Re: What to call the links

Elizabeth,

I'm so pleased to hear about your review of 75 schools
terminology.  I would
very much like to read this.  Here at Tisch library at Tufts
University we
have been doing similar research and usability studies
including an
ethnographic study of how our students do research.  I'm
happy to share the
results of this with anyone who is interested.

I have just re-enabled my membership on this list.  Hence I
did not receive
the post containing the 'resource from Alan' that you refer
to below.  If
someone could kindly forward this to me, I would greatly
appreciate it.

Thanks ever so much,


-- 
Thom W. Cox
Lead Web Developer
Tisch Library
Tufts University


"Every technology has a philosophy which is given
 expression in how the technology makes people use
 their minds, in how it codifies the world, and in which
 of our senses it amplifies..."

>  - Neal Postman




On 5/1/08 9:30 AM, "Elizabeth Edwards"
<brixtongmail.com> wrote:

> In the context of our website redesign, I did a review
of 75 schools'
> terminology for things like the catalog, ILL,
databases, etc.  I'd be happy
> to share this information with you if you'd like. 
There doesn't seem to be
> any agreement in terminology amongst universities -
instead, we saw a
> combination of task based ("find books"),
general ("catalog"), and branded
> ("ALADIN catalog") terminology in use.
> 
> In response, we did a language usability test with
students and staff, and
> found that in some instances, our branding
("consortium loan service" rather
> than "borrow from other schools") was
preferred - while in others, students
> responded to the task-based terminology.  These results
may be flawed,
> however, because in at least some instances students
appeared to be looking
> for the terminology that was closest to the language
currently in use on our
> website.
> 
> I would highly recommend reviewing the resource that
Alan sent, looking at
> the language you currently use, and then checking with
students to see if
> the language that YOU think makes sense to them
ACTUALLY makes sense to
> them.  
> 
> Hope this is helpful -
> Elizabeth
> 
> On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 9:21 PM, Suelzer, Elizabeth
<suelzermsoe.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> The library I work at is undergoing a site
redesign. In the hopes of
>> making the site more user friendly, we want to get
away from using
>> library terminology (when appropriate) and use
terms that are more
>> intuitive to our students. An example of this would
be labeling the link
>> to the catalog as "search for books"
instead of "catalog," or saying
>> "borrow from other libraries" rather that
"interlibrary loan."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> In your opinions, would this be helpful for college
students, or do you
>> feel that the term "catalog" is intuitive
enough.  Will I be dumbing
>> down our site, or will I make it easier to use?
Also, do you have
>> examples of how you have changed the language on
your site to make it
>> less librarianese and more consumer friendly?
>> 
>> 
>> Thank you.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Elizabeth Suelzer
>> suelzermsoe.edu <mailto:suelzermsoe.edu>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Web4lib mailing list
>> Web4libwebjunction.org
>> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>> 
>> 
> 



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