In taking into full consideration of the technology acceptance model(TAM),this empirical study has made a few assumptions and also has formulated a model for the study on the level of satisfaction of database users. T...In taking into full consideration of the technology acceptance model(TAM),this empirical study has made a few assumptions and also has formulated a model for the study on the level of satisfaction of database users. This research project was conducted by collecting relevant data from library users of five universities. Specifically, it aimed to measure database users' level of satisfaction and tried to find factors affecting these graduate students who are using databases regularly at their university libraries. An analysis of the collected data shows that the level of database users' satisfaction could be directly affected by the database service quality, the easiness of accessing the system and user perceived notion of usefulness of those databases that they use often. This study also found that database users' gender could be a significant factor in their perceived notion of easiness of accessing databases, and also in their perceived notion of satisfaction for their successful information retrieval operations. The frequency of accessing databases by these graduate students has an impact on users' perceived notion of easiness of database access. The users' school classifications could make a significant difference in their perceived notion on the extent of usefulness of a particular database.展开更多
On the basis of user satisfaction,authors made research hypotheses by learning from relevant e-service quality evaluation models.A questionnaire survey was then conducted on some content-based websites in terms of the...On the basis of user satisfaction,authors made research hypotheses by learning from relevant e-service quality evaluation models.A questionnaire survey was then conducted on some content-based websites in terms of their convenience,information quality,personalization and site aesthetics,which may affect the overall satisfaction of users.Statistical analysis was also made to build a user satisfaction-based quality evaluation system of network information service.展开更多
Information on species composition of an urban forest is essential for its management.However,to obtain this information becomes increasingly difficult due to limited taxonomic expertise.In this study,we tested the po...Information on species composition of an urban forest is essential for its management.However,to obtain this information becomes increasingly difficult due to limited taxonomic expertise.In this study,we tested the possibility of using plant identification applications running on mobile platforms to fill this vacuum.Five plant identification apps were compared for their potential in identifying urban tree species in China.An online survey was conducted to determine the features of apps that contributed to users’satisfaction.The results show that identification accuracy varied significantly among the apps.The best performer achieved an accuracy of 74.6%at the species level,which is comparable to the accuracy by professionals in field surveys.Among the features of apps,accuracy of identification was the most important factor that contributed to users’satisfaction.However,plant identification apps did not perform well when used on rare species or outside of the regions where they have been developed.Results indicate that plant identification apps have great potential in urban forest studies and management,but users need to be cautious when deciding which one to use.展开更多
Purpose: This study intends to evaluate the service quality of academic digital libraries(DLs)in China. By utilizing tetra-class model which concentrates on categorizing services according to their contributions to us...Purpose: This study intends to evaluate the service quality of academic digital libraries(DLs)in China. By utilizing tetra-class model which concentrates on categorizing services according to their contributions to user satisfaction, this paper attempts to visually categorize the specific DL service elements to reveal their present performances, and then further explain the categorizing variations among different groups of users to discover the user preference.Design/methodology/approach: This paper carries out a survey to evaluate user experience on 27 typical DL services summarized from our investigations of representative Chinese university DLs. Based on the five-point Likert-type scale evaluation, the users’ attitudes toward specific service element are divided into negative and positive dimensions. Afterwards,a correspondence analysis is applied to calculate the contributions to satisfaction and dissatisfaction of each service element based on tetra-class model. As a result, the DL service elements of Chinese academic libraries are classified into four categories(i.e. Basic, Secondary,Plus, and Key). Finally, we compared the categorizing variations.Findings: The results show that the DL service elements of Chinese academic libraries are all distributed in Basic and Key services regarding information retrieval and informationorganizing; 80% of the interaction services elements are Plus services, while 50% of the Secondary services are information-providing services. The results also reveal that service categorization is obviously influenced by the users’ education background, especially