Evaluation of electronic
resources
Review of Internet quality issues
• Nearly anyone can publish information
on the Internet so
– academic journals sit next to comics
– presidential speeches, next to idle gossip
• Need to think twice about online
information
Internet quality issues cont...
• Internet resources are volatile
– can be here today, gone tomorrow
– might be useful one day and useless the
next
• Resources are not always user-friendly
– bad design can prohibit access
– usability will vary
Practical steps that can be taken
to evaluate quality on the Internet
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Be clear about your purpose
Define your information needs
Know your orientation within an Internet
site
Use URLs as clues to quality
– ‘.ac’ indicates an academic web site
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Identifying the type of resource you are
looking at
Quality criteria that can be used to evaluate an
Internet resource, including criteria for
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Content - the information itself
Form - the format of the resource
Process - the systems that support the
integrity of the resource over time
Content criteria
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Validity – is it reliable?
Accuracy – is it accurate?
Authority and reputation of the source
Uniqueness – is it original?
Completeness – is any info missing?
Coverage – what depth does it go into?
Timeliness – is it up-to-date?
Form criteria
• Navigation Features
– The ease with which users can orientate
themselves within a resource and find their
way around it.
• User Support
– The support that is offered to users to help
them answer queries and problems that
arise whilst using the resource.
• Appropriate Technologies
Process criteria
• Information Integrity
– Value of the information content over time—usually
relates to the work of the author or creator.
• Site Integrity
– Stability of the site over time. This usually relates to the
work of the site manager or Webmaster.
• System Integrity
– Stability and accessibility of the server hosting the
resource over time. This usually refers to the work of
system administrators.
Internet quality issues and
traditional content quality
Traditional quality criteria
• Evaluation of print materials
– Accuracy
– Authority
– Objectivity
– Currency
– Coverage
– Demand
– Cost: value and budget
Electronic information resources
• When looking at formal electronic
publications, then quality issues are
often easier due to
– established publishers
– established reputations
• But additional quality issues arise,
particularly related to the
appropriateness of information and the
selection criteria
Electronic resources and quality
• Subscriptions to electronic journals may
significantly increase access to
information
– Bundling of titles = common practise
• Information management issues
– Is it appropriate information?
– Is it high quality?
– What should be avoided?
Formal publication quality issues
• Even amongst established publishers
standards can vary
• Appropriateness of information
– A big influence on quality issues
– How useful is access to 4000 full text journals that
are inappropriate in terms of content?
• Publisher’s motives behind bundling
– Remember that they have motives that might not
match librarians needs!
Questions which are worth
considering include
• How can the most effective and
appropriate information be identified
and promoted?
– using resources that are familiar
– identifying new resources that are now
available
• How can appropriate new and
unfamiliar resources be promoted and
their use encouraged?
Summary
• Quality and evaluation is important when dealing with
electronic resources
• Some materials will have known quality (e.g. online
versions of paper subscriptions)
• Other, new resources will need to be assessed and
evaluated against quality criteria
• Remember your existing librarian information
evaluation and quality control skills
• New, high quality resources are still likely to require
promotion and users encouraged to explore them
Thank you
Any questions?