1. Looking at Indian academic library websites: A content analysis approach Vasantha Raju N. Librarian Govt. First Grade College Periyapatna vasanthrz@gmail.com & Dr. N.S. Harinarayana Associate Professor Department o f Library and Information Science University of Mysore Mysore ns.harinarayana@gmail.com 6th International Conference on Webometrics, Informetrics and Scientometrics (WIS) & 11th COLLNET Meeting October 19-22, 2010 Senate Hall University of Mysore, Mysore

3. Research questions

4. Earlier studies

5. Methodology

6. Sampling

7. Unit of analysis

8. Coding scheme

9. Data coding and inter coder reliability

10. Results

16. Based on the universities handbook each of the websites of the respective university was visited and identify the library web links*

19. The coding sheet was consisted 50 variables (content features) divided into five categories viz.,

20. Library general information (14 variables)

21. library services information (9 variables)

22. library resources (9 variables)

23. web 2.0 features (6 variables)

25. Two independent coders (one the researcher himself (first author of the paper) and an M Phil student coded the data sample) to check the intercoderreliability.

27. http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/images/drowning.jpg

30. Content features of library websites

34. Results-1 General library information in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance (INI) and central university (CU) library websites Percentage

35. Results-2Library service features in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance (INI) and central university (CU) library websites* Percentage *Only three websites (2 deemed university libraries and 1 institute of national importance library features chat reference service ** There was no instructional materials on plagiarism, citation style guide, web search guides etc.

36. Results-3Library resources in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance (INI) and central university (CU) library websites Percentage

37. Results-4Web 2.0 features in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance (INI) and central university (CU) library websites Percentage Source: http://flickr.com

38. Results-5other content features in state (SU), deemed (DU), institute of national importance (INI) and central university (CU) library websites

39. Overall results in a nutshell Features like library services, contact information, opening hours, staff directory, links to e-journals have found in more than 50.00% of the library websites. News & events, FAQs, comments, ILL, instructional tutorials, ask a librarian, link to online databases, web 2.0 features and some other important features were found in less than 50% of the library websites. This results showcase that Indian academic library websites have remained static in nature and represent web 1.0 phenomenon. “Neanderthals of cyberspace” (Foerster, 1998 cited in Schweitzer, 2005).

40. What needs to be done to improve………. Improve the quality of website interface Library systems need to look and function more like search engines, i.e., Google and Yahoo, and Web services, i.e., Amazon.com, since these are familiar to users who are comfortable and confident in using them (Digital Information Seekers Report, 2010). Developing web design guidelines by ILA (Indian Library Association) or other stakeholders* Developing quality indicators for evaluating library websites Conducting usability studies for creating users centered websites. Training for library professionals longitudinally to keep pace with changing information landscape. Providing infrastructure and financial support for creating state of the art facilities. * Similar suggestions were made by Saima Quatab & Khalid Mahmood (2009) in their study on Pakistan library websites

41. Limitations of the study/future research This study was a snapshot of library websites in a given point of time. Thus some library websites might have changed now The study considered library website content features for analysis, design characteristics were not examined in this study Future research can be done on both content and design characteristics of the university library websites. Longitudinal content analysis of Indian library websites Examining the possibilities and implementation of other web genres (web 2.0 features) and mobile technologies for library services in Indian context

42. Thank You ? Image courtesy : OCLC