Introduction
Digital libraries have become of increasing significance in recent years, developing in
functionality and content, and becoming accessible to a wider community of users (see,
for example, Bawden and Rowlands, 1999; Borgman, 2000; Chowdhury, 2002; Andrews
and Law, 2004). User satisfaction with, and indeed acceptance of, digital library
services has not, however, increased to the extent which might be hoped. The most
obvious expression of this is a regrettable tendency on the part of many users, or
potential users, of such services to rely entirely on web search engines for information.
Not for nothing has the verb “to Google” entered the English language, seemingly as a
synonym for “to search for information”.
It seems clear that this neglect of digital library services must be associated with
users’ expectations of them, presumably low. This paper aims to give some perspective
on this issue. It goes on to examine, in this context, a perennial question for providers
of library services: once user expectations are understood, should they be met - so far
as is feasible – or should they be “managed”.