[WEB4LIB] Usability of Search this Site

[George Porter]

The web committee in the Caltech Library System did a major redesign that
was implemented in March 1999.  We did a fairly significant amount of
reading and exploring various websites.  We concluded that the prevailing
advice is sound, websites need to be searchable AND navigable.  

To that end, we implemented a small, standardized set of navigation buttons
at the top of every web page on the site <http://library.caltech.edu>.  The
last button in the series is for the institutional main web page, second to
last is "Search CLSweb".  We were confident that our primary clientele could
divine that CLSweb would mean "the Caltech Library System's website".  The
first button is CLAS, with alt="Online Catalog", which should take care of
the people who need the online catalog.

One idea, not implemented but still kicking around, would be to provide a
search box on every page.  If we were to do that, it would probably wind up
as part of a footer.  I'd like to think that the information is laid out
well enough that people entering our website can start navigating, the
search button is really a fall back position for locating things deep in the
hierarchy. 

George S. Porter
Sherman Fairchild Library of Engineering & Applied Science
California Institute of Technology
Mail Code 1-43, Pasadena, CA  91125
Telephone (626) 395-3409 Fax (626) 431-2681