136 INTEGRATED INFORMATION Digital libraries’ Developers and their Suitability: A Case Study Maria Monopoli † † Library Section, Economic Research Department, Bank of Greece, 21 El. Venizelos Ave., 102 50, Athens, Greece. mmonopoli(at)bankofgreece.gr Department of Library Science & Information Systems, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, 122 10, Athens, Greece. Abstract This paper concentrates on evaluating the suitability of those who are involved in the development of digital libraries. Specifically, it aims to study the system analysts; those who are responsible for gathering system requirements, with the goal of determining how these requirements will be accommodated in the system. For this purpose, extensive communication between end-users and analysts is essential in order first to gather and then to analyze and understand end-users’ information needs. A case study conducted attempting to evaluate the developers of the Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG). SOSIG is an online catalogue of Internet resources on subjects related to social sciences. Results showed that there was a differentiation in the answers provided by end-users and the project manager, though it would be naïve to conclude that the project manager of SOSIG was not aware of users’ information needs. Keywords Digital libraries, Evaluation, Systems developers. I. INTRODUCTION With the rapid expansion of online information technology, the growth of available electronic information, and increased user needs for online information sources, digital collections have mushroomed and digitization is pervasive in all types of libraries. There is no doubt that end-users have quick and direct access to vast amounts of electronic information. But, at the same time, users have to identify and evaluate this information on their own in order to satisfy their information needs. Unfortunately, results are not so positive. There is a large body of literature claiming that most end-users have not increased their ability to seek for information. It would not be exaggeration to call them as simple seekers with limited use of advanced searching techniques and no use of available information systems in their full potential (East, Sheppard and Jeal, 1995; Monopoli and Nicholas, 2000; Monopoli and Nicholas, 2001; Monopoli et al, 2002; Covi and Kling, 1996). Few users recognize that they are inexperienced in using on-line searching tools or have problems suggesting appropriate keywords. The majority of users do not realize that a low return of 'hits' from searching may be because of a poor search strategy employed. They are more likely to attribute this to the information system coverage rather than realize that better use of the system by using the available searching techniques may yield better results (McCathey, 1995). Taking all the above under consideration and trying to include the whole concept in a small in length sentence, we would say that no matter the growth of the number of digital libraries, there are still a great number of users who are not familiar with using specific digital libraries or do not use most of digital libraries’ services provided. So the question is: how is it possible to develop useful and usable to full capacity digital libraries or have users who can be characterized as efficient seekers? The development of an information system such as a digital library is a time-consuming procedure known as systems development life cycle (SDLC). SDLC is a conceptual model that describes the stages involved in an information system development project, from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application. Various SDLC methodologies (models) have been developed to guide the processes involved, however in general an SDLC methodology follows the following main four (4) phases: a) system analysis, b) design, c) implementation and d) maintenance (Center for Technology in Government, 1998). II. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This research studies the first phase of an information system development, the system analysis. For the purpose of this study, developers who are involved in the first phase are called as system analysts. Among their responsibilities is to gather system requirements, with the goal of determining how these requirements will be accommodated in the system. At this point, extensive communication between end-users and analysts is essential in order first to gather and then to analyze and understand their information needs. The outcome of this communication is responsible for creating systems that are capable of satisfying users’ information needs. Based on the fact that analysts have an important role to play in the development of digital libraries, how are we sure that we have involved the right analysts for collecting, but mostly for analyzing and understanding users’ information needs? The selection of the right people is one of the main principles for digital library development (McCray, A.T. and Gallagher, M.E., 2001). Therefore, this study aims to set up a discussion for the quality of system analysts focusing on evaluating