Clustering of Gateway Survey 2003 Comments

December 1, 2003

(NOTE: Numbers within parentheses denote the number of the respondent who contributed comment)

Navigation

• Easier access to subject libraries (9)
• Library hours difficult to get to (34)
• Specific library departments and services (121,16)
• Easier to find subject librarians (141, 225)
• Needs to be easier to find hours and links (4)
• Staff directory buried (107)

• Better access to ILL form (148, 79)
• Better access to U World express (148)
• Storage retrieval time tables hard to find (184)
• Direct link to OCLC WorldCat on front page (175,91)
• Clearer link to ‘image collections” (50)

• Can’t find geospatial data (33)
• Give eres a link of its own on the search page (209)
• Clearer route to encyclopedias (214)
• Clearer link to Dissertations (219)
• Clearer links to off-campus resources. (225)
• Clearer link to ‘site-map’ (225)
• Study room bookings – how to find (72)
• Better navigation – wants reference tools under ‘help’ (113)
• Find copy card locations more easily (234)

• Pare down left nav bar (135)
• Information buried (3)
• More links on front page (3, 225)
• Less clutter on main gateway (182, 156)
• Decrease jargon (23, 170, 194, 225)
• Don’t need separate links for Friends of the Library and support the library (79)
• Too much information on the Gateway, the categories are confusing (175)
• More link explanations – when to use what (57)

New Features

• DOI # lookup via Gateway (15)
• Catalog search on front page (165, 175)
• User profiles showing how a typical X user might use the Gateway (40)
• “newsflash” item to highlight services, resources (175, 128, 225)
• Link to ‘Your library account’ from myUW. (171)
• All library hours’ in HTML (90)
• Notification of new issue of specified journal available (15)
• Search history (persist through research session) (39)
• Add a genealogical research feature for researching your newspaper collection (121)
• Links to downloadable software esp for molecular biology (207)
• Help options that can be selected at each level of a search (224)
• Error messages when search terms are not in the accepted format (224)

Finding databases and journals

• Problem identifying DBs – some by acronym (9)
• Assistance for choosing journals and DB (22)
• Database confusion (too many to choose from) (32, 220)
• Help choosing DB – smart pop ups that suggest alternatives (41)
• Link to ‘web-of-knowledge’ (44)
• Organize DB list into alphabetical AND by subject (45)
• DB wizard (147)
• Consolidate databases so you can search them all at the same time (204)
• Some sort of tutorial regarding how to navigate between library web sites and databases (228)

• E-journals by subject (187)
• Databases and catalogs list – too many other websites; data sources (79)
• Journals hard to navigate; too many options; hard to narrow search (60)
• Add standard deviations to e-journal search (51)

• Drop down for ‘Top 25’ list (165)
• Top 25 -> Top 50 (90)
• Top 25 DB not necessary (113)

Subject pages

• Limited utility (3)
• Get rid of infrequently updated ‘browse subjects’ (13)
• Quality is varied, some better than others (203)

Help and support

• General instructions on how to use the site (149)
• Endnote support (32)
• Improved sound for new message within live chat (96)
• More info on checking out media (60)

Collections

• More e-journals (181, 114, 89, 28, 59,54, 207, 210, 233)
• WoS from earlier (pre 1970) (181)
• Improve holdings for full text e-journals (better explanation of what is in full text) (65)
• Make sure journals stated as being available electronically actually are. (210)
• Better access to archived articles, especially online. (233)

Catalog

• Spell checker in search – found correct author name on amazon (lang=laing) (87)
• Improve keyword search (5)
• Enhance record display (5)
• Better keyword search, use of conjunctions (138)
• Title and author combination search (or message how to do so via keyword search) (28)

• Sort results by year (196)
• Limit search by media (in keyword) 130
• Video recordings as separate limit (no slides) 135
• More detailed catalog records (13)
• More information on what is in the books. (231)

• Better subject categorization of older books (133)
• Journal limit (scope) available on more pages (not just first catalog page) (90)
• Catalog gets stuck on "journal" once you choose that option, can’t return to ‘All UW’ without using refresh (105, 235)
• Make online journals searchable (i.e. search the articles for key words). (204)
• Location information on the "Journals and Databases" listing. (234)

• Ability to pull requests items from library to which they were returned, no transit
• Printer friendly list of checked out items (97)
• YLA leads to too many options, not logging in (199, 34)
• YLA requires new log in each time accessed, can’t look at book detail then return via back button (236)

• Summit button not explained anywhere (45)
• Hold process more clear (168)

Catalog new features

• Source relevancy (catalog only?)
• More web bridge sources (58)
• Stop catalogs refreshing after 10 minutes (122, 195)
• Call number hyperlink to map (187,122)
• ‘Smart’ keyword recommendations after search entered (167,159)
• “clean up the data” (113)
• Search box on the homepage for catalog keyword search (234)

Q&A

• Provide a realistic time estimate for Q&A live (136)
• Increase live online librarian hours (162)

Proxy/barcode

• Pac files conflict with other proxy (92)
• Use cookies to set password (33)
• Get rid of barcode (8, 33, 40, 71)
• Better connection from home (84)

Look and Feel

• Make it “prettier” (120)
• Look is “clunky” (158)
• Better color scheme (88, 125)

Other

• Site maintenance – no dead links, dead ends (21)
• What do k-12 users care about your mission statement? (13)
• ISI WoS -> e-journal links send to wrong place, easier to go through catalog (62)