Information Services Advisory Group
Responses to Search Interface
Webcat/ACORN Library Catalog
WebSPIRS (Silver Platter)
This summary is based on three reviews. This summary is briefer and does not have include
positive, critical and individual comments in all categories, as in earlier summaries.
Appearance of Interface
Critical comments:
- All three reviewers disliked the monotonous, solid gray color (both buttons and background) of this interface.
Additional individual comments:
- One reviewer found the search screen “quite busy, with lots of options, in your face, immediately.”
- One reviewer liked the appearance of the search screen, the position of the search box, and the location of the search history table below.
Navigation
Positive comments:
- Navigating from screen to screen was generally fairly easy.
Critical comments:
- Two reviewers criticized the intermediate screen (with the Display Records button) after a search, rather than going directly to search results.
Individual comments:
Placement of buttons at top and bottom of most screens was helpful.
One reviewer would like to make more use of hypertext links, beyond those for Journal and Author name.
In long list of retrieved records, it can take rather long to scroll to buttons at top or bottom of screen.
One reviewer thought the purpose of most navigation buttons was clear.
Search Engine
Positive comments:
- Generally, basic keyword searching worked well for the reviewers.
Individual comments:
- Flexibility of running variety of searches from same search screen was useful.
- Relatively easy to combine keyword term with term to be restricted to one field in same search.
- Unavailability of descriptors in index search feature for ABI/Inform noted.
- The need to delete a date limiter from search dialog box may confuse less familiar users.
- One reviewer thought that the ability to search multiple databases needed to be made clearer.
Display and Capture of Results
Critical comments:
- The printing process is cumbersome, requiring too many steps, and some of the buttons in this process can be confusing.
Individual comments:
- The default setting is to display an abbreviated record, which may not be apparent to some users.
- One reviewer disliked the appearance of the entire search history table above the printed records, and the appearance of marked records from previous searches when the print sequence is initiated.
Review prepared and respectfully submitted by David Bachman, May 28, 1997
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