their disciplines. Furthermore, the users who are older, more highly-educated, or studying in higher reputation universities are more likely to evaluate DL services as either critical or useless.Research limitations: Tetra-class model cannot reveal the interplay among the DL service elements. In addition, the user segmentation in our studies is limited to the sample structure.Practical implications: This empirical study focuses on the evaluation of DL services of academic libraries in China, the analyses of their current performances could provide useful reference for the assessment of other types of Chinese DLs. Moreover, the consideration of user characteristics(gender, age, and education background, etc.) in the DL evaluation would help librarians improve DL services to meet the users’ various needs in teaching and doing scientific research.Originality/value: Different from the frequently-used factor analysis which focuses on the relationship among factors and user satisfaction, this paper tries to use and compare element distributions of different user segments while focusing on various service objectives. Factor analysis shows some flaws as used to measure the element with selected indicators, for it ignores the fact that the indicators which measure the same factor would have different degrees of impacts on user satisfaction. However, the tetra-class model can better visually analyze the performance of each DL service element from its contributions to satisfaction and dissatisfaction, which would help librarians to better understand users’ need and offer DL services more efficiently.展开更多
Purpose:The purpose of the research is to investigate public needs for digital information service in the Chinese libraries and museums and seek ways to help these public service institutions improve their service to ...Purpose:The purpose of the research is to investigate public needs for digital information service in the Chinese libraries and museums and seek ways to help these public service institutions improve their service to meet user needs.Design/methodology/approach:An online questionnaire survey was used to study the publicneeds for digital information service provided by libraries and museums.A total of 474 valid questionnaires were retrieved for analysis.Findings:The primary purpose of using the digital library and museum service was for knowledge acquisition,followed by work or class assignment and leisure and entertainment.Users need one-stop information service that provides information and service in a more integrated form and allows cross-database searching as well.Research limitations:A majority of the respondents were young and middle-aged people who often use the Internet.We would need to increase our sample size and include different groups of users such as children and retirees to make the sample more representative.Practical implications:Libraries and museums should collaborate to provide the users with one-stop digital information service.Meanwhile,the research can serve as a reference source for the future studies of digital library and museum service.Originality/value:Few studies were published on the public needs for digital library and museum service in China.This study bridges the gap and contributes to our understanding of the Chinese users’ needs for digital information service in libraries and museums.展开更多
基金supported by the Ministry of Education of China(Grant No.05JZD00024)
文摘In taking into full consideration of the technology acceptance model(TAM),this empirical study has made a few assumptions and also has formulated a model for the study on the level of satisfaction of database users. This research project was conducted by collecting relevant data from library users of five universities. Specifically, it aimed to measure database users' level of satisfaction and tried to find factors affecting these graduate students who are using databases regularly at their university libraries. An analysis of the collected data shows that the level of database users' satisfaction could be directly affected by the database service quality, the easiness of accessing the system and user perceived notion of usefulness of those databases that they use often. This study also found that database users' gender could be a significant factor in their perceived notion of easiness of accessing databases, and also in their perceived notion of satisfaction for their successful information retrieval operations. The frequency of accessing databases by these graduate students has an impact on users' perceived notion of easiness of database access. The users' school classifications could make a significant difference in their perceived notion on the extent of usefulness of a particular database.
基金supported by the Ministry of Education of China(Grant No.06JJD870006)
文摘On the basis of user satisfaction,authors made research hypotheses by learning from relevant e-service quality evaluation models.A questionnaire survey was then conducted on some content-based websites in terms of their convenience,information quality,personalization and site aesthetics,which may affect the overall satisfaction of users.Statistical analysis was also made to build a user satisfaction-based quality evaluation system of network information service.
基金supported financially by China National Natural Science Foundation(grant number 31570458)Microsoft Research Lab-Asia(grant number 041902008).
