Discussion of Home Page Wording Changes

Here's a summary of the discussion of the two email threads, "Home page wording changes" and "WAC Suggestion - Law Heading." Even though they're two separate threads, they deal with the same home page wording changes. So, here we go!

Ellen M. initiated the first discussion by pointing out that the new "Start My Research" (which replaced "subject guides") heading doesn't match the content of subject guide index page, since not all areas are addressed with the research guides. Linda agreed, noting that it encourages patrons to go there immediately or as a first step, and that was not what we have in mind for the guides. She added a concern about the currency of the guides, that they are not as "up-to-the-minute" as they could be. Ignacio agreed with all points raised, adding that during teaching a class, he didn't want to point students that way as their first stop. Marilyn agreed also, echoing Linda's concern about the guides' currency. Louise suggested "Research Guides" or "Research by Subject" instead.

Ellen M. forwarded another concern based on two reference desk experiences this week: that WAC consider adding to the "find it" column a link called "Legal Research" or "Law Databases." This link would go to the "L" section of the databases index page. Diane replied that she felt that while this change was perhaps not necessary, she was in favor of changing "start my research" back to "subject guides" and moving them back down in the "find it" column as they had been prior to the home page changes. Ellen clarified that the two patrons she helped were not lead to the proper place--the databases--by the new "find articles by subject" heading. Bill pointed out that by using the term "Legal Research," we may appear to be offering to provide legal advice. Lorrie agreed, adding that patrons looking for statistics, book reviews, and biographies would be unlikely to select "find articles by subject." Louise then made two suggestions, first changing "start my research" to "research guides" and second, changing to "find articles by subject" to "find articles/subject databases." Elaine agreed with points raised by Ellen and Lorrie, that our online reference materials were overlooked by the renamed option "find articles by subject" as well. She suggested adding a "facts and figures" link to the "find it" column to address these "messy" types of information sources that don't really fall under an entry called "find articles by subject."

My two bits: I'm inclined to keep "start my research" where it is and as is, maybe modifying the wording slightly. I shy away from using the term "guide" because most users don't feel that they need a guide; because of the internet and Google, they're perfectly comfortable hammering away online until they find what they need, whether it's what we'd like them to find (reliable sources) and where we'd like them to find it (library resources and online content) or not. As Linda noted, where a user would go first depends on what they want--books, journals, etc. However, most of the guides (though not all, as I believe Marilyn indicated) are broken into sections based on just this, with the added bonus of tips for searching with specific tools in that subject, including call number ranges, subject headings, for books, etc. The guides present novice users with a much smaller, much less intimidating microcosm of the library--like throwing your non-swimming kid into the kiddie pool instead of off of the diving board. Even if they aren't up to the minute, well, let's face it, nothing is--not the catalog, not the databases, not the web page, not the guides. And no, we'll never have subject guides that anticipate all topics, but as you all already know too well, anticipating every reference question with web pages is impossible--and hey, that's a good thing in terms of job security for all of us. :) But, we base the topics of subject guides on the curricula of our patron schools, our primary users, so we get the best coverage possible.

I feel strongly about patrons getting more use out of the subject guides because I poured so much work into them at Georgetown, and patrons never found them on our web page--they're linked from further down on the home page, and the link title is "Subject Guides." Patrons who were willing and able came to the reference desk, and much of the time, after a brief reference interview, we'd hand them a paper copy of the online guide. It makes sense to me to offer them up as a starting point rather than hiding the link to them further down on the home page with a cryptic (to them) name.

Now some ideas: I'm certainly not averse to filling up that empty space under "find it" that's crying out for content, and it seems a great "place" to catch the messy kinds of things like law cases, statistics, etc. We would likely need to create a new web page to go along with it, which would require discussion of what goes there, etc. I also like Elaine's suggestion of "facts & figures." Your thoughts?

One further note/reminder: I’m in the process of revising this page. Revisions include a link to the general reference guides and an alphabetical list of the guides.

Rather than being concerned that we won't be addressing every possible research need with links on the home page--impossible anyway, and as Lorrie noted, we go nuts doing it--it makes sense to make them useful to the kinds of things that users need most often. Otherwise, we end up with a "scattershot" home page with too many options that are helpful to no one. There was a good article related to this in last October's Computers in Libraries called Designing a Web Site for One Imaginary Persona that Reflects the Needs of Many.

Okay, let's continue the discussion below!