Best terminology for OPAC searches?

John Kupersmith jkup at jkup.net
Wed Sep 8 12:29:06 EDT 2004


Usability4Lib and Web4Lib members --
As part of a usability upgrade for Pathfinder, UC Berkeley's web-based 
catalog, I'm looking for data on which terms are most widely understood by 
users for certain key concepts:

(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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