<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><b><font color="#000000">Mostly because of your feedback</font></b><div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font color="#000000">As I said in the previous message about the <a href="http://dev.ohioweblibrary.org/sources/">new Ohio Web Library</a> page, we've been gathering a lot of good information about how people use information databases provided by libraries.</font></div><div>
<p style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%"><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size:10pt"><i>All
of this feedback has made us realize two things:</i></font></font></font></p>
<ol>
<li><p style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%"><font face="Courier New, monospace"><font style="font-size:10pt"><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><b>It's
better to expose the statewide databases alongside the databases the
local library purchases, </b></font></font><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">rather
than trying to list locally purchased resources in a statewide
databases page.</font></font></font></font></p></li></ol>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%"></p><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px;border:none;padding:0px"></blockquote></blockquote><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:100%"><font color="#000000">Most
usage of online databases is instigated by a librarian, in one way
or another, and it's easier for everyone if the librarian is working
from just one list of databases on the library's website, rather
than a list of Local Stuff and another list of Statewide Stuff.</font></span><p></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%"><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size:10pt">So,
why not list EBSCO and World Book and Science Online, etc. on the
local library website along with the locally purchased auto repair
databases, etc.? After all, the patron doesn't really care who paid
the bill for the databases.</font></font></font></p></li></ul>
<ol start="2">
<li><p style="margin-bottom:0.19in;line-height:100%"><font face="Courier New, monospace"><font style="font-size:10pt"><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">When
we built </font></font><font color="#0000ff"><u><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="http://ohioweblibrary.org">ohioweblibrary.org</a></font></u></font><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">,
we intentionally tried to make it look and act like Google, based on
user studies we did at KSU.</font></font><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><b>
We were wrong; we're not like Google.</b></font></font></font></font></p>
</li></ol>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%"><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size:10pt">Whereas
Google searches the entire, crazy, mixed-up Web, Ohio Web Library
contains a limited number of specialized, well-organized resources. </font></font></font>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.19in;line-height:100%"><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size:10pt">If
you want, think of Google's pool of information as thousands of
books piled on the floor, and Ohio Web Library as a modest shelf of
premium reference books. The approach to finding something in the
pile as opposed to finding something on the shelf is going to be
different.</font></font></font></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-left:0.64in;margin-top:0.19in;margin-bottom:0.19in;line-height:100%">
<font color="#222222"><img src="cid:ii_14d4e7c7a15f7eb7" alt="Inline image 1" width="544" height="190"></font></p></div><div><b>That's why we decided to try something different.</b></div><div><ul><li><font color="#000000">That's why we encourage you to link directly to the databases from your library website.<br></font></li><li><font color="#000000">That's why we rebuilt the Ohio Web Library page to encourage people to skip the federated search and go directly to a resource in the collection. <br></font></li></ul></div><div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000">--</font></div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000">Stephen Hedges, Director</font><div><font color="#000000">Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)</font></div><div><font color="#000000">2323 W. Fifth Ave, Suite 130, Columbus, OH 43204</font></div><div><a href="mailto:st.hedges@gmail.com" target="_blank">st.hedges@gmail.com</a> | <a href="tel:614-728-5250" value="+16147285250" target="_blank">614-728-5250</a></div></div></div></div>
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