The Library website is being updated! At this point, only critical services are enabled. There is still considerable work to be done. We are interested in your feedback as we finish our website design. Please visit
http://web1.fandm.edu/library/
Using this Library Blog, you can anonymously provide feedback about what you like OR don't like (see Comments below). Or you can email...
libwebteam@fandm.edu
Our main goals are to provide a site that's intuitive to use, with quick & easy ways to ask for help, that looks & feels like the College website, but with a touch of Library pizazz!
From now through May, we'd like to know
- can you readily find books, journals and other resources?
- can you easily find services such as E-Z Borrow or Order Materials?
- can you readily find help and ask questions?
- do you find that the language and link choices are obvious and intuitive?
Thanks for you kind consideration & valuable feedback!
15 comments:
If I select an tab option, like Journals, when I use the back arrow I go to the main home page. Might be better to go back to the page the I came from - in this example Journals
Why call the tab EZ-Borrow when it includes both EZ-Borrow and ILL? I didn't know where to look when I needed to ask for a journal article via ILL.
I think I see what you mean by using the "back arrow." This might not be possible, since the tabbed choices are within the same webpate, but will check to be sure.
Originally the EZB tab read, "E-Z Borrow & ILL," but this made for a wide tab, and caused the 4 tab row to spill into 2 rows. "Journal Finder" verses "Article" seemed like a logical choice. We're open to any ideas that allow for intuitive, yet succinct language.
AAALLLLright so there are a few things that must be changed:
1) http://palci.library.pitt.edu/~ursa/FRANKLIN_login.html - IE6 is obsolete, even Microsoft discourages people from using it, please remove it from the list of suggested browsers.
2) please don't use the blinking html tag in your blog or anywhere else, that is so 1998. you might as well get those pictures that follow the cursor, it's so bad.
3) Add the ability to search through all databases in search for relevant articles, I don't know what sort of service you are going to have to purchase, but it will be perhaps one of the most useful things you can do for us students. The A to Z list is useless if I don't already know exactly what to look for, in which case I didn't need it in the first place.
Hey, thanks for the comments. Glad you took a few moments. And here are a few answers..
1) http://palci.library.pitt.edu/~ursa/FRANKLIN_login.html - IE6 is obsolete, even Microsoft discourages people from using it, please remove it from the list of suggested browsers.
Over the summer, EZBorrow will be upgraded, and the page you currently see will be gone, along with old references to old browsers.
2) please don't use the blinking html tag in your blog or anywhere else, that is so 1998. you might as well get those pictures that follow the cursor, it's so bad.
More like 1995, but it got your attention, didn't it?!
3) Add the ability to search through all databases in search for relevant articles, I don't know what sort of service you are going to have to purchase, but it will be perhaps one of the most useful things you can do for us students. The A to Z list is useless if I don't already know exactly what to look for, in which case I didn't need it in the first place.
What you're asking about is called Federated Searching, which has never really worked for most libraries. BUT, we might be looking at Summons, which is a research discovery tool, that is a whole lot better than fed/search, but costs a whole lot more.
In the meantime, we plan to put all of our databases into a database, so if you search for a discipline, you get all related resources, including full-text journals. This would be similar to our current BySubject pages, but a bit more comprehensive.
I find the A-Z list handy, but for students this might not be the case.
Feel free to provide comments anytime!
I like that the new site’s style (layout, font, etc.) seems more cohesive, both within itself, and with other F&M pages. While the colors (blues, gray, white) follow the lead of other departments’ pages, perhaps it would be nice to consider other color schemes to help the library page, and various features within it, stand out a bit (like the Ask Us tab). Will the window open bigger when the site goes “live”? Right now, it seems to fill a rather small portion of the screen. Occupying more of the screen could help with the font size (could be a little easier on the eyes if it were a point or two bigger). Additionally, could use be made of the white space at the bottom of the page? Also, ILL is buried inside the EZ-Borrow information; could ILL be included on the tab? I found most of the topics from the current library page on the new one, but not Go Print or FPS tab for research workshops… maybe I just missed them. Finally, I like the simpler search box, but that the Advanced Search is right there if needed.
Maybe the little flair of red might make our site pervasive Ask Us noticeable, since there isn't red anywhere else.
We plan to add some pictures, so give the site some zing. And the What's New section will frequently change with new features and pictures.
It would seem you have a large monitor or resolution. The Ask Us tab results in a layer that covers nearly about 2/3's of my screen. The intent of Ask Us is to be pervasive, without being intrusive.
I think we're going to move EZB/ILL to the left side bar, to raise or valued ILL service up a level. Our GoPrint policy will go to Locations and Policies. Not sure yet where to place Faculty-only services, perhaps with Order.
Have you ever considered adding Refworks?
Have you ever considered adding Refworks?
Regarding Refworks, we've had some interest in Endnotes, which seems similar. The free option is Zetero. I've only seen a demo, looks quite good and seems adequate for most research management needs. Zetero works as a plug-in in Firefox.
I like the appearance of the front page and have just a few suggestions. Why is a less used thing like Archives singled out at left - have Research Resources, then Services, then maybe Archives. Can the dark blue tab for Ask Us line up with the light blue column for What's New? The left edge lines up but not the right. The photos that appear on the front page and other places could rotate when the pages are loaded, and come from a Flickr or some other feed. There are a couple misspelled words - Fackenthal and focused - on the Journal Finder page.
The right side of the Ask Us tab bugs me too, and will be aesthetically edited soon.
Archives in many ways is its own library and deserves greater prominence, verses being relegated under Collections. That said, perhaps Archives could be slotted under Services, since ILL and EZB are very popular.
Thanks for the spelling corrections (not my forte!). The pictures are only static for the beta site, but they will be random for the final site. There are some 80 pictures available, which should keep the site looking reasonably fresh for each visit.
I don't have suggestions, per se. Just a few things that I think are great (so I hope they stay!):
-ability to search from the home page
-search strategies (saves us a lot of time!!)
-really like having the tabbed choices still appear after clicking on one of the links.
All 3 of your listed items will stay. Glad you like the new look & feel!
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