[WEB4LIB] Web Gateway vs Catalog

[Mary Pagliero Popp (812) 855-8170]

Actually, this is a question that will concern many of us. I would be
grateful for some discussion on the list. 

For example, how would answers to the question differ in a University
Library instead of a special library?

Do people really know how to use catalogs effectively enough for the
catalog to serve as a gateway?

How would the contents of the catalog have to change for the catalog to be
a gateway as well?  

If we try to use both web page and catalog, as most of us are currently
doing, what criteria should we use to determine which information goes
into which resource and which information should be duplicated in both
resources? 

Mary
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mary Pagliero Popp, Library Information Technology Services
Indiana University Libraries, Library E456, Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-8170    FAX: (812) 856-4979   popp at indiana.edu


On Fri, 26 Feb 1999, McBurney, Melissa K wrote:

> Several staff members in my library are working on a vision project for
> upper management.  One of the sections deals with how the electronic
> portion of our library will be accessed by our users.  There are two
> (strong) opinions: the web site vs. the catalog.  The catalog will be on
> the web soon, but the question is whether we want to make users go
> through the catalog to find ejournals, databases, etc., if we want to
> organize our resources through the web site, or if we want a combination
> of the two. 
> 
> I was wondering what others have done, what the trends are, any articles
> that can be recommended, etc. 
> 
> Please respond to me.
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> Melissa McBurney						
> Assistant Director of Electronic Services
> Hanford Technical Library, 
> Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
> Richland, WA 99352
> 
> phone: (509)372-7439
> fax: (509)372-7431
> melissa.mcburney at pnl.gov
>