Re: A-Z Lists vs. the OPAC Marshall, Susan 11 Feb 2005 20:43 UTC
Hi Tony, By having an A-Z list as well as links to your online titles in your catalog (856 fields), this implies 2 separate link maintenance points. Why not put your link resolver link in your catalog for your online journal titles? This way, you won't have to constantly be adjusting your 856 links whenever a publisher or vendor changes their links or when a title jumps to a different publisher. The link resolver link will take the library user to a screen that displays links to the journal in all of the databases that it occurs because it is pulling information from your A-Z list. Thus, you have one link maintenance point: that of your A-Z list. In the case of a library that has Journal Linker as in Martha's case, you could put a link to Journal Linker in your catalog and not have to maintain the 856's. Susan P. Marshall Electronic Resources Librarian Assistant Professor Renne Library Montana State University P.O. Box 173320 Bozeman, MT 59717-3320 smarshall@montana.edu (406) 994-4313 Fax (406) 994-2851 -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Michelle Kraft Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 1:09 PM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: Re: [SERIALST] A-Z Lists vs. the OPAC At my previous library we had both an A-Z list and the journals listed in the OPAC. We found that most of our users were more familiar and wanted the journals in an A-Z list. Rarely did they search for a journal through our OPAC. However, we felt that the journals should be in the OPAC because we (library staff) searched for our journals that way, the OPAC allowed us to see things down the issue level, and there were patrons who wanted to search for journals in the OPAC. So we had two access points for journals, but we did notice that the majority of patrons preferred and used the A-Z list. Michelle -------------------------------- Michelle Kraft Medical Librarian South Pointe Hospital 4110 Warrensville Center Rd. Warrensville Heights, OH 44122 (216) 491-7454 mkraft@cchseast.org -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of Tony Goodwyn Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 12:23 PM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: [SERIALST] A-Z Lists vs. the OPAC Hello, serialists! Recently, the idea was raised about taking an A-Z List from a link resolver and using it almost completely in lieu of the library OPAC to search for journal information. I'm wondering a few things about this, and, being pretty new to serials, I'd really like some opinions about it. I'm intrigued by the idea, but I'm not sure I have the perspective to see what some potential problems might be. Does anyone on this list have experience in dealing with this subject? Any advice, issues, or considerations I should know about? Any input would be appreciated. Best, Tony Tony Wren Goodwyn Serials/Electronic Access Librarian St. Olaf College 1520 St. Olaf Ave. Northfield, MN 55057 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail