Repeat after me: There is no typical user. There is no typical user.
There is no typical user.
Statements made, or decisions reached based on a general statement of "the
users need ....; the users want ....; etc." should make us all nervous and
suspicious. We simply can't make good decisions based on anecdote, and we
can't make good decisions for all libraries based on our individual
experience with one sort of library, or predominantly one sort of user.
Many of us have experience of people making those sorts of decisions, and of
the rest of us living to regret it (and to mop up afterward).
Persuade us with actual data, carefully collected, clearly defined, and
thoughtfully considered.
Janet Swan Hill, Professor
Associate Director for Technical Services
University of Colorado Libraries, CB184
Boulder, CO 80309
janet.hill_at_colorado.edu
*****
Tradition is the handing-on of Fire, and not the worship of Ashes.
- Gustav Mahler
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Bryan Campbell
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 8:43 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Browsing percentages / analytics
Selden Deemer wrote that "Our users would probably be better served if we
got rid of all choices save keyword, author, and title."
But I am a member of that group of users that knows how to use all the
other features besides keyword, author, and title effectively.
Am I better served if you reduced my range of options, especially in those
cases, which for me is often, when keyword, author, and title prove to be
insufficient? How many times should users search by subject or series
or in order to justify their existence as potential search options? Is
there some target number?
Undergraduate students, which we seem to focus on to the exclusion of all
others, eventually grow up to become more thoughtful about how they
approach their search for information. At least I did. Can we not
accommodate the range of strategies that different groups of users bring to
their searching?
Bryan Campbell
Library Assistant
VDOT Research Library
530 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Ph: (434) 293-1903 FAX: (434) 293-4196
Email: bryan.campbell_at_VDOT.virginia.gov
Email: classz696_at_yahoo.com
Received on Tue Feb 05 2008 - 11:19:40 EST