[Web4lib] What to call the links

[Michelle Watson]

Hi Elizabeth,

We grappled with similar issues when we redesigned our website a 
couple of years ago.

We placed basic search functionality directly on the home page, along 
with links to more in depth searching if necessary. The link to the 
catalogue is labelled 'More options' - we avoided using the word 
'catalogue', because we felt that the word came loaded with 
preconceived ideas about what's in a catalogue - i.e. owned physical 
things like books, journals and videos. When people click on the link 
they get to a broader pool of resources including databases. We 
wanted to convey to our users that "this is where you go to get 
access to everything" regardless of the actual database it's housed 
in. So I suppose our reluctance to use the word 'catalogue' was 
partly of a conceptual nature.

If you do change the word 'catalogue' to something else expect to get 
some flak from users. When we went live with the site there was quite 
a bit of angst, particularly from lecturers, who wanted to know how 
to get to the catalogue. When faced with change some users don't 
adapt very well and seem to resent having to click around and explore 
new links, so they simply won't do it. We know we still don't have 
things quite right as some users don't realise there is additional 
search functionality outside of the home page. They think what's on 
the home page is all there is and that they're being robbed of 
functionality when in reality it's the opposite. We'll be doing more 
usability testing and redesign work over the next months to address 
those issues.

Elsewhere in the website we were also conscious of avoiding jargon, 
and found the John Kupersmith website to be helpful. We also did a 
card sorting exercise which involved students and staff creating 
their own labels for different categories.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Michelle.


At 11:21 AM 1/05/2008, Suelzer, Elizabeth wrote:
>The library I work at is undergoing a site redesign. In the hopes of
>making the site more user friendly, we want to get away from using
>library terminology (when appropriate) and use terms that are more
>intuitive to our students. An example of this would be labeling the link
>to the catalog as "search for books" instead of "catalog," or saying
>"borrow from other libraries" rather that "interlibrary loan."
>
>
>
>In your opinions, would this be helpful for college students, or do you
>feel that the term "catalog" is intuitive enough.  Will I be dumbing
>down our site, or will I make it easier to use? Also, do you have
>examples of how you have changed the language on your site to make it
>less librarianese and more consumer friendly?
>
>
>Thank you.
>
>
>
>
>Elizabeth Suelzer
>suelzer at msoe.edu <mailto:suelzer at msoe.edu>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Web4lib mailing list
>Web4lib at webjunction.org
>http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/

Michelle Watson, Web Cataloguing Librarian, Library
+ Deakin University Geelong Victoria 3217 Australia.
( Phone: 03 5227 8220 International: +61 3 5227 8220
( Fax: 03 5227 8000 International: +61 3 5227 8000
: E-mail: michelle at deakin.edu.au
: Website: http://www.deakin.edu.au
Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B (Vic), 02414F (NSW)

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