What is service evaluation?

Service evaluation within a traditional library system is focused on evaluating how effective a library is in carrying out its mission (Marchionini, 2000). For a digital library, the focus is very much the same: How is the digital library carrying out its mission and providing service to its users? Anyone involved in digital libraries knows that this sounds much simpler than it is. Whereas librarians working in a physical library can see users, request feedback, and observe interactions with various service functions, people who work with digital libraries lack these opportunities. Nonetheless, as described below, there are effective strategies that can be used for service evaluation in the virtual environment of digital libraries.

Evaluating how well a library is meeting its service goals inevitably requires obtaining user feedback. Depending on the decisions to be made and the resources available for evaluation, a service evaluation can take many forms. One promising methodology is called the multi-attribute, stated-preference economic model (Choudhury, Hobbs, Lorie, & Flores, 2002). This technique involves the use of surveys that are based on the idea of providing users with “choice experiments” in which they get to state which alternatives they prefer (for services or features). It is important that the alternatives that are offered have multiple attributes and are realistic and credible so that users can make meaningful choices. The multi-attribute, stated-preference economic model has been used widely in marketing research focused on predicting the demand for new products. More information about this technique is provided below.