Re: Browse functionality (was Whose elephant is it, anyway? (the OLE project))

I don't think it's that our search engines are so dreadful that we can't
find much useful research on these topics.  I think that there isn't much
done.  Certainly not enough.  (and you notice, I'm not volunteering) 

It's hard to get people away from using the anecdotal.  For one thing,
anecdotes are incredibly powerful and can be amazingly persuasive (perhaps
especially in the wrong hands?).  We just have to find a way to convince
ourselves and others that anecdotes have their place, but can't/oughtn't
TAKE the place of serious research.

An anecdote:  I had a person who worked for me who persisted in making
decisions contrary to established norms (even though it involved a
continuing cost, and was a problem for any future system migration), because
in her/his words "it's what the users want."  But it usually turned out that
it was what the one or two users who talked to her/him wanted, and not
necessarily what served most users well.


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 Bill Dueber
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:14 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Browse functionality (was Whose elephant is it,
anyway? (the OLE project))

I've seen a few (unanswered) requests in this thread for relevant research
on this topic -- is there none? Phrases "I like to..." and "I can imagine a
user who..."  quickly lead to disaster, forming the basis for why usability
testing is so powerful.

Or is the relevant research too hard to find because our search/browse
interfaces are so awful? :-)