Title page for ETD etd-12222008-142304

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Gaat, Tilottama

URN

etd-12222008-142304

Title

The LibX Edition Builder

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Computer Science

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Back, Godmar V.	Committee Chair
Fox, Edward Alan	Committee Member
Tilevich, Eli	Committee Member

Keywords

LibX
Code generation
Log-based usability evaluation
AJAX

Date of Defense

2008-07-23

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

LibX is a browser plugin that allows users to access library resources directly
from their browser. Many libraries that wished
to adopt LibX needed to customize a version of LibX for their own institution.
Most librarians did not possess the necessary knowledge of XML,
running scripts and the underlying implementation of LibX required to create
customized, functional LibX versions for their own institutions. Therefore, we
have developed a web-based tool called the \emph{LibX Edition Builder} that empowers librarians to create their own customized LibX version (editions), effortlessly.

The Edition Builder provides rich interactivity to its users by exploiting the ZK AJAX framework whose components we adapted. The
Edition Builder provides automatic detection of relevant library
resources based on several heuristics which we have developed, which
reduces the time and effort required to configure these resources.

We have used sound software engineering techniques such as
agile development principles, code generation techniques, and the
model-view-controller design paradigm to maximize maintainability of the Edition
Builder, which enables us to easily incorporate changing functional requirements
in the Edition Builder.

The LibX Edition Builder is currently used by over 800 registered users who
have created over 400 editions. We have carried out a custom log-based
usability evaluation that examined the interactions of our users over
a 5 month period. This evaluation has shown that the Edition Builder
can dramatically reduce the time needed to customize LibX editions and
is being increasingly adopted by the library community.

Files

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