Winner of the "Most Innovative WebOPAC" international library catalog award in 2004, the site combines the latest in library technology with a highly-usable design.
- Features:
- Simple design of search results
- Tabbed search pages
- Use of students' vocabulary
- Location maps
Cascading style sheets (CSS) create fast-loading pages that are easy to skim and display appropriately on multiple platforms.
Unlike the majority of library catalogs based on Innovative Interfaces' software, the PCC Libraries use a tabbed navigation scheme to help their patrons understand the relationship between different kinds of WebOPAC searches. The tabs are created with CSS so they load quickly and degrade gracefully in older browsers.
A combination of formal usability testing, card sorting, and heuristic (best-practices) evaluation informed the design of the online catalog. New features are tested informally on a regular basis.
Buttons and links are labeled with our students’ natural vocabulary and labels are used consistently:
| We use . . . | Instead of . . . |
|---|---|
| "Magazine articles online" | "Databases" |
| "My library record" | "My Millennium" (out-of-the-box name) |
| "Look inside" | "More information" |
| "Save this item" "Save checked items" "Save all on page" "View saved items" |
Mixing the shopping cart and saving metaphors (out-of-the-box labels) |
The floor maps also include information specific to each location code, such as checkout periods and patron-type restrictions.
More of the award-winning features of the catalog are described here:
http://www.pcc.edu/library/iii/webopac