From a student/teacher perspective:
The Online Public Access Catalogue system which we use at our school is Destiny. This cataloguing system is used throughout the Surrey school district at both the elementary and secondary level. In the past few weeks I have been using our system on a much more regular basis. I have accessed it both from the school library computers as well as from my home computer. In my experience with the system, I have found it to be very user friendly.
The big strength of our OPAC is that it is district wide. Therefore, when students learn how the system works in elementary school they will also know how to use it in their secondary school. This would be a major benefit for student users as it they would not have to learn a new system when they entered high school. Since it is likely secondary students will be conducting more research in the library than elementary students, the knowledge of how the system works will allow them to find the necessary resources more efficiently.
A second point of strength of the OPAC is that you are not overwhelmed by information on the catalogue screen. There is a lot of white space and a limited amount of writing. As I have learned in other courses, having a lot of white space is important as it ensures that viewers do not experience a stimuli overload. With less writing and more white space it is easier to navigate to the items of the user’s choice.
The OPAC system at our school also includes a lot of visual cues. Each of the five search methods are accompanied by both text as well as visual. This helps the user select which type of search they want to conduct whether through using the text or visual.
A fourth strong point of our OPAC system is that there are a number of ways to search for items. There are five basic search criteria which allow users to search for items using keywords, titles, authors, subjects or the name of a series. The system also allows users to conduct a more detailed search, referred to as a power search. Finally, the system allows users to conduct searches based on major subjects. These are known as visual searches as each subject is accompanied by a large 1 inch by 1 inch visual. This form of search would be beneficial for users who struggle with reading or with language comprehension.
A final point of strength of our library cataloguing system is that it includes a help page with frequently asked questions. The information explains areas where users may have troubles in a simplistic easy to follow way. However, I did find it hard to locate this help section on the screen as it is located in the top corner with very small font.
While OPAC system at my school has many strengths, the biggest weakness is that the additional tabs to conduct more detailed searches lack an explanation. While the function these searches perform are beneficial the lack of an explanation beyond the word “power” or “visual” may prevent users from making use of them.
From an administrator’s perspective:
Since I am not a teacher-librarian I did not have access to perform administrative functions on our school’s OPAC system. Therefore, I asked our teacher-librarian what she felt the strengths and weaknesses of the system were for her. Her response highlighted four main strengths of the systems administrative options.
Firstly, the system is very user friendly when entering new items into the system. This was something which the previous system did not allow for with ease.
Secondly, our teacher-librarian informed me that the system is easy to use for checking in and out items. It is so user friendly that this function of her job is now performed by student clerical volunteers.
Thirdly, the OPAC system allows for easy retrieval of information about overdue books and loans. At our school we have a problem with students not returning books on time. However, this system allows our teacher-librarian to print out records with ease which informs her of students who have not returned items.
Finally, I was told that the system makes our teacher-librarian’s job much more efficient and less stressful. With so many tasks to complete and job functions to perform, having an efficient and effective cataloguing system allows her to focus on assisting students and staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment