I like your description of physical browsing through a card catalog. If
we offer browsing we should try to emulate
this sort of thing as a computer interface. There are other ways to
implement a browse than scrolls and links. Think of slide shows or
rotating menus or dynamic interfaces that respond to mouse gestures.
Chris Gray
Library Systems
University of Waterloo
Karen Coyle wrote:
> Martha,
>
> I think you have to look at the realities of the different physicalities
> of card catalogs (where browsing originated) and the computer. The card
> catalog is three-dimensional and doesn't require an "interface."
> Basically, humans manipulate it with their hands, using their eyes as
> guides. If you want to jump ahead you merely reach forward a few inches
> and continue from that point. If you've gone too far you can very
> quickly hop backwards some amount. The computer screen is
> two-dimensional and has to have an artificial interface mediated with
> the keyboard and mouse.
>
> These are not insignificant differences. I don't know if we did any
> studies in the card catalog that would describe a user's physical
> behavior, but we know in the computer environment that people 1) often
> fail to scroll, since scrolling means taking the mouse and positioning
> the cursor in a fairly small area of the screen, then clicking and 2)
> rarely view more than two screens before giving up. (Even on google,
> apparently.) So browsing in the computer environment will be hindered by
> its physicality. When I go into a browse in a large catalog I find that
> I may have begun my search many screens from where I would like to be.
> That is a deterrent, because I do not want to have to click "next
> screen" 20 or more times (and I also have no visual clue or physical
> ability that would allow me to jump to a better starting point).
>
> Our solutions have to be matched to the technology we are employing.
> There were solutions that worked well in the card catalog that may
> appear very different to users when effected through a computer
> connection. I personally have not seen a really good implementation of
> an alphabetical browse that minimized scrolling and clicking and
> maximized the user's navigational ability. We would need to develop one
> in order to make your idea here feasible.
>
> kc
>
> Martha Yee wrote:
>> I have always thought users of libraries were pretty smart, smart
>> enough to
>> be able to tell us whether they were doing a search for a known work
>> or a
>> search for works on a particular subject, thus enabling us to provide
>> them
>> with more precise searching. However, if most of you violently disagree
>> (especially those of you who are fans of Google's single search box),
>> perhaps a compromise could be reached by reviving what used to be
>> called the
>> "dictionary catalog," that is an A to Z listing of all headings
>> (authors,
>> works and subjects). In other words, if we could combine all browse
>> (i.e.,
>> headings) indexes into one (and include TITLES AND WORK HEADINGS,
>> which have
>> been left out in most systems), we could offer a keyword in heading
>> search
>> of that dictionary browse file in a single search box as the default
>> beginning search (with a keyword in record search with faceted browse
>> a la
>> Endeca offered as a back-up if the user indicates dissatisfaction
>> with the
>> results of the initial search). The results of the dictionary browse
>> would
>> be a list of headings and see references labelled as to type, e.g.:
>>
>> (personal creator) [used for 100 (bib.), 700 (bib.), 400 (auth.)]
>> (corporate/institutional creator) [used for 110 (bib.), 710 (bib.), 410
>> (auth.)]
>> (conference proceedings) [used for 111 (bib.), 711 (bib.), 411 (auth.)]
>> (person as topic) [used for 600]
>> (corporation/institution as topic) [used for 610]
>> (conference or event as topic) [used for 611]
>> (work) [used for 1XX/245 (bib.), 1XX/240 (bib.), 130 (bib. and
>> authority),
>> 730 02 (bib.), 430 (auth.), 4xx/$t subfield (auth.)]
>> (title) [used for 24X (bib.), 740 (bib.)]
>> (series title) [used for 440 (bib.), 830 (bib.), 130 series authority
>> records]
>> (topic) [used for 650/651 (bib.), 150/151 (auth.), 450/451 (auth.)]
>> (genre/form) [used for 655 (bib.), 155 (auth.), 455 (auth.)]
>>
>> These labels could begin the process of educating users about our
>> categories, so that they could conceivably use them in more complex
>> boolean
>> searching. The results screen should also offer a prominent hot link
>> to be
>> used "if these results are not yet satisfactory" or some such language
>> (which, as stated above, would re-do the search as a keyword in record
>> search with facetted browsing display a la Endeca).
>>
>> When any given heading is chosen from the dictionary browse, the user
>> should
>> be offered hot links to:
>>
>> (under personal creators), other bibliographic identities
>> (under corporate/institutional creators), earlier and later names
>> (under works), related works (730 _0, 7XX 1_/$t subfield)
>> (under topics), broader, narrower and related terms
>> (under genre/form), broader, narrower and related genre/forms
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> Martha
>>
>>
>>
>> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>> Martha M. Yee
>> Cataloging Supervisor
>> UCLA Film & Television Archive
>> 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
>> Los Angeles, CA 90038-2616
>> 323-462-4921 x27
>> 323-469-9055 (fax)
>> myee_at_ucla.edu (Email)
>> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>>
>> "The good ended happily and the bad ended unhappily. That is what
>> fiction
>> means"--Miss Prism in The importance of being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
>>
>>
>
> --
> -----------------------------------
> Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
> kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
> ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
> fx.: 510-848-3913
> mo.: 510-435-8234
> ------------------------------------
Received on Wed Aug 01 2007 - 07:27:57 EDT