Understanding users' experiences: evaluation of digital libraries

Evaluation of digital libraries from a user perspective poses immense challenges. Any digital library serves different types of user, with different needs and levels of understanding, and has to be acceptable - not just in terms of basic usability, but also in terms of supporting work as a social, contextualized activity. Different approaches to evaluation are needed for answering different evaluation questions; their broader relationship to design practice also needs to be considered. These issues are discussed in outline in this extended abstract.