Digital library design for organizational usability

Abstract

During the last decade, software designers have made progress in improving the usability of software products, such as word processors, by focusing on the design of interfaces. Less attention has been given to usability issues that go beyond the interface in the design of multi-user systems, such as a digital library (DL).In this paper, we discuss two aspects of DL usability-interface and organizational. While the Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) research community has helped pioneer design principles to improve interface usability, organizational usability is less well understood. In fact, HCI researchers often treat the term "DL usability" as synonymous with a DL's interface usability. "Design for organizational usability" is a new term that refers to the design of computer-based systems so that they are effectively integrated into the work practices of organizations. Issues of organizational design have been identified and faced by researchers and practitioners in neighboring fields, such as Information Systems. DL developers need to consider "design for organizational usability" issues during DL system design.Anthropologists have successfully used the concept of "cultural models" to understand the cultural constructs through which people view their worlds. Computer systems development communities, including the DL design community, usually have some consensus (cultural models) about the character of systems usability in their development process---how people do and should use computer systems, and what roles different users should play in the design of new systems. We discuss five typical models of computer systems design. These models become cultural models when they are taken for granted within a professional community as THE (natural) way to design all systems. A new model that incorporates "design for organizational usability" principles into system design is proposed. We believe that this model has the strongest chance of producing DL systems that diverse people can use effectively.