I Chose To Evaluate Macodrum Library’S History Of Sexuality

I chose to evaluate MacOdrum Library’s History of Sexuality research guide for my digital humanities project is. MacOdrum’s primary purpose appears to be to help serve the students of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with their research. I have decided to focus my evaluation on â€Å"Finding and Using Primary Sources† tab and the â€Å"Websites† tab, because I find them the most interesting and also the most useful sections for everyday people who might visit. The overall design of the website is fairly simple to use. There are several sections that, when clicked on, show an area with its own segregations within the broader topic. For example, under the Websites tab there is a section titled â€Å"Gay / Lesbian / Bisexual / Transgender /†¦show more content†¦While it could seem limiting, those with access to databases provided by their schools could use this section to check if their university provides access to any of them. Howeve r, for those already out of school this could be a huge disadvantage. Although this could provide a disadvantage in the website’s ability to be utilized in more public areas of discussion, I feel it is pretty clear that the website’s goal was not to break into those areas anyway. The website’s sources are all databases, websites, or books. A plus side of this is a relatively unbiased presentation of facts, while on the flip side it also means that information needs to be searched through again on another platform. Databases in particular are tricky, and Wayne State even provides several classes in which students are taught how to utilize these resources, because they can be difficult to maneuver. Websites are more accessible to everyday people, but because a great deal of the websites have broken links, this could frustrate the average user which would cause them to leave make the website obsolete. Books are another one that, while they are great sources of info rmation, are difficult to find and use. MacOdrum does bring up interlibrary loan for books not in the library, but that’s only helpful to those with access to the library. It is not surprising that the website is formatted in such a way though, because