[Web4lib] Re: Web4lib Digest, Vol 51, Issue 4

[Stewart Baker]

We have ours located under a "use the library" tab off our home page.  We
run into this problem a lot, though, as most of the librarians here seem to
think that a good heading for a link should include every single item that
could possibly be found on the page it links to.

I think it might be easier to understand from a patrons' point of view to
use "action words" more than "descriptive terms."   (e.g. we have "Find
Journal Articles" instead of "Article Databases")

Stewart Baker
Reference / Web Services Librarian
California State U. - Dominguez Hills Library


> From: Cecily Walker <cecily.walker at gmail.com>
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 14:02:22 -0700
> Subject: [Web4lib] Labeling on Websites (electronic resources)
> Hi All,
>
> We've been having a bit of discussion on a a couple of the web teams
> I'm on regarding labeling and terminology on library websites.
> Previously, I spent all my work time in private enterprises, so coming
> back to the library space has certainly been a learning experience.
>
> What we're dealing with now is how to label electronic resources and
> research guides. We want the label to be as succinct as possible, and
> ideally, it would give off enough of an information scent so that the
> public would be able to tell what sorts of things they might find
> after clicking that link.
>
> At present, our website navigation includes "Research Guides &
> Suggestions By Topic", as well as "Newspapers, Articles, Encyclopedias
> & More". There are obvious problems with any label that includes the
> word "more" because it's a very vague term. Because we're a public
> library, the word 'research' doesn't test all that well with our
> population because they don't always consider what they're doing to be
> research. We switched from "Electronic Resources" to the new terms
> because we found our patrons just didn't really understand what
> electronic resources were.
>
> So I'm curious - how do you label these items on your website? I know
> that this is one of those things for which there is no perfect answer,
> but curiosity has gotten the better of me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Cecily  Walker, MLIS
> Web Services Librarian
> Vancouver Public Library
> cecily.walker at gmail.com (personal)
> cecily.walker at vpl.ca (work)
>
>