[Web4lib] Friendly language

[Riesner, Giles W.]

My most recent boss had the task of merging three library websites (for the individual
campuses) into one. They were all very different and our director wanted a SINGLE site
for all 3 libraries. She did usability testing with a number of different students and
went for "user friendly" terms whenever possible and yet we have "course reserves" on
our homepage. 

Our Library Catalog is Labeled as such, but with a descriptive "subtitle"
of "What we Own" as she discovered that many of our students didn't quite understand the
term. Feel free to take a look at what we have and see what you think of it.
Our URL is http://library.ccbcmd.edu.


Giles W. Riesner, Jr. | Library Tech Support/Library System Administrator  
The Community College of Baltimore County | 800 South Rolling Road | Catonsville, MD 21228 USA
Phone: 1-443-840-4245  |  Fax: 1-443-840-4606  |  E-Mail: griesner at ccbcmd.edu 
CCBC. The incredible value of education. 


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Coral Sheldon-Hess
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:49 PM
To: web4lib
Subject: [Web4lib] Friendly language

Hello!

My library (or, well, our Web Team) has started talking about using
"friendlier" terms on our website. Most immediately, we'd like to find
a more intuitive name for "Course Reserves." None of our students seem
to know what that term means, so, of course, it gets very little use.
I know a number of libraries have looked into de-jargonizing (how's
that for a word) their websites, lately, though I don't know whether
they've had good results or not. I'd love to hear from any librarians
working on that kind of project!

To the crowd at large, though, do you have any thoughts on what else
to call "Course Reserves"? The best we've got, now, is "Course
Materials." Do you have--or have you seen--any really good examples of
"friendly" academic library website language?

Thanks in advance!

-- 
Coral Sheldon-Hess
Web Services Librarian
UAA/APU Consortium Library

"... the library is not a place but a service." --Allen B. Veaner


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