[1]Click on the image to get a closer look at a search result in the new catalog.
[2]Click on the image to see some of the great browsing and sharing features of the new catalog.
Searching for Books Becomes Faster, Easier and More Fun
This year the library plans to revolutionize the online catalog you use to look up books, music and more. We’re very excited about the transformation you’ll see this winter.
The Daniel Boone Regional Library will be only the second library system in the U.S. to use this innovative software, called BiblioCommons, that greatly improves searching and offers social networking tools to library users.
Behind the scenes, a smarter search algorithm gives you better results, and the sleek, modern interface provides easy ways to narrow or expand your search or browse for related items. For each book, CD, DVD or other item you’ll have interactive options like adding your own review, tags and rating or sharing the item on Facebook or Twitter [3]. You can also make your own lists of books and follow other users with similar taste.
We’re working hard, along with the staff at BiblioCommons, to finish up all the technical details of customizing the software for DBRL, and we hope to premiere the new catalog in February.
Staff Buzz About New Features
The library staff is thrilled about this update. Our staff testers enthusiastically shared their favorite features of the new catalog to let you know what you have to look forward to.
“I love being able to browse the shelf from within the catalog. It isn’t tactile like real browsing, but I can see related items that are at all of the branches and find all kinds of hidden gems that I didn’t know about. I also love that I can limit my searches to only show items that are actually available. That way if I’m looking for something I can actually put my hands on I don’t have to sift through all of the books that are checked out and unavailable.”
- Greg Reeves, Manager, Callaway County Library
"I’m pretty sure I’ve died and gone to library catalog heaven."
- Pat Kopp, Technical Services Manager
"It’s nice to mark the books I’ve read. My memory isn’t so good and sometimes it’s nice to look back through and see just how much I’ve read."
- Scott Sutherland, IT Senior Associate
"Here are two features that I really adore:
1) The “Mark for Later” feature makes it really easy to keep track of items I would like to read but may not have time for at the moment. If a book looks interesting, I can just mark it for later and then once I have the time to read it, I can easily put it on hold.
2) I also like the ability to choose for each item in “My Collection” whether I would like it to be public or private."
- Frances DeMaria, Holds Assistant
"I love being able to save items for later as my appetite for reading is completely out of sync with reality. I also love the visual “Browse the Shelf” feature. Another thing I love is adding content to the catalog by writing a comment or summary, or tagging. It makes me feel like I’m adding value to our catalog and services."
- Elinor Barrett, Associate Director
"The two attributes of the new catalog that stand out the most for me are its design and impressive search results. The design is modern with careful attention to usability issues. But even the best-designed catalog wouldn’t be very useful if the search results weren’t relevant. This new catalog uses many clever tricks and always seems to know exactly what I’m looking for."
- Nathan Pauley, Web Developer