Do students prefer to use Google instead of the library catalog? Ever wondered why? Google is easier to use and delivers plenty of "good enough" resources to meet their needs. The current generation of online catalogs has two main problems. First, the look and feel of the interface doesn't reflect the conventions adhered to elsewhere on the web,…

The menu has become an integrated component within nearly all professionally designed websites. This teaching tip presents a no-code way to design either a vertical or a horizontal fly-out menu by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) within Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The approach described in this tip helps students fully understand how to…

Resource discovery tops the charts as the foremost issue within the realm of library automation. As a new year commences, the author sees a more pressing need to accelerate the pace with which libraries deliver content and services in ways that users will find compelling, relevant, and convenient. The evolution of the web advances relentlessly,…

As a concept, the next-generation catalog (NGC) is not new to librarians, who have been wishing for better OPAC interfaces for their integrated library systems (ILSs). The NGC has been the focus of discussion for more than 5 years now, from the 2006 report of the implementation of Endeca at North Carolina State University, to Marshall Breeding's…

This article features the University of Liverpool's arts and humanities library, which applies a new search tool to improve the user experience. In nearly every way imaginable, the Sydney Jones Library and the Harold Cohen Library--the university's two libraries that serve science, engineering, and medical students--support the lives of their…

Zoomable user interfaces (ZUIs) have received a significant amount of attention in the 18 years since they were introduced. They have enjoyed some success, and elements of ZUIs are widely used in computers today, although the grand vision of a zoomable desktop has not materialised. This paper describes the premise and promise of ZUIs along with…

Academic library home pages are not only access points to the resources and services of a library, they are virtual representations of the library itself. The content placed on the page, where it is placed, and the amount of space allotted are all choices that send a message about the character of the library, the resources a user should start…

Mobile devices offer much potential to support older adults (age 65+). However, older adults have been relatively slow to adopt mobile devices. Although much ongoing HCI research has examined usability problems to address this issue, little work has looked at whether existing graphical icons are harder to use for this population compared with…

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to examine the various features and components of web-based online public access catalogues (OPACs) of IIT libraries in India with the help of a specially designed evaluation checklist. Design/methodology/approach: The various features of the web-based OPACs in six IIT libraries (IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT…

Researchers at American University investigated user preferences for discovery layer features, interface design, and content. They tested local implementations of WorldCat Local and Aquabrowser by conducting a group test with eighteen students and individual tests with ten students. Students searched a given question and a topic of their choosing…

This research describes a study that examined the influences of cognitive style (as assessed by the CSA- Riding 1991) and Learners' Prior Knowledge on student recall performance of the contents of online course presented via two navigational formats (linear sequential navigation version versus nonlinear free navigation version). The study was…

Our research explores a virtual reality application based on Web camera (Webcam) input-interface. The interface can replace with the mouse to control direction intention of a user by the method of frame difference. We divide a frame into nine grids from Webcam and make use of the background registration to compute the moving object. In order to…

Libraries today face an increasing challenge: to provide relevant information to diverse populations with differing needs while competing with Web search engines like Google. In 2009, a large group of libraries, including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, joined with Innovative Interfaces as development partners to design a new type of…

This article is the fourth in a series of articles published annually by "Computers in Libraries" surveying integrated library systems and services (ILSs). The purpose of the annual survey is to enable comparison of the ILSs that are available. ILS vendors are in constant pursuit of an ever-changing, consistently vague definition of what the…

Website quality measurement tools have been largely static and have struggled to determine relevant attributes of user satisfaction. This study compares and contrasts attributes of user satisfaction based on usability guidelines seeking to identify practical easy-to-administer measurement tools. The website users assessed business school homepages…