Evaluating Networked Information Services

Contains thirteen essays in which attendees at the American Society for Information Science's May 1999 mid-year meeting present a number of perspectives on evaluating networked information services and resources.

Provides update to current thinking about, and reasons for, service evaluation of libraries in the UK. Examines quantitative and qualitative methods including questionnaires, focus groups, suggestions boxes and interview techniques.Problems arising from survey outcomes are summarised and long-term evaluation and the relevance of benchmarking are discussed.Contains case studies covering survey work in public, academic and special libraries; charters and service level agreements; and examples of relevant research projects.New chapter on performance measurement in the electronic library.

This book provides a comprehensive view of the methods and approaches for performance evaluation of computer networks. It offers a clear and logical introduction to the topic, covering both fundamental concepts and practical aspects. It enables the reader to answer a series of questions regarding performance evaluation in modern computer networking scenarios, such as ‘What, where, and when to measure?’, ‘Which time scale is more appropriate for a particular measurement and analysis?’, 'Experimentation, simulation or emulation? Why?’, and ‘How do I best design a sound performance evaluation plan?’. The book includes concrete examples and applications in the important aspects of experimentation, simulation and emulation, and analytical modeling, with strong support from the scientific literature. It enables the identification of common shortcomings and highlights where students, researchers, and engineers should focus to conduct sound performance evaluation. This book is a useful guide to advanced undergraduates and graduate students, network engineers, and researchers who plan and design proper performance evaluation of computer networks and services. Previous knowledge of computer networks concepts, mechanisms, and protocols is assumed. Although the book provides a quick review on applied statistics in computer networking, familiarity with basic statistics is an asset. It is suitable for advanced courses on computer networking as well as for more specific courses as a secondary textbook.

This book describes techniques for evaluating services provided through library networks, including collection development, group purchases, and reference services. Providing guides for developing evaluation instruments, testing them and applying them, it is comprehensive in its treatment of evaluating network services. Featuring contributions from some of the leaders in the area of e-metrics (Oliver Pesh, Ebsco; Judith Hiott, Houston Public; Jeff Shim, ARL e-metrics; and Chuck McClure) this book is an integrated, updated knowledge base of events in this area since 1998. It also provides a great deal of experiential knowledge concerning what libraries should do, plan for, and use in e-metrics.

Historical Information Science is an extensive review and bibliographic essay, backed by almost 6,000 citations, detailing developments in information technology since the advent of personal computers and the convergence of several social science and humanities disciplines in historical computing. Its focus is on the access, preservation, and analysis of historical information (primarily in electronic form) and the relationships between new methodology and instructional media, techniques, and research trends in library special collections, digital libraries, data archives, and museums.

Many people in higher education are looking to networked resources and services when formulating strategies for addressing the pursuits of learning, teaching, research, and community service. Sometimes it may be difficult to determine if users are seeing the same things or the "right" things. This manual provides a set of tools for assessing the academic networked environment, not necessarily a strict blueprint for evaluation. It discusses benchmarking, focus groups, site visits, and other techniques for collecting and using qualitative data. Ways in which network activity can be measured are also discussed; assessment can involve counting registered users, costs, telecommunications "traffic," and use of computers and applications. Costs and usage of network services--online public library catalogs, campuswide information services, and distance education--as well as support services are also typical targets for assessment. A sample user survey related to these topics is provided, along with appendixes that offer self-assessment tools, data collection forms, information on software that measures network services and applications, and information technology surveys. (Contains 39 references.) (BEW)

Information representation and retrieval : an overview -- Information representation I : basic approaches -- Information representation II : other related topics -- Language in information representation and retrieval -- Retrieval techniques and query representation -- Retrieval approaches -- Information retrieval models -- Information retrieval systems -- Retrieval of information unique in content or format -- The user dimension in information representation and retrieval -- Evaluation of information representation and retrieval -- Artificial intelligence in information representation and retrieval.