Abstract

Information architecture (IA), which is based on the classical principles of solid traditional Information Science, was born in the late ‘90. This discipline deals with structuring, organizing and tagging elements of informational environments to facilitate searching and retrieval of information they contain, thereby improving the usefulness and applications of IA. Main systems or structures that build a website’s architectonic anatomy are the organization systems, labeling systems, navigation systems, search systems and controlled vocabularies. Nowadays, the information architecture praxis and design is centered on user needs.

Abstract

The majority of online newspapers provide access to retrospective information through press archive services, a product of great interest for libraries and other information services. The aim of this study is to identify key indicators for the evaluation of digital press archives and also identify examples of good practices in Spain for each of them. We propose a list of twenty-seven indicators grouped into four main sections (general features, contents, query system, and presentation of results), describe each one and include some examples of successful implementation. Methodologically, the indicators are the result of the review of the literature on evaluating web resources, databases and digital press archives, as well as the analysis of press archive services of newspapers from Spain and Catalonia. The use of these indicators can be useful for libraries and other information services to guide their users in consulting retrospective press information.

Abstract

The digital press archives of the Spanish newspapers with the largest digital circulations ara analysed. Evaluative study based on 27 indicators divided into 4 main sections: general features, content, query system, and presentation of results. The analysis was conducted in 2010, and results obtained in 2007 are compared. The best and worst aspects of the digital press archives are pointed out, establishing a newspapers ranking: El mundo, Abc, El país and La vanguardia occupy the top positions. The five major trends: extension of the temporary fund online, free archives versus payment archives, simplification (and depletion) of the query, filters in the presentation of results and documentary products in the archives are described.