Digital libraries’ Developers and their Suitability: a Case Study

Abstract

This paper concentrates on evaluating the suitability of those who are involved in the development of digital libraries. Specifically, it aims to study the system analysts; those who are responsible for gathering system requirements, with the goal of determining how these requirements will be accommodated in the system. For this purpose, extensive communication between end-users and analysts is essential in order first to gather and then to analyze and understand end-users’ information needs. A case study conducted attempting to evaluate the developers of the Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG). SOSIG is an online catalogue of Internet resources on subjects related to social sciences. Results showed that there was a differentiation in the answers provided by end-users and the project manager, though it would be naïve to conclude that the project manager of SOSIG was not aware of users’ information needs.