SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF LIBRARY HOMEPAGES: A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY (UMT), LAHORE, PAKISTAN.

Purpose- Signs and symbols play important roles in our lives because they help us to convey messages even without written words. With the invention of the internet and the evolution of web technologies, the universe became a global village because the internet facilitated a better and faster avenue for human communication. In libraries and allied information science terrains, the internet fostered the use of Websites, to portray the intellectual contents that are domiciled in them. On the library websites, users can ascertain the timings, collections, policies etc. of a particular library because the icons that are visible on a homepage usually make it very attractive to the user, as well as convey the interpretations of the images without textual inscriptions. Method- This study used a qualitative approach of the descriptive method to analyze the UMT Library homepage. Icons of resources, services and facilities are the components that were used for the collection of data. Findings- Results of the study showed that the images on the UMT Library homepage are logical and self-explanatory because they convey logical meanings. Part of the recommendations proffered is for the UMT library to put images/icons in the category of resources and services offered by the library amongst others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]