Framework for an application development model to build user-centred digital libraries

Digital libraries are more than lust web sites or stores of information. Designers have problems designing good web sites, and it would be reasonable to anticipate that they will have problems creating good digital libraries via the web. The immediate research challenge is to ensure that designers do things well From the start. Remedial work correcting problems can be both time-consuming and extremely costly. How can designers be helped? This paper describes a framework for an application development model to help designers build user-centred digital libraries. The objective of this model is to define essential design and usability issues that are crucial to the success of digital libraries.