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<p> With the advancement of information technology, national library websites have become an essential vehicle for their users to access official information and library resources. They serve the general public from different countries, age groups, ethnicities, and educational levels. The purpose of this dissertation research is to examine the usability, user experience (UX), and information architecture (IA) of national library websites in different countries. Focal areas of investigation include: (1) the primary content elements on national library websites' homepages, (2) the extent to which various quantitative measures of heuristic evaluation and IA assessment overlap with those measures from task-based usability testing, (3) the extent of the impact of cultural and national origins on participants&rsquo; assessment of usability of national libraries&rsquo; websites. The research design of this dissertation study features (1) a content inventory of 28 national library websites, (2) a web IA assessment and a usability evaluation of five national library websites, and (3) usability tests for three national library websites involving 30 participants. The key findings of this dissertation research help to establish a list of common content elements on the homepages of national library websites worldwide and provide a concrete, practical, and feasible procedure to evaluate such websites. The results show statistically significant differences in task performance with the use of national library websites between different groups of users, such as those from different genders and educational backgrounds. Significant correlations were found between the overall participant satisfaction of a national library website and multiple variables such as the content, visual design, and information architecture, as well as between heuristic evaluation scores and participants&rsquo; ratings of some aspects of the websites. </p><p> Based on the specific results from various phases of the research, this dissertation presented detailed recommendations that could help to make national library websites more usable for all its users, including the first-time users across different genders, age groups, and educational backgrounds. Furthermore, in order to achieve a high level of satisfaction, it is recommended that national libraries focus on six factors affecting participants&rsquo; satisfaction: the quality of information, the trustworthiness of the content, the credibility of the content producers/providers, the website&rsquo;s overall structure, the design, and the aesthetics of the website. </p><p> Another significant contribution of this dissertation research is its use of various methods used to evaluate national library websites and its integration of the results of the different methods to obtain a broader and more comprehensive understanding of these findings. Future UX research on national library websites could expand the research by incorporating the methodology used in this research, testing a greater number of national library websites around the world, and involving users from all walks of life. </p><p>

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Attempts have been made by several organizations, including the American Library Association (ALA), to provide greater access to professional education for library managers/directors; however, the rural environment presents unique challenges to education not addressed by many of the policies and programs currently in place. This study examined the perspectives of library managers/directors in rural Northwest Georgia about the factors that impede or facilitate professional degree attainment. Participants included twelve library managers/directors serving in rural communities. Qualitative interviews with the library managers/directors identified their experiences and issues including challenges and incentives to professional degree attainment. The principal findings include: the difference in the experiences and perspectives of degreed and non-degreed participants, regarding professional degree attainment; and the degree to which multiple financial, geographical and cultural factors are affected by demographic characteristics of participants. The results of this study can be used by organizations and agencies who seek to improve the education of rural library managers/directors.

Increasing numbers of Americans are seeking information about health and medicine. The advent of the Internet has ushered in an explosion of resources, but no mediating device to help lay people discern between authoritative current data, opinion pieces or unsubstantiated anecdotes. The field of consumer health is ripe with programs and initiatives designed to address the issue of access and education, but those are often scattered, spottily coordinated, poorly advertised and, in some cases, needlessly duplicated. The formation of robust partnerships between two major entities attempting to provide consumer health information (public libraries and academic health sciences libraries) seems logical and timely, especially during this time of increased focus on all aspects of American healthcare. This thesis examines what, if any, partnership activities exist between the three academic health science libraries and three contiguous public library systems in the Commonwealth of Virginia to provide consumer health information services to the community. Partnership experiences with any entity are discussed as well as specific partnership initiatives to provide consumer health information. Brief electronic survey results and follow-up telephone interviews revealed that all six libraries embraced various partnerships with other entities to reach different audiences and experienced largely positive results; however, when consumer health partnerships were examined, the research indicated only one formalized program with tenuous partnership features that originated at an academic health sciences library. Based on these results, the recommendation to shift the coordination of consumer health information partnership activity to an overseeing state entity familiar with both types of libraries is discussed.

This thesis examines genealogists’ information needs and discusses how librarians can accommodate them by providing access to essential primary sources as well as making those materials user-friendly. It includes a review of relevant literature and the results of a survey of experienced genealogists that shed light on the informationseeking behavior of genealogists. It identifies problems experienced by genealogists in their search for information and recommends solutions by explaining what librarians can do to make primary sources more accessible and usable for genealogists. In doing so, it also illuminates the goals of genealogists, how they search for information, and what they expect of libraries. This study indicates that secondary sources cannot completely satisfy the information needs of genealogists. Therefore, genealogists must use primary sources, including original manuscripts and/or their facsimiles of community historical court documents, vital records, and non-governmental records. This presents a problem since publishing companies rarely supply the local primary source records needed by genealogists. Furthermore, primary sources were not created with genealogists in mind. These historical documents originally served specific governmental or legal functions, so they often lack indexes or a clear sense of organization. The results of the study indicate that genealogists research a family’s lineage beginning with the present and work to discover the identity of each subsequent generation of ancestors. Their tools consist of historical documents containing relevant evidence of the identities and kinship of ancestors. They may use place names or dates, but more frequently, they search by names of individuals or by surnames. Ideally, librarians should gather and arrange primary sources pertaining to their communities in order to accommodate genealogists’ goals and methods. Creating collections of primary sources for genealogical research attract many new library users. In addition, it presents the library with the opportunity to document its community’s uniqueness while satisfying its customer’s desire to find his or her place in it.