Leveraging student course enrollment data to infuse personalization in a library website
| Published date | 09 September 2014 |
| Pages | 450-466 |
| Date | 09 September 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-07-2013-0096 |
| Author | Ian Chan |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology |
Leveraging student course
enrollment data to infuse
personalization in a library
website
Ian Chan
Library Systems, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos,
California, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the benefits of integrating personalization within
a library web site and presents methodology for achieving this goal within an academic setting.
Design/methodology/approach – The project documented in this study explores the use of student
course enrollment data as the basis for creating a personalized library web site. Off-the-shelf, open
source applications are used in conjunction with existing university data to deliver a final product that
offers an enhanced user experience for the university community.
Findings – Adaptive personalization is increasingly commonplace on the web. Academic libraries
have a unique source of existing data that offers the potential of adding personalization to the
library web site. At present, the personalization of library online services remains largely unexplored.
This projectillustrates one relativelylow-cost method to helplibraries interested in creatingpersonalized
web sites.
Practical implications – This paper provides a guide for libraries interested in the implementation
of personalization within their web sites.
Originality/value – The project described in this case study is highly unique within libraries.
The paper outlines the feasibility and technical requirements associated with using course enrollment
data to add personalized content to a library web site.
Keywords User interfaces, Personalization, Human computer interaction, User-centered design,
Student-centered library, User experience design
Paper type Case study
Introduction
While academic libraries have previously offered customizable web sites, adaptive
web site personalization through the integration of student data remains unex plored.
This case study describes the implementation of a system that utilizes studen t course
enrollment data to create adaptive personalization within the context of an academic
library web site. The study presents the design, development, implementation, and
assessment of such a system.
The challenge of building a user-friendly academic library web site
Academic libraries continue to develop their web sites as gateways to infor mation
resources, research help, and services. This investment has led to a great deal of
research focussing on the assessment and improvement of academic library web sites
(Brantley et al., 2006; Kim, 2011). A number of these studies show that users continue to
find academic library web sites complex and difficult to use. In focus groups comp osed
of students and faculty from two universities, many “participants commented that
library websites are overly complex and hard to navigate, and that a simplified portal
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Received 19 July 2013
Revised 17 December 2013
7 February 2014
Accepted 12 March 2014
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 32 No. 3, 2014
pp. 450-466
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-07-2013-0096
450
LHT
32,3
designed to meet individual needs would be welcome” (Munro and McLu re, 2010).
Participants in a 2011 study of a university library web site “perceived the usability of
the [library’s] website design to be challenging” (Kim, 2011).
Recommendations aimed at improving library web sites have increasingly called fo r
libraries to take a user-centric approach in designing their sites. A 2008 article
reviewing 111 Association of Research Libraries web sites found “the uni verse of
information presented on academic library homepages still focuses on librar y
functions, requires numerous pathways for access, has overwhelming options,
and takes a ‘one-design-for-all’ approach that fails to recognize users as individuals.”
The author recommends libraries offer each user a “persona l library space,” based on
that user’s profile, to reduce information overload and present “library resources in a
targeted and customized manner” (Liu, 2008). Somerville and Brar (2009) suggest
that academic libraries should re-design their web sites and online servi ces from a
user-centric rather than library-centric perspective.
Studies of factors impacting the use of academic library web sites also point to a
positive correlation between the perceived-ease-of-use (PEOU) of a site an d the future
intentions to use the site. Libraries that improve the PEOU of their sites are likely to
increase the desire of students to use the library’s web site (Heinrichs et al., 2007; Kim,
2010). A study of user perceptions toward university library web sites recommends
practitioners “design user-focused library websites that enhance the usability of [the
university library website] and provide customized services to different user groups in
order to increase usage” (Kim, 2011).
Using personalization to create a use r-centric library web site
Personalization can be defined as “the ways in which information and services can be
tailored to match the unique and specific ne eds of an individual or a community. This
is achieved by adapting presentation, content, and/or services based on a person’s task,
background, history, device, information needs, location, etc. essentially the user’s
context” (Smeaton and Callan, 2005, pp. 299-300). Frias-Martinez et al., 2009 describe
two major approaches to personalization: adaptability and adaptivi ty.
Research on the potential benefits of personalization systems continues to g row
(Park et al., 2012; Sunikka and Bragge, 2012). Improving web site ease-of-use and
reducing information overload are two oft-cited benefits of p ersonalization (Ketchell,
2000; Kumar and Benbasat, 2006; Liu, 2008; Wang and Yen, 2010; Lee and Cranage,
2011). Research conducted by Liang et al. (2007) indicates tha t “reducing information
overload is the most important concern for users in se eking information and that
personalized recommendations can perform well when users use the media to se ek
specific information.” A study by Porter (2011) on undergraduate research strategies
suggests that personalized recommendations would help students locate relevant
databases.
In the early 2000s, a number of academic libraries implemented web site
personalization systems. A review of web site personalizat ion initiatives from that time
period found most favored the use of adaptable or user-customiz ed systems ( Jeevan
and Padhi, 2006). A number of academic libraries used MyLibrary, a web-based
content management system (CMS) that gave users the ability to customize the layout
and content of a library web site (Morgan, 1999; Cohen et al., 2000; Ghaphery, 2002;
Gibbons, 2003).
However, research on how users perceived the adaptable personalization systems
offered by libraries has shown those systems encountered limited success. Gibbons (2003)
451
Student course
enrollment data
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