文摘Information on species composition of an urban forest is essential for its management.However,to obtain this information becomes increasingly difficult due to limited taxonomic expertise.In this study,we tested the possibility of using plant identification applications running on mobile platforms to fill this vacuum.Five plant identification apps were compared for their potential in identifying urban tree species in China.An online survey was conducted to determine the features of apps that contributed to users’satisfaction.The results show that identification accuracy varied significantly among the apps.The best performer achieved an accuracy of 74.6%at the species level,which is comparable to the accuracy by professionals in field surveys.Among the features of apps,accuracy of identification was the most important factor that contributed to users’satisfaction.However,plant identification apps did not perform well when used on rare species or outside of the regions where they have been developed.Results indicate that plant identification apps have great potential in urban forest studies and management,but users need to be cautious when deciding which one to use.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.:71273197)
文摘Purpose: This study intends to evaluate the service quality of academic digital libraries(DLs)in China. By utilizing tetra-class model which concentrates on categorizing services according to their contributions to user satisfaction, this paper attempts to visually categorize the specific DL service elements to reveal their present performances, and then further explain the categorizing variations among different groups of users to discover the user preference.Design/methodology/approach: This paper carries out a survey to evaluate user experience on 27 typical DL services summarized from our investigations of representative Chinese university DLs. Based on the five-point Likert-type scale evaluation, the users’ attitudes toward specific service element are divided into negative and positive dimensions. Afterwards,a correspondence analysis is applied to calculate the contributions to satisfaction and dissatisfaction of each service element based on tetra-class model. As a result, the DL service elements of Chinese academic libraries are classified into four categories(i.e. Basic, Secondary,Plus, and Key). Finally, we compared the categorizing variations.Findings: The results show that the DL service elements of Chinese academic libraries are all distributed in Basic and Key services regarding information retrieval and informationorganizing; 80% of the interaction services elements are Plus services, while 50% of the Secondary services are information-providing services. The results also reveal that service categorization is obviously influenced by the users’ education background, especially their disciplines. Furthermore, the users who are older, more highly-educated, or studying in higher reputation universities are more likely to evaluate DL services as either critical or useless.Research limitations: Tetra-class model cannot reveal the interplay among the DL service elements. In addition, the user segmentation in our studies is limited to the sample structure.Practical implications: This empirical study focuses on the evaluation of DL services of academic libraries in China, the analyses of their current performances could provide useful reference for the assessment of other types of Chinese DLs. Moreover, the consideration of user characteristics(gender, age, and education background, etc.) in the DL evaluation would help librarians improve DL services to meet the users’ various needs in teaching and doing scientific research.Originality/value: Different from the frequently-used factor analysis which focuses on the relationship among factors and user satisfaction, this paper tries to use and compare element distributions of different user segments while focusing on various service objectives. Factor analysis shows some flaws as used to measure the element with selected indicators, for it ignores the fact that the indicators which measure the same factor would have different degrees of impacts on user satisfaction. However, the tetra-class model can better visually analyze the performance of each DL service element from its contributions to satisfaction and dissatisfaction, which would help librarians to better understand users’ need and offer DL services more efficiently.
基金supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China(Grant No.:13ATQ001)
文摘Purpose:The purpose of the research is to investigate public needs for digital information service in the Chinese libraries and museums and seek ways to help these public service institutions improve their service to meet user needs.Design/methodology/approach:An online questionnaire survey was used to study the publicneeds for digital information service provided by libraries and museums.A total of 474 valid questionnaires were retrieved for analysis.Findings:The primary purpose of using the digital library and museum service was for knowledge acquisition,followed by work or class assignment and leisure and entertainment.Users need one-stop information service that provides information and service in a more integrated form and allows cross-database searching as well.Research limitations:A majority of the respondents were young and middle-aged people who often use the Internet.We would need to increase our sample size and include different groups of users such as children and retirees to make the sample more representative.Practical implications:Libraries and museums should collaborate to provide the users with one-stop digital information service.Meanwhile,the research can serve as a reference source for the future studies of digital library and museum service.Originality/value:Few studies were published on the public needs for digital library and museum service in China.This study bridges the gap and contributes to our understanding of the Chinese users’ needs for digital information service in libraries and museums.