At 09:05 AM 6/21/2006 -0700, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
>Actually, REALLY, patrons want to be able to filter and sort by
>availability, which few OPACs currently let you do, and which would
>be even more of a challenge in a 'de-integrated' OPAC.
In the Innovative Interfaces catalog this is a function you can turn on. I
turned it on briefly and immediately discovered that for in-the-library
users it is fraught with boobytraps:
Patron A limits to available, and happily walks away to go look for their
book, since the catalog tells them it's on the shelf. Patron B comes along
and searches without noticing the limit is set, and gets all kinds of false
information: if an author is so popular that all copies of all of all
titles are out, the author is not displayed at all, because nothing by that
author is 'available'. For almost all currently high-demand titles, the
title won't display because all copies are out.
Patron B decides we are Entirely Useless because we don't have anything
they're interested in--not that they aren't in, but that they're not even
in the catalog. Since this Patron never sees the bib, they don't see that
we have 15 copies and only 3 people waiting so they could get their hands
on it pretty soon if they'd put a hold on it. No, they're out the door.
Stopping at the desk to ask isn't in the scenario, not if we've already
proved ourselves Entirely Useless.
If there were a setting so the limit-to-available function only was offered
while a patron is logged in to their own account and searching from there,
I'd be much happier. I do know they really want to filter by availability,
and it would really really serve the 33% of searchers who are using the
catalog remotely (at home there is not a Patron B coming along to use the
station next). But I don't think it works right in a public setting, and am
reluctant to ignore the experience of the most naive patrons.
Miriam Bobkoff work: mkbobkoff_at_santafenm.gov
Santa Fe Public Library personal: mbobkoff_at_cybermesa.com
145 Washington Avenue
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 955-6832
Icarus-the-SFPL-blog http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com
The library's web page http://www.santafelibrary.org
Received on Wed Jun 21 2006 - 13:29:35 EDT