[Web4lib] How to label the OPAC

[Strauber, Christopher]

One of the best presentations I saw at ACRL in April was by a librarian
at Johns Hopkins whose name I am temporarily blanking on. The point of
it was that we should make our websites easier to use so that we have
more time to
focus on the things that are actually difficult about research...like
assessing the quality of the information you're looking at. The need to
teach the interface (how our website works, how to use database X) takes
up 10-20% of my very limited instruction time...and part of every
reference interview. 

Some technical vocabulary is essential. But is it essential to doing
research, or is it merely essential to the way WE were taught to do
research? The world has changed, and it seems reasonable to me to use
technology to remove as much unnecessary pain from the process as
possible.

Chris Strauber
Reference & Web Services Librarian
Wofford College
Spartanburg, SC