[WEB4LIB] Best terminology for OPAC searches?

[Reeder, Norm]

You might try http://www.jkup.net/terms.html, which is a site devoted to
"Library terms that users understand."

Thanks
Norm

Norm Reeder
Library Services Manager
Torrance Public Library
3301 Torrance Blvd
Torrance, CA 90503
310-618-5950

-----Original Message-----
From: John Kupersmith [mailto:jkup at jkup.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 9:36 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Best terminology for OPAC searches?

(1) Keyword searches
Which is best:
Title  or  Title Keyword(s)  or  Title Words
or ...?

(2) Exact searches
Which is best:
Title (exact)  or  Title Phrase  or  Title begins with...
or ...?

(3) Designating a telnet version of the catalog
Which is best:
telnet  or  text-based  or  command-line  or terminal-style
or ...?

There is plenty of literature on OPAC displays and design, but I've found 
very little on the terminology used in the catalog.

Does anyone have actual test data on this, or know of catalogs whose 
terminology may have been influenced by user testing?

Failing that, does anyone have strong anecdotal evidence ("we changed to 
term X and reference interactions show that users understand this much 
better") ?

If this inquiry turns up anything significant, I'll post it on
Library Terms That Users Understand
< http://www.jkup.net/terms.html >

--jk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   John Kupersmith        jkup at jkup.net        http://www.jkup.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Reference Librarian                 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu
   Doe/Moffitt Libraries
   University of California, Berkeley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


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