OCLC has done it again – come out with another great report. This report focuses on areas where librarians and end users share or have differences in their perceptions of the importance of elements in the online catalog. ANOTHER MUST READ REPORT of the same quality as “From Awareness to Funding”.
In 2008, OCLC conducted focus groups, administered a pop-up survey on WorldCat.org-OCLC’s freely available end user interface on the Web-and conducted a Web-based survey of librarians worldwide. The Online Catalogs report presents findings from these research efforts in order to understand:
- The metadata elements that are most important to end users in determining if an item will meet his or her needs
- The enhancements end users would like to see made in online library catalogs to assist them in consistently identifying appropriate materials
- The enhancements librarians would recommend for online library catalogs to better assist them in their work
The findings indicate, among other things, that although library catalogs are often thought of as discovery tools, the catalog’s delivery-related information is just as important to end users.
The importance of delivery and full text online resources to our patrons is something every library worker should be reading about. The report recommends more consortial borrowing and lending. This should be considered a call for libraries to join consortium with the goal of offering wider information resources to our patron then what is available in any given collection! Check it out at: http://www.oclc.org/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.htm. Valerie Horton
0 Response to “Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want”