Yes, Tim, and that's what makes it so hard to provide access for them
all. Here at NLW we traditionally served only the high-end serious
scholars. University students were tolerated but not encouraged. The
great unwashed were kept well away by entrance requirements (a
recommendation from a suitable member of the great and the good). I can
remember the atmosphere when I first came here as a post-grad student
researcher in the late 60s. Now all that's changed. The government
insists that we open our doors to the public at large. Minimum entrance
age was reduced to 16, no more recommendations, only proof of ID and
current address, and a positive encouragement to reach out to the
general public (with the implied threat of financial penalties if we
don't succeed).
Consequently our current patron base includes (off the top of my head):
Professional researchers and scholars
University students and staff at all 'levels'
Anyone else aged 16 or over. This includes housewives, school pupils and
teachers, the mentally handicapped, deaf and visually handicapped,
farmers, taxi drivers, foreign students, migrant workers and refugees, etc.
In addition to this we have a large proportion of off-site users, using
our OPACs to locate and order copies of documents, usually for family
history.
As one of the original cataloguing providers for UK publications, our
OPAC users include outside libraries seeking cataloguing copy.
We actively encourage 'ordinary' readers. I think this is a reflection
or embodiment of the Welsh tradition of the blacksmith-scholar and
farmer-poet. But it's also a realisation that everyone potentially has
needs which can only be met by an institution like this (as the de facto
national archive of the country we also hold millions of archival and
manuscript documents and are also the only legal deposit library in
Wales). Probably 40% of our users now are members of the general public
either doing family history work, or farmers needing current or
historical information for various government-mandated form-filling. A
high proportion are of retirement age. These new users come in overawed
by the grand building, almost literally cap in hand, apologetic for
taking up our time, and totally at sea when confronted by our byzantine
collection of OPACs and other standalone databases of holdings. When
they find that they aren't shouted at to take off their muddy
clod-hoppers and to use the spittoons (poetic license here), with a
staff member happy to sit down beside them and walk them through the
system, you can see the anxiety slowly drain from their faces, their
shoulders and heads pick up. But they're often still pathetically
grateful for being allowed to use a service which they have to be
reminded they pay for out of their taxes.
The great range of experience and needs among our users means our new
catalogue (we are in the processing of switching to VTLS with
AquaBrowser) is going to have to offer an appropriate range of access
types, from those appropriate to people with little or no prior
experience to those who can search in their sleep. One of my biggest
headaches is trying to keep this in the forefront of the minds of the
team implementing the design. How do we offer the sophistication needed
by one end of the patron sophistication continuum without overwhelming
those at the other end? Even at the entry page, it threatens to grow
like a triffid, sprouting links and tabs, options and functionalities
from every available pixel!
Roger Fenton
Hodson, Tim wrote:
>Personally, I feel that the catalog does NOT have a primary user. The
>data can be used in many ways, and we should be specifying OPACs that
>provide multiple accesspoints at multiple levels of granularity to suit
>our DIFFERENT user bases.
>
>Even a public library serving it's local population has different types
>of users, from serios local history researchers to leisure readers; they
>require different presentation styles and cross referencing tools.
>
>Tim
>
>Tim Hodson
>http://informationtakesover.co.uk
>Herefordshire Libraries, UK
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
>[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu]On Behalf Of Eric Lease Morgan
>Sent: 07 June 2006 14:26
>To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
>Subject: Re: who is the primary user?
>
>
>On Jun 7, 2006, at 8:58 AM, Edward Hoyenski wrote:
>
>
>
>>I'm in our libraries' rare book department, and I find that ONE of
>>the primary users of the front-end of our catalog is ME. Users
>>can't browse our rare items, and therefore come to me to find out
>>if we have things like presentation bindings, 18th century
>>bookplates, books in Hebrew.
>>
>>
>
>In this case, the catalog truly is a catalog -- an inventory control
>system listing the stuff you own. Most places are not special
>collections. Most library users have needs that go beyond the things
>physically located in a library. Maybe the "catalog" should be just
>part of the face -- the interface -- provided to the user? Even if
>you were the primary user of the system, you, as a librarian, have an
>expert experience. You are a power user. The interface you can use is
>different from the interface the non-experts can use. Your
>expectations do not the match the expectations of the non-librarians.
>If our "catalogs" do not meet the expectations of our sponsors, then
>you can not expect the sponsors to continue to support us. Libraries
>always exist within the context of a larger institution. It is
>important to meet this larger institution's expectations or risk
>becoming irrelevant.
>
>Again, I posit that the primary user's of "catalogs" is not the
>librarians. We can not be all things to all people. We have limited
>resources. We must set priorities. There can only be one primary set
>of users.
>
>--
>Eric Lease Morgan
>University Libraries of Notre Dame
>
>I'm hiring a Senior Programmer Analyst.
>See http://dewey.library.nd.edu/morgan/programmer/.
>
>
--
Roger Fenton
Swyddog Prosiect
Adran Gwasanaethau Casgliadau
Is-adran Systemau
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
Cymru
http://www.llgc.org.uk/
Ffôn: +44 (0) 1970 632800 est. 368
e-bost: roger.fenton_at_llgc.org.uk
Dydy'r uchod ddim o reidrwydd yn cynrychioli polisi'r LlGC
Project Officer
Department of Collection Services
Systems Section
National Library of Wales
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
Wales
http://www.llgc.org.uk/
Tel.: +44 (0) 1970 632800 ext. 368
Fax: +44 (0) 1970 632882
e-mail: roger.fenton_at_llgc.org.uk
The above does not necessarily represent NLW policy
Received on Wed Jun 07 2006 - 11:06:38 EDT