[WEB4LIB] RE: Library web presence

Fri May 6 20:32:13 EDT 2005

David et al.:

A traditional library home page offers at minimum a home page with links
to the OPAC and electronic resources.  I think that what we find
attractive about the BYU page is that the leap to the OPAC takes us to
Sirsi rather than Innovative or Dynix.  As such, we may find the Sirsi
interface (is it standard or customized for BYU?) brighter or cleaner
than the ones we see in our own libraries and implementations of
Innovative and Horizon/Dynix.  

I can't speak to the functionality of the BYU/Sirsi implementation
except to say that it didn't appear to offer a full MARC record for an
author's work.  Though MARC records are not for the faint of
heart/average student, they can be very handy.

Only a few of the Innovative systems I've seen have the pretty pastel
and earth tones that BYU/Sirsi and Horizon/Dynix have incorporated into
their primary user interfaces.  Most of the Innovative and Horizon/Dynix
implementations have a link to a full MARC display.

The rest of the design elements compare at least as well to other
research universities its size, if not better.  (They should; they have
teams of former WordPerfect programmers in the immediate vicinity who
must have retrained to HTML by now).

My apologies to universities and colleges with non-Innovative or Dynix
systems.  I'm sure your implementations look and work well; I'm speaking
from my own experience as a user of the first two.

John Marquette

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of David Walker
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 3:30 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Library web presence (was Re: Re: In defense of
stupid

Mike -- I'm curious what you would consider to be a "traditonal library
home page."  Or, on the flip-side, what is it about the BYU site that
makes it non-traditional?

Is it the use of a federated search engine?  Navigation and terminology
that are not focused on library jargon?  Other things?

--Dave

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

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Mike Beccaria
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 2:11 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Library web presence (was Re: Re: In defense of
stupid

That is an amazing site. Thanks for that example. If others have
examples that they know of that are unique and/or more useful than the
traditional library homepage/OPAC, please share. 

Mike

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: Jim Campbell [mailto:campbell at virginia.edu] 
	Sent: Fri 5/6/2005 4:13 PM 
	To: Multiple recipients of list 
	Cc: 
	Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Library web presence (was Re: Re: In
defense of stupid

	Brigham Young
	http://www.lib.byu.edu
	is a nice example of a Web site that is both a representational
homepage for
	the library and a tool for finding information - click on the
"Search by"
	links.

	- Jim Campbell

	Digital Access Coordinator and
	Librarian for German
	University of Virginia Library
	Voice: 434-924-4985
	E-Mail: Campbell at Virginia.Edu

	> -----Original Message-----
	> From: web4lib at webjunction.org
	> [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Randy
Norwood
	> Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 3:17 PM
	> To: Multiple recipients of list
	> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Library web presence (was Re: Re: In
	> defense of stupid
	>
	> Well said.
	>
	> Do you know of some good examples where this approach has
	> been implemented (even if imperfectly)? Would it be a
	> portal-type front end?
	>
	> One problem with federated searching, especially as it
	> includes more and more types of content under its umbrella,
	> is that less-experienced users may not understand the scope
	> of the "information space" they're in. This continues to be
	> an issue in the simple situation of users searching the
	> library web site (the "pages", not the OPAC, databases,
	> journals, etc).
	> Perhaps this would be overcome if the web site search results
	> were included and described or presented in such a way that
	> their limitations were clear to average undergrad level
students.
	>
	>
	> --
	> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	> Randy Norwood
	> Web  Manager
	> Texas Tech University Libraries
	> Office: 806-742-2238  x236
	> Fax: 806-742-8669
	> E-mail: randy.norwood at ttu.edu
	>
	>
	>
	>
	> On 05/06/05 1:33 PM, "William Melody"
	> <w-melody at northwestern.edu> wrote:
	>
	> > I think there's this assumption that the current library
	> tools meet the
	> > needs of advanced users.  They don't at all.  I've seen
library web
	> > interfaces that come close to being usable, but very, very
	> > few.  Researchers of all skill levels use Google because
	> library tools are
	> > so atrocious.  Federated searching will help, but it's not
	> the ultimate
	> > solution.  Apple doesn't try to pack all of the
	> functionality of Final Cut
	> > Pro into an iMovie interface.  If librarians consciously
	> recognized that
	> > library web interfaces as a whole are web /applications/
	> that need to have
	> > UIs that behave as expected, patrons wouldn't be turned off
by
	> > them.  Google isn't going to go anywhere.  Therefore, the
	> natural role of
	> > the library is as an advanced information retrieval system,
and the
	> > interfaces should reflect that role.
	> >
	> > The web presence of a large academic library (the only kind
	> of library I
	> > know about) has become a web application to the users, but
the user
	> > interfaces have not caught up.  That's probably the most
fundamental
	> > difference between Google and libraries today: Google
	> recognizes that it is
	> > an application and immediately provides you with the UI
	> while libraries are
	> > still stuck in the mind set of web 'pages.'
	> >
	> > - William Melody
	> >
	> >
	> >
	> > William Melody
	> > Interlibrary Loan
	> > Northwestern University Library
	> > 1970 Campus Dr.
	> > Evanston, IL   60208-2323
	> > T. 847.491.3382
	> > w-melody at northwestern.edu
	> > www.bibliotheke.org
	> >
	> >
	> >
	>
	>
	>