Academic library websites in South Africa

Abstract

This paper investigates the current state of the 23 academic library websites in South Africa. Using an adapted version of a codebook developed in the United States, it assesses and measures features in a quantitative manner in order to build a current snapshot of content and design. In particular it looks at the presence and treatment of online electronic resources and services, navigation and searching functionality, terminology and innovative features. It identifies some problems with the websites, as well as some examples of best practice, and compares sites in South Africa with global developments in academic web librarianship.