[Web4lib] Labeling on Websites (electronic resources)

Fri Jun 5 16:31:52 EDT 2009

> this was last  updated  6/2/06. We are in a period of rapid 
> change -- I'd like to see  the results of recent studies 

But the terms that these studies found to be confusing are, for the most part, just arcane library jargon.

It's not as if students entering college in 2007 and 2008 are now somehow familiar with terms like "indexing and abstracting databases" in a way that students in 2006 were not.  

In fact, the findings for all of the studies are remarkably similar. The terms that tripped-up users in 1998 are mostly the same terms that tripped up users in 2006.  A study from 2009 would almost surely reach the same conclusions.  Jargon (library are otherwise) is always going to be confusing.

> It's dumbed down and breaks our information -- which increasingly 
> don't fit  neatly into book, article, journal categories

I think we need to treat labels and navigation in library websites as sign posts, rather than exact classifications that enumerate every possible topic or format the user might possibly find.

It's a way of telling the user: "Hey, if you're looking for books, search here; if you're looking for articles, try this; audio and video over here."

Trying to find more abstract terminology in an attempt to make the labels more "accurate" is, I think, a sure recipe for confusion.  And that is precisely what all of the studies above conclude.

--Dave

==================
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu
________________________________________
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Laura Calderone [lcaldero at unm.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 10:07 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Labeling on Websites (electronic resources)

All,
I have a contrarian point of view on Kupersmith's site. The core of it
is a bit dated -- "Library terms evaluated in usability tests and other
studies" (http://www.jkup.net/terms-studies.html) -- this was last
updated  6/2/06. We are in a period of rapid change -- I'd like to see
the results of recent studies -- we are in a period of extremely rapid
change and evolution in skill sets.

I want to stress that this is not a personal attack on Mr. Kupersmith!!!!

I think this site is frequently misused -- (and that is not Kupersmith's
fault). It's not a cookbook! It should not be construed that "Find" or
"Search" has to be used in front of every tool, every means of getting
users to resources. Look at the really smart way UCB directs readers to
their resources --
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ -- there a general category Find
Information, with entries like Books & EBooks...

How many non-library sites use verbs in their nav menus -- look at
NYTimes, CNN, Amazon... I don't see Read or Search appended to any nav
menu items, and users know what to do. Yes, I know our content is more
complicated, but I think we are making it harder and not easier for our
users with many of our attempts at user-friendly best practices. It's
dumbed down and breaks our information -- which increasingly don't fit
neatly into book, article, journal categories -- into silos that are
difficult to navigate. I know it's not the intent, but sometimes it has
the effect of dumbing-down the information.

What's the solution? I think the "tabbed" approach that many libraries
are adopting is a good start. See --
http://library.msstate.edu/
http://www.library.cornell.edu/
http://www.library.pitt.edu/

Apologies -- if I have taken this toward the academic rather than public
library POV. I do think the labelling issues are similar.
* *

Laura Calderone
Manager, E-Resource Management Systems
University Libraries
University of New Mexico
505-277-0277
lcaldero at unm.edu

"Life is crazy and meaningful at once. And when we do not laugh over the one aspect and speculate about the other, life is exceedingly drab. . ."

--C.G. Jung

Campbell, James (jmc) wrote:
> It's often been mentioned here, but maybe not for a while.  John Kupersmith's Library Terms
> That Users Understand - http://www.jkup.net/terms.html -  is a terrific resource for this type of discussion, though unfortunately but inevitably it's better at identifying terms they don't understand than at suggesting terms they do.
>
> One of its best uses is to provide some hard evidence for the colleagues who have always called them databases and don't really think there's any problem.
>
>       - Jim Campbell
>
>       Digital Access Librarian | Librarian for German
>       University of Virginia Library | Charlottesville, VA 22904-4112
>
>       513 Alderman | campbell at virginia.edu | 434-924-4985
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Sharon Foster
> Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 11:16 AM
> To: Louise Alcorn
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org; Cecily Walker
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Labeling on Websites (electronic resources)
>
> We struggled with this, too. We settled on "Research Your Topic," plus
> bumped it up to the second spot.
>
> http://www.cheshirelibrary.org
>
> Previously it was "Articles and Databases." I think the word
> "research" has to be a little more familiar to the average public
> library user than the word "databases." It might make an  interesting
> little survey to find out.
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/20071009045856/http://www.cheshirelibrary.org/
>
> I have no data to prove it, but my feeling is that moving it up
> increased its visibility and use more than changing the name. Likewise
> for changing "Books and Reading" to "Find a Good Book," and moving it
> to the first place.
>
> Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS
> Speaker-to-Computers
> http://www.vsa-software.com/mlsportfolio/
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Louise Alcorn<Louise.Alcorn at wdm-ia.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Cecily.
>> We've really struggled with this ourselves [ http://www.wdmlibrary.org/
>> ] We use "References/Tools" which I kinda hate to describe our lists of
>> subject-grouped reference links.  We also avoided the word "research",
>> but I'm not sure we've hit on anything that works. We have mouse-over
>> menus on our website, and all the meaty stuff is under "Library
>> Resources" which annoys me.  Unfortunately, since we were using a web
>> design company (I hope to take this back over in a couple of years),
>> much of the menu-ing had to be decided all at once, and cannot be
>> changed at present.
>>
>> We did a lot of "Quick Links" to obvious stuff (catalog, calendar, etc.)
>> to improve navigation.  It helped a bit.  We also struggled with how to
>> group our downloadable audiobooks and video collections from outside
>> vendors, and put them under "Downloadable Media"...which almost works.
>> I think we were more successful with our "Using the Library" and "About
>> the Library" sets of linkages, as these were more straightforward.
>>
>> If someone has a really useful, effective term(s) for all those
>> wonderful pathfinders and links we all create, I'd love to hear it!
>>
>> Louise E. Alcorn
>> Reference Technology Librarian
>> West Des Moines Public Library
>> 4000 Mills Civic Pkwy
>> West Des Moines IA 50265
>> (515) 222-3573      louise.alcorn at wdm-ia.com
>> http://www.wdmlibrary.org
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
>> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Cecily Walker
>> Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 4:02 PM
>> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
>> 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)
>>
>>
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