Abstract

TORO CORDOBA, Gloria Isabel. Form and Usability of an Ex Professo Educational Resource: Health Promotion Digital Library (Biblioteca Digital en Promoción de la Salud, in Spanish). Rev. Interam. Bibliot [online]. 2015, vol.38, n.1, pp.41-53. ISSN 0120-0976.

This paper presents a case study regarding the features and the usage perception of the Digital Library ''Evaluation of Effectiveness in Health Promotion'', developed as a documentary resource for the Latin-American virtual course on the same topic. The library was composed of one collection. The methodology used is grounded on the principals of usability tests of digital libraries' websites where users (students) develop processes and give feedback regarding the environment. Usage was measured taking into account these four factors: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Satisfaction and Usefulness. Results showed high perception of efficiency and effectiveness when carrying out browsing and searching activities. The only aspect showing difficulties has to do with the usage of the functions ''Help'' and ''Preferences'' in this course's web environment. Students reported a high degree of satisfaction with the use of the library, being the contents, the order and the searching ease, the aspects perceived with the highest value. Since digital libraries are relatively new resources, the need of presenting this resource at the beginning of the course to reach a higher rate of use and exploitation was evident. This experience suggests that the distribution of ex professo collections through digital libraries can be an effective way to provide learning resources to students and other users.

Keywords : Digital library; Usability; Educational resource; Public health; Education.

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