The following is a transcript of his presentation.
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Scholarly Communication and the Digital Library: Problems and Issues
This paper considers a range of definitions for a digital library from the perspective of scholarly communication and the properties of a traditional research library. It then explores some of the problems and issues involved in creating and maintaining a digital library, depending on the characteristics one wants it to have. The paper stresses the need to consider the requirements of scholarship and research as we build the digital libraries of the future.
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