[WEB4LIB] Re: Two steps forward, three steps back

[Ryan Eby]

I apologize if I came across overly harsh. I tried quite a few III
WebOPACs that I could find on the web and they all gave me the same
results. I therefore made the assumption that the default behavior for
the software is as I described. I'm also sure that there are newer
versions of the software that have a lot better implementations of
what I described.

My main point is that the software her library uses is not the only
one that appears to have those defaults, and those options are a
hinderence to users who are used to other search engines. I'm sure
every OPAC can be changed on the local level for the best or worst. I
apologize to Innovative or anyone that uses their product that doesn't
have the same problems.

Perhaps a better discussion would be on what are good defaults for a
library catalog search. What are patrons expecting? I believe many
users will presume a keyword search is a Boolean AND search not a
phrase search. I also think that when they do a title search they will
expect it to search within the title, not requiring them to know the
first word in the title. Does any libraries have studies on their
patron's search behaviors? I'd love to see it. I only have what I've
seen while helping people to go by.

I agree that rerunning the search as a Boolean AND if there are no
results is a good idea. This feature has come in handy multiple times.
Something others might want to implement is a way to easily rerun the
search in instances that do return some results (but not the results
the patron wanted).

Ryan Eby


On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 07:06:53 -0800 (PST), Bob Duncan
<duncanr at mail.lafayette.edu> wrote:
> I'm all for informed criticism of WebOPACs for the betterment of
> humankind, but I'd like to offer a few points of information about
> the Innovative WebOPAC (which our users seem to like, are able to use
> successfully, and which we consider good).  IMO, Ryan's "problems"
> are attributable to local implementation choices and personal
> awareness/expectations and are not due to any inherent flaws in the
> Innovative system itself.
>