Importance: 6.29/7
Performance: 5.25/7
Gap:
1.04
"Online database and
catalogue is user-friendly - this is the only thing good about the
library."
"Catalogue interface
dismal in colour and unclear to use - other universities' catalogue
interfaces have a better layout."
"Improve the library
catalogue. The subject and title options often do not work very well.
"Library catalogue -
its very hard to locate the type of information you require - subject
searches are horrible"
"Improve the
Catalogue. I find all catalogues give far too much information."
"The library could be
improved by including table of contents details for all books in the
catalogue, or an abstract."
"Looking for books
that are on the catalogue, but known to be lost, is very frustrating."
"Online library
services including catalogue search and 'recall' transfers from other
libraries are very useful."
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- We will be
changing the "look and feel" of the library catalogue
We have recently
completed a useability study of the catalogue. At the end of this
year we will implement a new user interface which will be easier to
navigate. The study investigated the use of terminology, search
behaviour of users, search limits, search result screens, saving,
emailing and printing, requests, and managing loans. The new design
is simpler, clearer and more intuitive.
- We are
including additional information in the catalogue
Many catalogue
records now include, or link to, the table of contents of books or an
abstract. These provide additional keywords for searching, as well
as giving you a better idea of the book’s coverage. You can see
further information about a book by viewing the Detailed Record in the
catalogue. This also displays a hot link to other books on the same
subject or by the same author.
- We are
improving the accuracy of the catalogue information
We have put in a
place a procedure to regularly check for and replace missing books,
and to keep information in the catalogue up to date by deleting books
which have been missing for an extended period. We are working on
improving the quality of the catalogue records by regularly running
error detection programs, and replacing basic records with full
information. We also run a program every month to check that the url
links in the catalogue are working properly, and correct any errors
detected. Over the past 2 years we have consistently found that over
98% of all links are working properly.
"The library is
committed to improving the accuracy of information in the library
catalogue, to adding new resources as quickly as possible, and to
making the catalogue easy to use."
Jill Wilson,
Director Information Resources
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