{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,7]],"date-time":"2025-11-07T09:25:47Z","timestamp":1762507547921,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,28]],"date-time":"2018-09-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1538092800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["EL"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study aims to investigate the relationship between the concreteness of searching module icons and their effectiveness in Iranian digital library applications.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study was a correlational survey whose participants consisted of two groups, namely, users and experts. The former consisted of 174 users, all of whom were included because of their scarcity, and the latter included ten experts of knowledge and information science. First, the effective and non-effective icons were identified by users. Then, their concreteness was investigated by the expert participants.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The results of the study showed a significant relationship between the concreteness of icons and their effectiveness, meaning that the more concrete, the more effective the icon was, and vice versa. Furthermore, it was shown that the effective icons were representational and semi-abstract, whereas non-effective ones were very abstract.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The designers, especially digital library practitioners, should use icons that distinguish themselves as effective icons, and avoid using non-effective ones. It is suggested that they apply representational icons more.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Social implications<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The designers of mobile interfaces and public environments, such as social networks, transportation systems and so forth, can use icons in their user interfaces that are more effective when they are perceived with more concreteness.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The investigation of the relation between the concreteness of icons and their effectiveness may help determine effective and non-effective icons. It can also be of help to designers to satisfy user needs and improve their site\u2019s performance through using effective icons.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/el-10-2017-0227","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,28]],"date-time":"2018-09-28T13:57:30Z","timestamp":1538143050000},"page":"800-810","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The concreteness of searching module icons and their effectiveness in digital library applications"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"36","author":[{"given":"Sanaz","family":"Rahrovani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mahdieh","family":"Mirzabeigi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Javad","family":"Abbaspour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,28]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"key2021041413225299900_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"411","DOI":"10.1080\/01449298708901853","article-title":"Evidence for global feature superiority in menu selection by icons","volume":"6","year":"1987","journal-title":"Behaviour and Information Technology"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2021041413225299900_ref002","first-page":"55","article-title":"Effect of icon concreteness, semantic distance and familiarity on recognition level of mobile phone icons among e-literate and non e-literates","volume":"8","year":"2016","journal-title":"International Journal of Web Applications"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2021041413225299900_ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327051hci0401_1","article-title":"Earcons and icons: their structure and common design principles","volume":"4","year":"1989","journal-title":"Human-Computer Interaction"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2021041413225299900_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1075\/idj.6.1.05bru","article-title":"Advances in the international standardization of public information symbols","volume":"6","year":"1990","journal-title":"Information Design Journal"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2021041413225299900_ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"137","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-7206(92)90067-P","article-title":"Factors that affect user-friendliness in interactive computer programs","volume":"22","year":"1992","journal-title":"Information and Management"},{"key":"key2021041413225299900_ref006","first-page":"783","article-title":"The acceptance and satisfaction of smartphone users toward icon concreteness and complexity","volume-title":"Proceeding of the 16th Business Information Management Conference on Innovation and Knowledge Management a Global Competitive Advantage","year":"2011"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2021041413225299900_ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1016\/0953-5438(94)90024-8","article-title":"Development and validation of icons varying in their abstractness","volume":"6","year":"1994","journal-title":"Interacting with Computers"},{"key":"key2021041413225299900_ref008","first-page":"457","article-title":"Graphical and iconic interfacing: the role of icon distinctiveness and fixed or variable screen locations","volume-title":"Proceedings of the IFIP TC13 Third International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction","year":"1990"},{"key":"key2021041413225299900_ref009","unstructured":"Herbert, L.B. 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