Review of web presence of university libraries of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Purpose The paper discusses the findings of a study that analyze the content and design of university library websites of Sri Lanka and to highlight the points that need to be addressed in order to enhance the quality of the websites. Besides, this paper presents a simplified version of an evaluative instrument that was developed by the author. Methodology Websites of university libraries of Sri Lanka were assessed based on a 17-itemed evaluative instrument The rating was carried out during the first week of April 2013 through manual inspections and based on the results generated by 3 automatic web tools namely; AChecker, W3C Markup Validation Service, Juicy Studio readability test tool Findings The findings revealed that the quantitative web presence of Sri Lankan university libraries is in an acceptable form. All 3 parameters - availability of websites, size of sites, location of the link to the library site in the parent institutions websites - that measure the quantitative web presence were found to be in high level. Out of the two qualitative aspects – content richness and design accuracy – of the website, the content richness was found to be at a fairly satisfactory level. Out of the 12 library websites tested, 7 sites reached the high level while 3 sites reached the medium level. However, design accuracy level of the websites was quite disappointing. Ten library sites remain in the low level while only two library sites, one each, managed to climb to the first level and the second level. Practical implications The evaluative instrument presented in this paper would be useful for library professionals in evaluating the current status of the library websites for institutional or research purposes. Originality/value The evaluative instrument presented in this paper is an original tool and the results generated based on the tool have added a new set of empirical data to the body of literature.