Organizational influences on the university electronic library

This paper reviews the literature on full-text electronic library (and digital library) research and development, to discuss the organizational factors which can impact on electronic library development. Such factors, it is argued, affect not only the overall success of an electronic library project within a higher education institution, but also and more specifically the usability of the final system for its staff and student end-users. Usability is taken to involve more than merely the surface user interface of a system. Relevant statements and findings in the literature are set within the context of an organizational framework, which emphasizes the influences of each stakeholder group on the end-users' experience of the system. It is concluded that system design may be improved by further research into the real behaviour of students and academics, coupled with a broader view of the organizational context in which development takes place. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.