WebFeat search box

WebFeat now offers a quick search box, similar to the Catalog Search on our homepage. I saw examples in a demo, and it looks like it could be useful for us. A dropdown lets the user search for "books and articles", "articles only", etc. You can have several search boxes all over your website, and they can have different settings. So, for example, the WebFeat box on a homework page could search kids/teens databases only.

Julie

What to call it redux

They're having this discussion on the Library Garden blog, too.

Getting serious about all this

Marcie is clearly anxious for me to get a move on with all this redesign stuff. She is vacationing in New Zealand this month, and the only thing keeping me from dying of jealousy is the knowledge that it is winter there, and wet sheep smell very bad. When she gets back, it's my turn to vacate, but only to Maine, where there are very few sheep and it smells very nice and piney fresh. When we're both back, it's probably time to start having meetings and mocking up what this is going to look like.

One of the things we are going to need is some of John Harper's time. It would also help to have some consensus from you folks. Or at least your opinions. I'd like to have something to show the reference committee in a few months, but if you want your views reflected ahead of that, now's the time.

Julie

Databases suggestion

Here are a few things that have occurred to me recently regarding the organization of our online databases (based on the categories and the alphabetical list):

1. rename "Kids and Teens" to "Students" and/or keep appropriate lists/links on those pages
2. rename "Pictures and Sound" to "Multimedia"
3. take off Encyclopedias, Magazines, Newspapers and make a new, separate list called "Format" - this would then include the above plus ebooks and the newly renamed Multimedia

Recommended Sites suggestion

Since redesigning and combining parts of the website is a big project, it's hard to know where to start. How about this:

Julie, the next time you ask us to check links, how about having everyone pare down their lists to absolutely necessary sites? Meaning ones that aren't already part of the librarian's toolbox or aren't easily found through Google (or could be duplicated by other sites found through Google). We don't have to remove them completely at that point (although we could), but I could compile a "chopping block" list for review. And if there are entire categories we don't need (I submit Entertainment, Leisure, and my own History pages as three examples) that's fine too.

This might help decide what kinds of broad subjects we do still need and how to combine the websites - if any besides local ones are left over - with the lengthy list of databases, which isn't going to get smaller.