Category Archives: interfaces

Crappy image maps messing with my mind

Please, for the life of Brian, give adequate thought to creating image maps (images that contain multiple links, mapped to different areas of the image.) While they can be useful, and even creative, they can also be confusing. (The one … Continue reading

Posted in image maps, interfaces, library websites, rant, TheUbiquitousLibrary, vexation, web design, web development, websites | Comments Off on Crappy image maps messing with my mind

Just one more thing…

One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post on Harvard’s library site… They have a really sleek user feedback system. When you click on the “Tell Us” button at the top of the page, you get the following javascript … Continue reading

Posted in customer service, helpdesk, higher education, information technology, interfaces, IT, javascript, library technology, library websites, web design, web development, websites | Comments Off on Just one more thing…

Bridging the gap from Wikipedia to scholarly sources: a simple library bookmarklet

So I know I have been alluding to a fancy-shmancy “project” for awhile now, and it’s finally at a point that I can show it off! Barbara Arnett and I (mostly Barbara, but I set the project in motion, so … Continue reading

Posted in Barbara Arnett, bookmarklet, information access, information searching, information seeking, interfaces, javascript, library 2.0, library technology, reaching students, search engines | 4 Comments

Hakia: Semantic Search Engine

From ars technica: Search engines generally don’t understand either content on the Web or the content of user queries; they work through keyword analysis, link weighting, and other statistical methods that allow an engine to produce more or less relevant … Continue reading

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Why My Library Should Invest in Overhauling Its Online Presence

How is it that, in today’s technological atmosphere, where users expect to be able to access virtually everything online (no pun intended, but a good one nonetheless, haha…) it is such a struggle to get the administration to realize the … Continue reading

Posted in academic libraries, blogging, Facebook, information access, information searching, interfaces, library 2.0, library technology, library websites, Myspace, web 2.0 | Comments Off on Why My Library Should Invest in Overhauling Its Online Presence

If You Build It, Maybe They Will Come…

http://acrlblog.org/2007/05/14/formula-for-academic-library-success/ My library has heretofore been focusing on outreach, but my position is this, we need a user-friendly, intuitive product to promote, or all the awareness in the world is not going to help us. Users have been known to … Continue reading

Posted in academic libraries, catalogs, databases, information access, information searching, interfaces, library websites | Comments Off on If You Build It, Maybe They Will Come…