The Role of Persuasive Design Criteria in Persuading Users to Use theWebsite of the Central Library of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Libraries need to design websites to attract users to use the website and have interactive and valuable online experiences. One way to encourage users to use the library website is to apply the principles of persuasive design. Persuasive technology utilizing persuasive techniques to design products such as websites tries to positively influence people, thereby changing the attitude and behavior of a person to perform a particular action, such as using a website and encouraging users to perform a certain action. Libraries can use persuasion techniques to motivate users to interact with the library and to benefit from the services and information available through the library. Hence the identifying the extent of applying persuasive design criteria in the central library of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad was one of the study purposes. Furthermore, the main purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of persuasive design criteriain persuading the users to use the library website.

This study was an applied research, and its methodology was combination of the evaluation and survey. Research population consisted of MA students at Ferdowsi university of Mashhad belonging to four disciplines i.e., Basic Sciences, Humanities, Engineering, and Agriculture. The desired sample was selected based on Krejcie and Morgan’s sample size table through stratified random sampling (356 persons). The required data were collected by a check list and a researcher-made questionnaire. Validity and reliability of the check list and the questionnaire was confirmed. The gathered data were analyzed through the SPSS using descriptive (i.e., frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (i.e., one sample t-test).

For eight persuasive design criteria (i.e., credibility, privacy, personalization, attractiveness, solicitation, priming, commitment and ascendency), 107 elements were identified, of which 58 percent had been applied in the library website. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the website designers have payed the most attention to the credibility criterion and the least attention to the personalization criterion. The role of persuasive design criteria in persuading the users to use the library website was more than average. According to the results, loading speed and access to the content, user’s personal information privacy, online chat with librarians, selecting the mode of delivering the searched information, a well-organized interface, simple menus and icons, internal search engine, and existence of a section for the library new books were the most persuasive elements of the library website from the users' perspectives. 

This is one of the rare studies in the field of persuasive design in libraries. The results can be used by the librarians and the website designers to design this website more efficiently and effectively. The Librarians can make the website more user-friendly and persuade the users to use the website and the library services.