The rise of apps and mobile devices has opened the door to small, dedicated software programs that are focused on singular tasks. From the author's perspective as head of digital access and web service manager at Montana State University, these apps offered an opportunity to build a focused digital service aimed at allowing someone to enter a…

Librarians are familiar with the single-line form, the consolidated index, which represents a very large portion of a library's print and online collection. Their end users are familiar with the idea of a single search across a comprehensive index that produces a large, relevancy-ranked results list. Even though most patrons would not recognize…

Creating a learnable, effective, and user-friendly library Web site hinges on providing easy access to search. Designing a search interface for academic libraries can be particularly challenging given the complexity and range of searchable library collections, such as bibliographic databases, electronic journals, and article search silos. Library…

As e-resource systems and web coordinator for Southern Oregon University, the author is deeply involved with the university library's website. In the latest revision of this website, the author knew she needed to jazz it up a little. With screen real estate on the main page at a premium, the author hoped to use a tabbed box and an accordion-style…

A study of 170 undergraduates at the University of Washington examined the effect of terminology and screen layout on student ability to select databases from an initial online interface, "Session Manager." Results indicated that student ability to navigate menu screens was improved with expanded terminology and type grouping of online…

This book presents 19 case studies in library web site creation and implementation. The book begins with an introduction--"Introduction: Step into My Parlor" (Julie M. Still)--and is divided into three sections. The first section, Academic Library Web Sites, contains six case studies: "U-SEARCH: The University of Saskatchewan…

This study used focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires to collect input for developing the Mann Library Gateway at Cornell University. This Web-based information system provides access to catalogs, indexes, directories, numeric datasets, full-text documents, and spatial files. Concluded that scholars would benefit from…