Searching in Libraries

[Junior Tidal]

I think gathering user input, like a usability test, to solve this would help determine if the interfaces should be changed.

Our current website has a catalog search and a site search on the same page, and I've noticed that the site search has been used for catalog searches. Unfortunately, this won't display any library materials that students are seeking. It's made me think that having multiple search boxes is probably not the most ideal interface. 

I think that the University of Oregon has a great approach, where they use a drop down menu is used to select the appropriate search tool. http://library.uoregon.edu/ 

This is something we'll probably emulate in our next redesign. 

I was also thinking that a drop down menu  is much more friendly for mobile touch devices than tabs? 

Best,
Junior

Junior Tidal
Assistant Professor
Web Services and Multimedia Librarian
New York City College of Technology, CUNY 
300 Jay Street, Rm A434
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718.260.5481
 
http://library.citytech.cuny.edu


>>> "Haitz, Lisa (haitzlm)" <haitzlm at UCMAIL.UC.EDU> 8/18/2014 2:03 PM >>>
At our library, we're discussing search. We have web site searches, Summon search, our Catalog search, etc...not to mention our 700+ databases.

Our patrons, and even some library staff, cant understand why there is more than one box for search.

On the other hand, we have some staff that think these searches should be distinctly different. They feel that our interface should not be dumbed-down and users should have to learn to search natively.

This article had me thinking about search in libraries, and how some of these reccomendations can easily apply to us:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/18/the-current-state-of-e-commerce-search/ 

What philosophy have you embraced at your institution, and what tools did you use to arrive at your philosophy?

Thanks!
Lisa Haitz
Web Developer
Univ of Cincinnati Libraries

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2014-08-18

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