[487] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
OPAC Funtionality
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Fri Jun 12 14:48:12 1992
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1992 13:39:47 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
3 Messages, 150 Lines
*-----
From: dhoyman@fammed.wisc.edu (Dirk Herr-Hoyman)
Subject: Re: OPAC Functionality
>Charles Hildreth asks what features should be in the next-
>generation on-line catalog.
I have worked some time ago for an automation vender (DRA) and more
recently
done a lot of work with e-mail.
I see two major areas that need to be addressed:
1) Ease of use.
I have tried numerous on-line catalogs, and typically go away shaking my
head.
Very poorly designed, cryptic, confusing are only some of my thoughts. And
if
I, a seasoned computer professional, can't get into these things, what
about
the average person.
We MUST get away from a command line, terminal type of interface. Touch
screens, like you see in mall kiosks, or light pens come to mind as far
better interfaces.
For a public-access system to work, the pain of getting in must be very,
VERY low, or people just won't use it. This is what I have seen with some
e-mail systems. This needs to be no more difficult to do simply queries,
than say
the bank "money machines". If not, we may as well go back to the hardcopy
method, at least in terms of serving the general public.
2) Browse mode
One thing that even that better on-line catalogs don't do well is let you
browse. And again, I see the situation as being a step backwards compared
to the old card catalogs.
If I were to design something using a touch screen, I would want to see a
browser that would let me watch the entries go by one at a time at speeds
that I could select. I should be able to pick a place and scroll thru in
various ways, title, author, subject and so on.
Dirk Herr-Hoyman | Are we
University of Wisconsin-Madison | kinder and gentler
Dept. of Family Medicine and Practice | yet?
dhoyman@fammed.wisc.edu |
(608) 262-6368 voice |
(608) 263-5813 fax |
*-----
From: CGOODSON@UGA
Subject: Re: OPAC Functionality
>From: johnsonm@ohsu.EDU (Millard Johnson)
>The design feature I propose is that the system should
>personalized itself to each individual users preferences and it
>should be responsive to the users particular needs.
> if the user chooses to identify
>him/herself, he/she gets a system that has LEARNED to tailor
>itself to his/her preferences.
***this is an interesting idea, but what about the fact that it would tend
to keep users at the same level of catalog use all the time? That is, as
they learned, they wouldn't be able to progress to more sophisticated
features, because the systems had already typed them as "novice"?
In other words, no growth....also, it seems a little bit like "Big Brother
is watching YOU!"
| Carol Goodson, Coordinator/Off-Campus Library Services |
| Ingram Library, WEST GEORGIA COLLEGE |
| Carrollton GA 30118 |
| Phone: (404) 836-6502 FAX: (404) 836-6626 |
| Bitnet: cgoodson@uga Internet: cgoodson@uga.cc.uga.edu|
............................................................
"You only live once: but once is enough if you play it right"
--Woody Allen (Interiors)
*-----
From: mulliner@ouvaxa.ucls.ohiou.edu
Subject: Users
Sorry for extensive (but heavily edited) quotes but they provide
context for my remarks.
johnsonm@ohsu.EDU (Millard Johnson) wrote:
>Charles Hildreth asks what features should be in the next-
>generation on-line catalog. [deletions]
>The design feature I propose is that the system should
>personalized itself to each individual users preferences and it
>should be responsive to the users particular needs.
>We spend an enormous resource indexing millions of
>"publications" but we spend almost nothing indexing the USERS
>of the publications.
>The firstscreen on the system should ask:
> Who are you? >
>If the user chooses to be anonymous, he/she gets traditional
>PASSIVE catalog access, but if the user chooses to identify
>him/herself, he/she gets a system that has LEARNED to tailor
>itself to his/her preferences.
[. . . lots deleted]
>It is not really that difficult for academic libraries to index their
>users. We don't have to start from scratch. We know what users
>have read in the past and what they have published. We know
>which authors they have read and collaborated with, whom they
>have cited and who has cited them. We can use that information
>to generate pretty good profiles.
And we can probably find a fair market for these from police
and intelligence agencies.
Without fully rejecting Johnson's suggestions, I think
a vital feature of a next generation system is inadvertently
identified: THE NEED FOR INCREDIBLY SECURE SYSTEMS.
We really shouldn't know what users have read in the
past. Most systems of which I am aware are set to preclude this,
for obvious reasons of privacy. Moreover, in academic or public
libraries, we don't know what MOST of our users have published,
since they haven't. Realistically, published users are a miniscule
minority.
Even more importantly, what someone has read or published
in the past is only a record of where they've been. Service
requires us to know where they are going and how we can help
them get there most effectively and efficiently.
We must begin with a virtually fool-proof security
system if the information is to be kept centrally (probably an
impossibility given the puzzle palace capabilities). The alternative
is to keep the profile on a relatively isolated work station. And
the best way of developing the information for the profile is through
an intelligent interface which queries the users and learns from
experience. Models for this have been discussed in the context
of OhioLINK but have yet to be realized.
Without overriding concern for security and privacy, we become
the equivalent of marketeers building profiles based on your purchases,
income, etc. See Cullen Murphy's short article in the July ATLANTIC
on the role of barcodes in this Big Brother Marketing. Of course, I
wouldn't use call-forwarding because I see no reason for the phone
company to have a record of my perambulations.
Kent Mulliner, Ohio University Libraries (mulliner@ouvxa.ucls.ohiou.edu)
