York University Libraries’ online catalogue, has been around in its present form for almost ten years - so the time has come to do some re-assessment, and to look at ways improve it. The Libraries’ Web Review Committee struck a working group in November 2005 to evaluate and improve to the look and functionality of the catalogue.
The group has been hard at work! Changes will be made incrementally; some small ones have already been implemented, some will come during the summer of 2006, and further changes will come in the following year. Enhancements which will have a more significant impact on the look and functionality of the catalogue will take place during the summer months so as to implement the changes during less busy periods for study, research and teaching.
The changes that have been made so far are relatively small, but they should improve ease of use and reduce confusion. These include suppressing superfluous numbers and simplifying language (e.g., “clear” a form as opposed to “reset query value”). Some upcoming improvements include the addition of location maps for each library and location, improved help notes, consistent terminology throughout, and a “new titles” listing where new titles added to the collection can be viewed or subscribed to via an RSS feed. Future changes will likely improve the ability to search for items by format (journal, book, ebook, etc.) and allow some greater flexibility in keyword searching.
Is there something that has “bugged” you about the library catalogue? Do you have ideas you would like to share with our group? We would be most interested in any input from faculty members and graduate students, our heaviest catalogue users. Please send us comments on the present state of the catalogue, suggestions on changes you would like to see, or things you have seen in the catalogues of other libraries that you might like to see in our catalogue. Please contact Stacy Allison-Cassin, sacassin@yorku.ca to share your ideas.
