[Web4lib] re: How to label the OPAC

[Diane Westerfield]

Question - why must there be only one label for the OPAC?   Why not have a big icon saying "Catalog" with a text caption saying something like "Find books and other materials" in our collection?   Or a big icon saying "Find books and other materials in our collection" with a text caption saying "Catalog".  

Some users still identify with the concept of the old card catalog, so having a stylized picture of an open card catalog drawer would help convey the meaning of the link.  The card catalogs are not so far distant in the past, anyone over the age of 30 who ever used a library (even a school library) probably remembers using them.

There are many inexperienced users who don't know what a catalog is.  There are also many experienced users who do know what a catalog is, and are frustrated when a link to the catalog is "camouflaged" with dumbed-down terms.  Why not give both groups of users a quick way of finding the catalog?

--Diane Westerfield
dwester at luc.edu