Abstract
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The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the problems and issues faced by online library catalogues. It aims to establish how libraries have undertaken the mission of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the problems and issues faced by online library catalogues. It aims to establish how libraries have undertaken the mission of developing the next generation catalogues and how they compare to new tools such as Amazon.
Deign/methodology/approach
An expert study was carried out in January 2008 to evaluate six library catalogues (one traditional and five recently modernised) and compare them to Amazon.
Findings
While the traditional catalogue has stayed far behind, the modernised catalogues have taken two different approaches in becoming the “next generation catalogue”. Two catalogues focused on improving functionality while two others decided to introduce Web/Library 2.0 trends first. At this point, none of the catalogues offer as vast a range of features as Amazon does, but one catalogue managed to surpass Amazon in some of the examined features.
Research limitations/implications
The chosen set of tested catalogues may not be representative and we cannot draw conclusions for the whole population of library catalogues.
Originality/value
The paper shows the current state of library catalogues and draws attention to some important issues concerning Web 2.0 trends. Features presented in the tabular outline can be used as pointers for further development of library catalogues.
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Tanja Merčun, Maja Žumer and Trond Aalberg
Despite the importance of bibliographic information systems for discovering and exploring library resources, some of the core functionality that should be provided to support…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the importance of bibliographic information systems for discovering and exploring library resources, some of the core functionality that should be provided to support users in their information seeking process is still missing. Investigating these issues, the purpose of this paper is to design a solution that would fulfil the missing objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the concepts of a work family, functional requirements for bibliographic records (FRBR) and information visualization, the paper proposes a model and user interface design that could support a more efficient and user-friendly presentation and navigation in bibliographic information systems.
Findings
The proposed design brings together all versions of a work, related works, and other works by and about the author and shows how the model was implemented into a FrbrVis prototype system using hierarchical visualization layout.
Research limitations/implications
Although issues related to discovery and exploration apply to various material types, the research first focused on works of fiction and was also limited by the selected sample of records.
Practical implications
The model for presenting and interacting with FRBR-based data can serve as a good starting point for future developments and implementations.
Originality/value
With FRBR concepts being gradually integrated into cataloguing rules, formats, and various bibliographic services, one of the important questions that has not really been investigated and studied is how the new type of data would be presented to users in a way that would exploit the true potential of the changes.
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Primoz Juznic, Maja Blazic, Tanja Mercun, Barbara Plestenjak and Darko Majcenovic
In our modern society there is a prevailing belief that computers and the internet are mainly used by younger generations, who grew up with modern technology, and are generally…
Abstract
Purpose
In our modern society there is a prevailing belief that computers and the internet are mainly used by younger generations, who grew up with modern technology, and are generally all information literate. However, research shows that through the past ten years more and more older people have started to learn how to use computers and, of course, how to use the internet. The aim of this paper is to investigate and analyse internet usage among seniors on the basis of a case study showing the actual situation in Slovenia.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was carried out among seniors, the participants of different Third Age University programmes, by using a questionnaire, designed for this study. This particular group of seniors was chosen because they lead more active lifestyle than average seniors and the results should be more relevant. Participating in these programmes means they are eager to learn new things and that they have access to computers.
Findings
It was found that among the seniors, Third Age University participants, only one third were active internet users. It was less than expected, as Slovenia has quite high internet usage among its citizens. Education and partly age were important factors in defining internet use. Public libraries can play a particularly important role in offering information literacy courses, offering space and others services to them, but this was not confirmed by the results of this study.
Research limitations/implications
The paper tried to establish the situation with a case study in Slovenia, a new EU member but also one of the European countries with the greatest use of internet and web. Digital divide, differences along the criteria of age, might be more important than elsewhere.
Originality/value
Use of internet and web will become more and more wide‐spread and problems with social groups left out will be more visible and will have negative implications on equality of all citizens. Seniors as a social group are especially vulnerable and need help. Libraries can and must find new services with initiatives that promote the reduction of digital divide among age groups.
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Sharon Q. Yang and Melissa A. Hofmann
The study described in this paper aims to identify the progress made in the efforts to model current online public access catalogs (OPACs) after the next generation catalog (NGC…
Abstract
Purpose
The study described in this paper aims to identify the progress made in the efforts to model current online public access catalogs (OPACs) after the next generation catalog (NGC) in academic libraries in the USA and Canada.
Design/methodology/approach
A random sample of 260 colleges and universities was selected from Peterson's Guide to Four‐Year Colleges 2009, an estimated 10 percent of the total population of 2,560 listed academic institutions. A checklist of 12 features of the NGC was used to evaluate the OPACs of the 260 libraries in the sample. The authors took as the OPAC that which the library linked to as its “catalog,” even though some might be more properly considered “discovery tools” or “discovery layers.” Some libraries used more than one OPAC interface simultaneously; in this case, each OPAC was analyzed separately. In the case of several institutions using the same consortial OPAC, only the first instance of the OPAC was analyzed. About 15 percent of the institutions (n=40) in the sample either did not have web sites or did not provide access to their online catalogs. In all, a total of 233 unique instances of OPACs were analyzed. Data were collected from September 2009 through July 2010. The findings can be extrapolated to the population at the 95 percent confidence level with a confidence interval of ±3.
Findings
While bits and pieces of the next generation catalog are steadily working themselves into the current catalog, academic libraries still have a long way to go. About 16 percent of the OPACs in the sample did not show any advanced features of the NGC. More than half of the libraries (61 percent) had only one to five advanced features in their OPACs. Many of those with six or more NGC features were discovery tools. Only 3 percent of the OPACs in the sample (n=8) demonstrated seven to ten out of the 12 functionalities of the NGC, and they were instances either of WorldCat Local or Summon. The weak areas were federated searching, relevance based on circulation statistics, and recommendations based on patron transactions.
Originality/value
This is the first and only study on a large scale conducted thus far that evaluates the progress towards the NGC in academic libraries in the USA and Canada. The findings help academic librarians to recognize and pin‐point the weak links in implementing a true next generation catalog.