Assessing Institution’s Footprint in Web 2.0: A Comparative Analysis of University Library Websites in Bangladesh

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the availability of web 2.0 tools on selected public and private university library websites in Bangladesh. Existing studies of web 2.0 seem to have ignored the possibility of comparing public university library websites with private university library websites. Conducting a study like this will provide an overview about the existing status of Web 2.0 tools. Content analysis was adopted as the method for the study. Twenty university library websites, comprised of ten top-ranked public and ten top-ranked private universities in Bangladesh, were studied for data collection. The findings demonstrate that the use of web 2.0 tools on the selected university library websites is still in its early stage, but it has been growing rapidly. More than 90% of the university libraries apply one or more web 2.0 tools to their websites. The private university library websites are ahead of public university libraries in terms of the integration of web 2.0 tools. Internal applications that are not publicly accessible contain information that may not be collected through content analysis since these links usually cannot be found on library web sites.This study is unique in terms of comparing public and private university library’s web contents. The findings from this comparative analysis will be useful for a university to track their own position and also those are planning to develop a website.