A Comparative Study on the Cultural Difference of Users' Preference of Library Website Interface Design Between Korea and the United States.

The interface of the library website should be designed in a way that provides a good user experience to users. However, the same user interface may have different user experiences in different cultures. This study investigated the cultural differences in users’ preference for library website interface design factors including background colors, amounts of information presented, and image-based vs. text-based interfaces in Korea and the US. A survey was used as the research method. It was found both Koreans and Americans preferred a concise interface, meaning that too much information should not be presented on the homepage of library websites. There was a significant difference between the Korean subjects’ and American subjects’ preference for image vs. text-based interface. Koreans preferred text-based interfaces. On the opposite, Americans significantly preferred image-based interfaces. Due to the small sample size of this study, although there was no significant difference found, Korean subjects preferred no-color background more, and American subjects preferred colorful background more on the opposite. It is hoped that the results of this study can help libraries provide better services to users.