Abstract |
The purpose of this study is to explore the information needs of students at institutes of technology and their attitude toward the library website, with the view of designing a library website that would be more user-oriented to increase its utilization.
The research uses the library website of Dahan Institute of Technology to investigate the information needs of the institute's students. Interviews and questionnaires were applied from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives to find out the students' usage experience and their opinion of an ideal library website. Two focus groups were interviewed and a total of 348 valid questionnaires were collected.
The following conclusions can be made:
1.Students' information needs are inevitably varied, as they not only require information that supports their studies, but also help them in their daily lives, such as on finding a job, pursuing further studies, financial aid, and recreation and leisure, etc.
2.Most university library websites do not provide contents that meet students' information needs.
3.The top ten services most needed by students from the library website are: information on scholarships/financial support, job links, information on professional certification, library catalogue search, part-time work announcement, information on further studies, Chinese database search, industry and business news, recreational information, and electronic references.
4.Students care little about the structure of the library website, more about the service and content.
The following suggestions can be made:
1.The institute home page should provide a clearly noticeable link to the library website.
2.The library website should be designed and structured in accordance with the institute's features.
3.The library should organize instructional programs and activities to promote the utilization of its website.
4.The library website should provide services of different kinds based on students' information needs.
5.The library website should have enhanced added values.
6.Librarians should make good use of their information organization ability.
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