Here in Arlington (VA), we are using Aquabrowser as one of our public
access flavors. It is an uncoupled product which is refreshed every
overnight based on the data in our Bibliographic files.
As fun and different as it is, it still is does not addess what many of
us are saying are the real issues here -
Can we really anticipate who our users are going to be and how they
will want to access, digest, and use the information?
Do we really believe that we have the ability to hone the mindset of
our users, or even train them to understand what they are looking at?
Are we ever going to be willing to have public access systems that
work the same way? That have the same conceptual underpinnings? That
customers might have a chance of having a common understanding of
how library interfaces work?
Aquabrowser is a fine product and many of our customers love it...many
prefer our "classic" catalog...many are still looking for something
else.
See them all here:
http://www.acornweb.org/
Steven L. Carr
Bibliographic Services Manager
ARLINGTON COUNTY LIBRARY
1015 North Quincy Street
Arlington, VA 22201
703-228-5972
scarr2_at_arlingtonva.us
Received on Thu Jun 22 2006 - 08:17:22 EDT