[WEB4LIB] Re: NOTAmazon OR Google as a "corporate" role model: iTunes

[David Walker]

I would say that browsing is particularly important to academic
libraries, where you simply can't search "everything."

With a federated search system you can search quite a few things,
however.  And with a good information architecture and a useful
navigation on the home page (which the vast majority of academic
libraries don't have), you can create a very powerful and easy to use
library web site.  

And actually do so rather easily.

--Dave

=================
David Walker
Web Development Librarian
Library
Cal State San Marcos
760-750-4379
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-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Roy Tennant
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 11:07 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: NOTAmazon OR Google as a "corporate" role model:
iTunes

I agree that we are presently mostly ignoring browsing, except in 
mostly not so useful ways, and ignoring the fact that the unification 
of searching and browsing can be very powerful. Thankfully, large 
library organizations such as RLG and OCLC are beginning to illustrate 
the power of this confluence of capabilities through new kinds of 
interfaces.

Specifically, I can point to <http://redlightgreen.com/> in the case of 
RLG, and emerging new services from OCLC illustrated in a blog posting 
by Lorcan Dempsey today at 
<http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/000662.html>, in part as a response 
to Eric's posting below. The screenshot in Lorcan's posting represents 
a real, functioning system that OCLC is experimenting with and has not 
yet released. In both of these systems, the user can seamlessly move 
from search to browse, using the capabilities of each when most 
appropriate.
Roy