Conclusions
There is unlikely to be a clear answer to the question as to whether it is better to meet
or to manage user expectations of the digital library. Meeting all expectations, however
unrealistic, can never be an appropriate policy even in theory, while expectation
management which simply dampens down reasonable requirements is equally
undesirable. The solution will generally be a combination of the two approaches,
depending on the context.
It is certain that more systematic empirical studies to build up a base of solid
evidence for such decision making are sorely needed. These could usefully be
complemented by conceptual studies of the idea of user expectation, and its relation to
user wants and needs.
Further development is also needed in ways by which the composition, structure
and organisation of digital libraries – and hence their differences from other less
controlled information environments – can be made manifest in a “natural” way. This
can help to manage expectations, in a more subtle manner than by requiring formal
training or making negative-seeming statements about what such libraries do not, or
cannot, offer. It may also help to meet the clear and positive, if rather unfocused,
expectations which many users seem to have about the nature of the collection and the
organisation of the digital library. Making the collection, and its structure, “visible”
may be the most useful single aspect of maximising the usability of digital libraries,
and thereby both meeting and managing expectations.