Developing the DigiQUAL protocol for digital library evaluation

The distributed, project-oriented nature of digital libraries (DLs) has made them difficult to evaluate in aggregate. By modifying the methods and tools used to evaluate physical libraries´ content and services, measures can be developed whose results can be used across a variety of DLs. The DigiQUAL protocol being developed by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has the potential to provide the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) with a standardized methodology and survey instrument with which to evaluate not only its distributed projects but also to gather data to assess the value and impact of the NSDL