Content analysis of websites of select public libraries in India

Libraries’ website has increased in number at a very rapid rate over the last few years and the content of these websites has been developing in parallel. Most libraries now have a website. With the increasing number of websites and considerable investment in them, website content analysis has become an important activity. The objectives of the present work are to analyze the content of public libraries’ websites to gather information about them, their information sources, products, and services.

To work systematically and to collect comprehensive, relevant data for the study, an evaluative research methodology was adopted. Previous literature available in the context of the evaluation was thoroughly searched, then websites for content evaluation purposes were selected. The collection of data was accomplished using observation and checklist tools. Collected data was analyzed to draw suitable conclusions.

The content analysis of selected public libraries’ websites revealed that almost all of the websites did not provide comprehensive information about the library, its information sources, services, and activities. Each website has some or other lacunae. Goa State Central Library provides maximum content information as compared to other selected libraries’ websites as it obtained rank 1 in content analysis while the lowest total score and rank of the website of the Department of Libraries and Research, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir depicts that this website does not provide detail information regarding the library, its information sources, services and activities.

Many previous studies have been done on content analysis of libraries’ websites, but no such study has been done on content analysis of public libraries’ websites. The present work attempts to analyze the content of selected public libraries’ websites in India for the information provided through the website about libraries, their information resources, products, and services. This content analysis study could help in the improvement of the website and provide comprehensive information about libraries, their sources, and services to users.