Usability Evaluation of Digital Libraries in Tehran Public Universities

For a sustainable development and greater success, digital libraries need to be evaluated at different time points. Usability study is a type of digital library evaluation.The aim of this study is identifying the usability of digital libraries in Tehran's public universities i.e. Sharif, Amirkabir and Tehran universities. Evaluative Survey methodology was used for the survey applying measures of search, navigation, forms layout, contrast and scan ability, optimization, help, usage of windows and speed and errors through a questionnaire containing 36 questions. The research population included 124,800 undergraduate, Master and PhD students, from three governmental universities of Sharif, Amirkabir and Tehran. Stratified random sampling method was applied to select 378 students as a sample which are 130 people in Tehran, Amirkabir 125 people and Sharif 123 people. For data analysis, SPSS software was used along with descriptive techniques as well as independent test and ANOVA where needed.The findings indicated that the criteria relating to the usability of digital libraries in the three Tehran governmental universities evaluated to be in relatively good condition and there is no significant difference between the digital libraries for the usability criteria. The results of this study suggest that according to the usability of digital library design creates more willingly resort to this type of user to visit the library and the realization of the objectives of the parent organization provides.