Design for access to Electronic Databases

[peterson, glenn]

Hennepin County Library recently began offering a new feature for access to
electronic databases we are calling "My Reference Tools".

>From approx. 60 databases currently offered, patrons can select those titles
they use most frequently for display on their personal page. A pop-up menu
at the bottom of the page allows subject access to the complete collection
of titles. Remote users have the option to have their page appear
automatically when they click on Reference Tools (uses cookies) or bookmark
their page. Patrons at library, or other shared, workstations can login to
their page using their name and barcode number.

You can see how we set this up at:

http://www.hennepin.lib.mn.us/pub/search/reference.cfm

Click on "Personalize this Page". Cold Fusion by Allaire is the supporting
software for this application. Suggestions for improvements are welcomed!

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                    Hennepin County Library
Glenn Peterson                gpeterson at hclib.org
Internet Librarian            http://www.hennepin.lib.mn.us
12601 Ridgedale Drive         Voice: 612-847-8659
Minnetonka, MN 55305          Fax: 612-847-8600
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----------- ORIGINAL MESSAGE -----------

From: "Heather Moorcroft" <h_moorcroft at library.ntu.edu.au>
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Design for access to Electronic Databases

Hi all

I am presently re-designing our webpages for accessing 
Electronic Resources, mainly Databases. I have been 
looking around at other library webpages for ideas on 
how best to do it. 

It seems that the most common access is through an 
alphabetical listing and often through subject access as 
well. 

Naturally I want something that allows maximum access 
and least effort in upkeep!

Any ideas, or examples of sites that are well organised 
would be most welcome. I had a look at the Web4Lib 
archives and found a few postings there, but would like 
more.

Thanking you in advance

Heather