Evaluating Digital Libraries in Iranian Research Institutes: Checking against DigiQUAL Protocol

Eight digital libraries are checked against eleven criteria of quality (i.e. design, availability, search capabilities, review, sharing, collaboration, structure of organization, security and access control, copyright, organization of resources, sustainable development and stability of digital library, digital library as community for users, programmer and critics). Data was collected by a checklist designed in compliance with digiQUAL protocol. All scored lower than 60 (out of 100) points. None of them provide users with in-time transaction for communication and support. Because users do not observe the rules of intellectual property, publishers of scholarly journals in Iran are not interested in providing digital versions of their products. This forces digital libraries to rely on online database services in order to satisfy user's needs. As such, they are not able to offer access to Persian language resources. With regard to resources, these libraries perform far below the international standards. Digital libraries of the Iranian research institutes with regard to the sources provide are very much behind DigiQual standards.