5SQual: a quality assessment tool for digital libraries

Given that digital libraries (DLs) often are very dynamic, the administrators of these systems need to control their quality constantly, to continue satisfying their target communities. Different approaches to evaluate the success of a DL have been studied, but the suggested models, approaches and concepts had little practical impact on those actually carrying out such evaluations [3]. In this demonstration, we present 5SQual, a tool to automatically assess various aspects of a DL, according to the 5S quality model proposed in [2]. This model was developed upon the 5S framework [1], which defines the fundamental concepts, relationships and rules that govern the DL domain. In 5SQual, numerical indicators are associated with eight quality dimensions (accessibility, significance, similarity, timeliness, completeness, conformance, efficiency and reliability) in order to quantitatively evaluate three different key aspects of a minimum DL (digital objects, metadata specifications and services). For assessing a DL using 5SQual, the user can configure the parameters for the evaluation through an interface that guides her through the necessary steps, assuring that the mandatory parameters have been provided before undertaking an evaluation. One of the steps is shown in Figure 1. The tool provides means for retrieving information in the local file system, on the Web and through the OAI protocol. 5SQual is designed to be flexible and extensible to extract information. It can use already existing or specially tailored parsers for processing the input files. It is possible to save the evaluation configuration, and reuse it later, making it easier for the user to analyze systems repeatedly over time. As output from the evaluation, 5SQual generates a chart and an XML report for each selected dimension. Each chart gives a