People use libraries, museums, archives and their staff for various reasons, an important one being to find data, information and knowledge wherever they exist. Staff may be an important interface, but users may also develop expertise. Information technology is a developing tool in accessing (and often digesting) whatever is sought. In twelve concise chapters by seventeen authors, this book presents a range of current experience from five countries where technology is providing direct access facilities to seekers and users – mainly in the university sector. This is more than ‘what we do’, but why and how – explaining a range of thought processes which may be modified and adapted and appropriately developed internationally for specific searcher needs.
The authors introduce the topic of User Experience (UX) and current IT solutions which supplement traditional internal catalogues to capture pertinent external information resources of various formats. In Chapter 7 the editor asks (and answers) the basic question ‘Why can’t you just use Google?’ Different generalist search engines will produce similar results, but also additional results which others do not – so an awareness of various tools is essential. An example is Blacklight (discussed in Chapter 8 for its application at the University of Hull), based on a special-purpose interface in the USA and developed for its ability to present source data appropriate to user needs. Other chapters also report solutions in specific institutions – such as data into knowledge at the Library Board of Singapore, discovery needs at Oxford University, and reinventing the library catalogue at the Australian National University. There is a recognition that libraries are looking to IT as an improver of user experience and knowledge satisfaction, as well as a solution to administrative problems caused by increasing availability of resources in various formats at a time of lessening finances. The future looms, and the final three papers make the case for needs and directions for IT solutions.
Does this collection of explanations, ideas and experiences meet the purpose of the book, and potentially satisfy the needs of its readers? Yes. There is a balance of background, basic information, explanation of applications (often with diagrams), and acknowledgement that the topic is still developing. It is not a work for the IT specialist, but for anyone in an information organisation.