The purpose of this article is to describe some of the problems and issues faced by online library catalogues. It aims to establish how libraries have undertaken the mission of developing the next generation catalogues and how they compare to new tools such as Amazon. Methodology/ Approach: An expert study was carried out in January 2008 to evaluate six library catalogues (one traditional and five recently modernised) and compare them to Amazon. Findings: While the traditional catalogue has stayed far behind, the modernised catalogues have taken two different approaches in becoming the 'next generation catalogue'. Two catalogues focused on improving functionality while two others decided to introduce Web/Library 2.0 trends first. At this point, none of the catalogues offers as vast a range of features as Amazon does, but one catalogue managed to surpass Amazon in some of the examined features. Research limitations/implications: The chosen set of tested catalogues may not be representative and we cannot draw conclusions for the whole population of library catalogues. Originality/value: The paper shows the current state of library catalogues and draws attention to some important issues concerning Web 2.0 trends. Features presented in the tabular outline can be used as pointers for further development of library catalogues.
Since their beginnings, bibliographic information systems have been displaying results in the form of long, textual lists. With the development of new data models and computer technologies, the need for new approaches to present and interact with bibliographic data has slowly been maturing. To investigate how this could be accomplished, a prototype system, FrbrVis1, was designed to present work families within a bibliographic information system using information visualization. This paper reports on two user studies, a controlled and an observational experiment, that have been carried out to assess the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)‐based against an existing system as well as to test four different hierarchical visual layouts. The results clearly show that FrbrVis offers better performance and user experience compared to the baseline system. The differences between the four hierarchical visualizations (Indented tree, Radial tree, Circlepack, and Sunburst) were, on the other hand, not as pronounced, but the Indented tree and Sunburst design proved to be the most successful, both in performance as well as user perception. The paper therefore not only evaluates the application of a visual presentation of bibliographic work families, but also provides valuable results regarding the performance and user acceptance of individual hierarchical visualization techniques.
Purpose -In our modern society there is a prevailing belief that computers and the internet are mainly used by younger generations, who grew up with modern technology, and are generally all information literate. However, research shows that through the past ten years more and more older people have started to learn how to use computers and, of course, how to use the internet. The aim of this paper is to investigate and analyse internet usage among seniors on the basis of a case study showing the actual situation in Slovenia. Design/methodology/approach -A survey was carried out among seniors, the participants of different Third Age University programmes, by using a questionnaire, designed for this study. This particular group of seniors was chosen because they lead more active lifestyle than average seniors and the results should be more relevant. Participating in these programmes means they are eager to learn new things and that they have access to computers. Findings -It was found that among the seniors, Third Age University participants, only one third were active internet users. It was less than expected, as Slovenia has quite high internet usage among its citizens. Education and partly age were important factors in defining internet use. Public libraries can play a particularly important role in offering information literacy courses, offering space and others services to them, but this was not confirmed by the results of this study.Research limitations/implications -The paper tried to establish the situation with a case study in Slovenia, a new EU member but also one of the European countries with the greatest use of internet and web. Digital divide, differences along the criteria of age, might be more important than elsewhere. Originality/value -Use of internet and web will become more and more wide-spread and problems with social groups left out will be more visible and will have negative implications on equality of all citizens. Seniors as a social group are especially vulnerable and need help. Libraries can and must find new services with initiatives that promote the reduction of digital divide among age groups.
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