LIS 688C Database Assignment���������������������������������� ���������������������������������� �����������Jonathan Eaker   ����������� Databases are a very important part of the modern academic library. They save space by allowing all types of documents to be stored electronically, everything from government documents to journal articles to entire e-books. This allows the library accessibility to many sources they could not or would not have in print. Databases do come with one major inherent disadvantage, with all that information and documents stored in a few locations, it can make finding the one you need much more difficult. When you consider that many people using the databases may not be familiar with them and how to use them, it becomes the library�s responsibility to not only provide access but to help guide the user to what they need. What good is all this information if the people who need it can�t use it, or use it well? UNCG does provide good access to their databases, but there are always things that can be done to try and improve access. ����������� The first thing I would change is that I would add more links to helpful information on all the various search pages. Jackson library has created good tools to help students find the information they are looking for, we just need to make sure they see it so it can be taken advantage of. �From the main page, just going to �Research Portal� from the menu on the left takes you to a page full of information about finding things in different types of sources. There is even a tutorial called �First Steps� which takes the user very slowly, step by step, to finding the information they need. �First Steps� and the other information provided under the research portal could be of great help to someone looking for a journal or an article from a database. The only problem I see is that I don�t think most students would go to that first if they didn�t know how to look for something. �Research Portal� is somewhat of a vague term. I think they would try searching directly from the library home page at the �Library Catalog�, �Multisearch�, or one of the other main links. Most students would probably ask a librarian in person or at the �Ask Us!� section before they would go to the �Research Portal.� ����������� I would add links to the �Research Portal� to all of the applicable pages, which with all the information provided in the portal, is most of them. Just a small line with a link and some text saying something like �Need Help Finding What You Need? Try our Research Portal� would be helpful.� Maybe then that student who is looking for a journal article the night before his paper is due wouldn�t spend all his time reading through articles in every database out there trying to find one that fits, when he could have just used something like �Multisearch� or tried a better search strategy. Another thing I do like about the Jackson Library page is that the �Ask Us!� logo and link is on many of the pages so that the student that is really lost they can just write a question to a librarian. I�m sure the library could send them to the �Research Portal� or to the information they want much quicker and it promotes getting patrons to actually use the library staff. I know there was once I was looking for a book I had read years ago, and I couldn�t remember the name or author but I remembered the plot, so I just searched the catalog, Amazon.com, and Google with no results. So one day I was in the public library I just asked the librarian on my way out if she knew a way to find this book I read and she guided me to a source that lists books by plot and I found it in 5 minutes or less and I never would have know about it I had not asked. ����������� Another addition that could be made to help users is to put a link at the bottom or top of some of the sections guiding them to other sections if it would be more appropriate. In the �Journal Finder� and �Databases� section there could be a link that says something like �Want to search for an article? Try Multisearch,� not just a link to Multisearch (as in the �Databases�) Just seeing �Multisearch� the user may not know what it does and not want to try it. Also in the �Library Catalog� there could be a little link that guides those looking for access to specific journals to �Journal Finder� and those searching for a specific article to �Multisearch.� I�m not sure that little additions like these would do a lot to help users, but people who are new to the school or the library and working at home where they may not be able to ask anyone could find the links helpful so they don�t have to go back to the homepage and check every link to find what they want. ����������� One more minor change I would make is setting the page you get to when you click on �Journal Finder� to be what the advanced search page is currently. The first page only gives a simple search which works great if you know what you are looking for, but if you are unsure of the spelling (as I recently had with a foreign journal) or someone wants to browse what journals are available in a subject (as I have had to do for classes) the advanced search provides better options. And since the first search box on the advanced search does the simple search with an extra option (begins with or contains) nothing is lost. The subject sections for the e-journals is a great resource because sometimes a person only needs to find an article in a field to review or critique and this is an easy way to find an article in a particular field. When the Article Finder is completed it would fit nicely on the advanced page, possibly in the top search box with checkbox that the user can select. ���������� Something that I have seen used at another library is more options in the catalog search menu. At the webpage for D. H. Hill Library at North Carolina State University once you go to the search options (http://catalog.lib.ncsu.edu/web2/tramp2.exe/log_in?LOGIN=guest&SERVERS=1home&SETTING_KEY=Files&item_category2_filter=all&SCREEN=home.html), they allow you to choose from many different options all at one place. I think the Jackson Library search does well but it would be nice if the user could limit their search as much as possible to cut back on superfluous results. I really like how the D. H. Hill site lets you just select a checkbox to change your search option. The user doesn�t have to look at pull down menus and select a button to press, it�s nothing major, but it does seem more organized if someone is searching for more than a simple title. Their advanced search tab allows you to do a Boolean search of keywords in different places and several other options. It also has a tab on the same page to search other libraries which include Duke, NC Central, and UNC and also links to some local libraries and even things like WorldCat. If someone is looking up a source that is in a database more search options could allow them to find it easier. I do understand that NC State�s library is larger than UNCG�s so maybe that necessitates having more search options but usually it would be better to have too many options than not enough (unless cost is the factor). ����������� UNCG currently asks students for their user ID and your pin number to authenticate users so they allow only students into sources that were paid for. This system works very well, allowing students to use the databases that they have access to and keeping those who don�t out. When looking at the alphabetical listing of databases there is no indication which databases everyone can use and which are restricted to the UNCG community. The subject listings of the databases do specify who has access to these databases so maybe that�s the only improvement that could be made, but there could be another solution that is a bit better. On many web pages you are asked to sign in on the main page before you go on to the rest of the site. I wonder if this approach could be used for the Jackson Library page. Possibly placing a static bar across the top of the page for their ID and pin number and it stays valid for all databases until they logout, their browser closes, or it times out. If someone didn�t login on the front page then it could still go to the current password screen but users who frequent the library would know to login at the front page. Another alternative to sending those who don�t login at the front to the current password screen would be to not allow access to those areas that a password is needed until they login. This does have the problem that students may not know to login and may miss valuable sources. Maybe a compromise would be to gray out those things that need authentication and have a note saying something like �Must log in to use� until someone logs in. That allows people who can not use them to know they aren�t allowed. ����������� Database access at Jackson library is already very good, but it should be the library�s goal to make it as easy and user friendly as possible. Since the student and staff are made up of people at all levels of technical knowledge we need to make it clear and easily recognizable where things are and how they work. The library should also try to connect, and even teach, the students who many have never used databases with the resources that they are paying for and could be very useful. UNCG is doing very well with all these things and all my suggested improvements are just attempts to make it an even better system.