On Wednesday, April 28, 2010 9:04 AM, Karen Coyle wrote:
>Beth Jefferson of BiblioCommons does user studies for all of their catalog functionality, and reports that users uniformly dislike browse lists.
Do the users explain why they dislike the browse lists? Could the lists be given in a better format while still retaining the usefulness they offer to some? Even if they aren't used by all, or even a majority of users, it seems like a disservice to those who do find them useful to dispense with them or not implement them, as appears to be the case with many of the current ILS (open source projects and some newer versions of existing systems).
If browse lists are unavailable, then it seems like it would be difficult to determine whether something with a fairly common term exists in the catalog/collection. Examples would include whether anything exists by someone with the last name "Shakespeare", first name "William" but not the one who was relatively prolific; or finding all of the works of a specific "John Smith" or someone similar without knowing at first which is the authorized heading (though at that point, finding which one could be improved by having more information than just the heading--for example, a brief list with the heading (in full, so it is clear what it is) and titles of works for each heading).
Thank you for your time,
Bryan Baldus
Cataloger
Quality Books Inc.
The Best of America's Independent Presses
1-800-323-4241x402
bryan.baldus_at_quality-books.com
Received on Wed Apr 28 2010 - 10:30:12 EDT