Search Box Syndrome

We've been here before -- from a usability study looking at how students use (or don't use as the case may be) various library database pages:

"In 2006, Steve Krug said internet users were mostly looking for something clickable to click on; BGSU students, by contrast, often looked for a search box to search in. When a search was unsuccessful, instead of retooling it, the student looked for a different search box and tried the same search again. The students in the study tried to change the subset of information they were searching, not the search they had already decided was the best one."

Okay, so the next logical question might be, is this a student preference or is there something about the design of the website that drives them to it? Maybe yes, maybe no but considering the effort we put into all of this, it's certainly worth testing.

But hark! A bit further down in the same study -- apparently vendor consolidation will save the day:

"Therefore, if we want students to use a wider range of our resources, it is crucial that we teach them to recognize the resources that will be useful for them. As the brand diversity of our resources narrows, vendors and publishers merge, and vendors market more and more to end users, this strategy may become easier to adopt."

Library Database Pages & Research Guides Using Drupal

Way too long ago -- about a 100 years ago -- I asked people on the Drupal4Lib ListServ to send in links to their Database page(s) or Research/Subject guides that use Drupal.

I got a couple of very good responses which I've now finally posted as a Wiki Page on the Drupal Library Group: http://groups.drupal.org/node/58423

I just sent a follow-up message to the Drupal4Lib ListServ asking people to have a look and to post their own pages if they want.

I guess the goal is to develop an idea of just what the possibilities are using Drupal in this way.

A Multilingual Virtual Tour for International Students

Article co-written with A. Downing for the 5/2001 issue of College & Research Libraries News [link]:

Providing effective library orientation for international students poses special challenges. An international student’s profi- ciency in the language of the host country may be limited, and his or her functional vo- cabulary is unlikely to include library terminology. International students encounter library procedures, resources, and systems that are quite different from what they had experi- enced in their homeland. Moreover, the educational system of their native country may entail a role for the library that con- trasts with the course re- quirements for library re- search faced in the host country.

[Downing, Arthur, & Leo Robert Klein. "A Multilingual Virtual Tour for International Students: The Web-based Library at Baruch College Opens Doors." College & Research Libraries News [Online], 62.5 (2001): 500-503.]