Iranian Journal of Information Processing and Management

Iranian Journal of Information Processing and Management

The Investigation of the Librarians’ Mental Model Completeness Scale of the Icons in the Circulation and Cataloging Modules of Azarakhsh, Simorgh and Nika Digital Library Applications

Authors
Sanaz Rahrovani
Mahdieh Mirzabeigi
Javad Abbaspour
10.35050/JIPM010.2016.027
Abstract
The present study intended to investigate the librarians’ mental model completeness scale of the icons in the circulation and cataloging modules of Azarakhsh, Simorgh and Nika digital library applications. Following a survey research design, The population of this research consisted of the librarians who were familiar with at least one of the digital library applications. Since the number of them was limited (174), they were selected using census. According to the results, in both circulation and cataloging modules, the librarians’ mental model of the icons was more complete in Simorgh application than those of Azarakhsh and Nika. Furthermore, a list of icons in the circulation and cataloging modules of the three applications, in which the librarians’ mental model of the icons’ functions was complete and incomplete, was provided. Since the users’ mental models of the icons in both circulation and cataloging modules might be incomplete or incorrect, one can determine the required instruction for the librarians by investigating the mental models’ completeness scale. Furthermore, providing a list of icons in which the librarians’ mental model of the icons’ functions is complete helps designers to design user interface in such a way that it corresponds to the users’ mental models as much as possible.
Keywords
librarian mental models
icon
User Interface
library applications
Azarakhsh application
Nika application
Simorgh application
mental model completeness scale

  • Receive Date 10 December 2022
  • Revise Date 28 May 2023