Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Renew prompt
: during the six months' analysis of keyword searches, the
word 'renew' was entered 74 times. The following text now
appears to aid the user: 'To renew items you currently have on
loan, please click on the “My Account/Renewals” tab.'
Tag cloud
: a visual depiction of the most popular keywords from the
last two days; although the data often carries the same basic set of
keywords, there are interesting anomalies throughout the year.
People who borrowed this also borrowed
: analysis of borrower history has
led to the creation of a suggestions list for additional material.
Items with similar subject headings
: in order to give suggestions for similar
items.
Other editions
: using web services from OCLC
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and LibraryThing
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to
locate other editions and related works within the holdings.
E-mail alerts and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds
: to help users
monitor new items added in their areas of research.
ticTOCS
: The Journal Tables of Contents Service (ticTOCS) has made
its data available, so it is now possible to add links to journal RSS
feeds direct from the catalogue.
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User rating and comments
: are available to add from the record.
Loans per year
: are available for all print copies for users to gauge the
popularity of the items.
Google Book Search
: to allow users to sample a book online before they
borrow/reserve it.
There is anecdotal evidence to show that the 'did you mean' spell
checker follows the borrower usage pattern; the borrowing suggestions
usage peaks one month after the peak in borrowing, perhaps indicating
that users cannot locate the items they need as they are on loan, and so
are using the suggestions option for related reading. The keyword tag-
cloud clicks peak during October, again suggesting that new users are
unsure of the content they require. In addition, the number of unique
titles borrowed per calendar year rose significantly after borrower
recommendations were soft-launched.
This is a largely print-based example; however, the implication for
digital information is clear: these are the types of feature that are users
are expecting from Google, Amazon, etc. The secret for libraries and
resource-discovery vendors over the next five to ten years is how to go
one stage further than the Huddersfield example, by using text and
