[Web4lib] LibX or Conduit Toolbar?

[Drew, Bill]

I posted this on my blog this morning.  I would like to see some
discussion on what I stated below.  Do I have misconceptions about LibX?
 
I have been using a LibX toolbar for awhile and have made one available
for people to use in our library. However, despite its strengths, LibX
is not for the every day user. The creators of LibX assume a certain
level of sophistication in its users that seems to me to be beyond the
normal library user. 

LibX assumes users know how to create Smart Keywords in Firefox so it
does not offer a search function for periodical databases. It focuses on
the library catalog which is not what most users seem to use according
to several things I have read in the past year or so. It also uses such
new things as COinS and xISBN which is fine for library search geeks but
of no real use to the every day user. Please do not get me wrong, I like
LibX but it has very little to offer most of our users. Its target
audience seems to be people who already know how to use the library. At
times LibX seems almost elitist in its focus. This does not mean it
should be dumbed down though.

The biggest reason for using Conduit toolbar is that it creates toolbars
for both Internet Explorer and Firefox. The search interface is simple
and it is very easy to add a large number of databases to its pulldown.
It is limited to "keyword" style searches but to me that is an advantage
not a problem. I can update the toolbar as needed without having to send
a new configuration file to someone. One major disadvantage I do see
with Conduit is that I can't change the default search engine from
Google to a library database or to our web opac. Another big advantage
is the ability to add a very detailed and functional menu that uses an
XML file housed on our local server. The toolbar is quite popular with
students at our Norwich campus where all of the students are
non-traditional and none live on campus.

What I would really like to see is a toolbar with the ease of creation
of Conduit toolbars but provided by a non-profit entity. Many libraries
have concerns about Conduit's intentions and privacy policies. I do not
have the expertise nor the time to provide such a service as provided by
Conduit. Conduit is the tool bar for the majority of our patrons while
LibX is for the user who already knows how to use the library and is a
power computer user.

Categories: 

*	libx <http://del.icio.us/babyboomerlibrarian/libx>  
*	toolbar <http://del.icio.us/babyboomerlibrarian/toolbar>  
*	conduit <http://del.icio.us/babyboomerlibrarian/conduit>  
*	libraries <http://del.icio.us/babyboomerlibrarian/libraries> 



LibX <http://technorati.com/tag/LibX>  conduit
<http://technorati.com/tag/conduit>  toolbar
<http://technorati.com/tag/toolbar>  Libraries
<http://technorati.com/tag/Libraries>  


Wilfred (Bill) Drew 
Associate Librarian, Systems and Reference
Morrisville State College Library
E-mail: mailto:drewwe at morrisville.edu
AOL Instant Messenger:BillDrew4
BillDrew.Net: http://billdrew.net/
Wireless Librarian: http://people.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/wireless/
Library: http://library.morrisville.edu/
SUNYConnect: http://www.sunyconnect.suny.edu/
My Blog:http://babyboomerlibrarian.blogspot.com


"They that can give up essential liberty for a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin, 1759