[Web4lib] RE: vendors and usability

[David Walker]

>> I still think we should try 
>> to split the user interface away 
>> from the rest of the system

I think Karen is spot-on here.

As strange as it sounds, I don't think we want library vendors spending
what little resources they have trying to build better interfaces.  For
two reasons:

(1) Frankly, they aren't very good at it.

There are some simple and even painfully obvious things some companies
can do to make their systems more usable.

But designing a good, usable system is hard.  It requires talented
people with skills in interaction design and a deep understanding of
end-user needs and goals.  Vendors cannot acquire either of those
easily, but libraries themselves can.

(2) Ultimately, the library consists of many systems.

Most academic libraries have a half-dozen or more local systems besides
the catalog, usually from multiple vendors, as well as access to 100s of
remote databases, most of which have serious interface problems.

What my users need is not a better OPAC interface. They need a simple,
intuitive interface that spans *all* of our systems.

Vendors simply cannot create that for us.  The only way libraries can
offer our users the seamless experience they expect, is through APIs.
APIs allow us to build a single system with a common interface focused
on user goals, which merely pulls results and resources from the
underlying systems and databases of the library. 

We can start building such systems right now.  Some of us already are.
We just need to lobby vendors to build APIs where they don't exist and
improve the ones that do -- tasks they *are* good at.

In that way, we can become co-creators of technology, rather than merely
consumers of technology subject to bad interfaces and economics.

--Dave

=================
David Walker
Web Development Librarian
Library
Cal State San Marcos
760-750-4379
=================