Visual browsing

From LIS 415 - Candy's Section

Scope

Libraries that offer users visual ways of discovering or navigating information and resources, especially as part of the OPAC.

Aquabrowser,

Lots of libraries use Aquabrowser, http://www.aquabrowser.com/, and you can find a complete list here - http://www.aquabrowser.com/customers/. These are a few examples:

• Arlington (VA) Public Library, http://www.acornweb.org/ --Cotsonis 23:12, 23 July 2007 (EDT)

• Broward County Public Library, http://vc.browardlibrary.org/ --Petersc3 21:46, 24 June 2007 (EDT)

• Gwinnett County Public Library Georgia http://capote.gwinnettpl.org/aquabrowser/ --Brownw 20:05, 28 October 2006 (EDT)

• Monroe County Library System, http://visual.rochester.lib.ny.us/ --Meyers2 13:42, 6 May 2008 (EDT)

• Old Colony Library Network AquaBrowser Libray, http://www.navigator.ocln.org/ --Walsh16 15:12, 7 May 2008 (EDT)

• The Queens Library, http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx --Lopes2 19:44, 12 April 2007 (EDT)

Other visual catalogs

• Denver Public Library Kids Catalog, http://kcweb.denverlibrary.org/kcweb/servlet/kcHome

This Visual OPAC of the Denver Public Library was designed specifically for kids to explore the children's section of the library's collection. Because it can be extremely difficult and confusing for young children to use a typical OPAC, the Denver Public Library went out of its way to create an entirely visual OPAC for its younger patrons. Using bright,attractive colors and eye-catching icons, the children's OPAC is extremely easy to use and fun to navigate. This OPAC should serve as a model for other libraries of how to design an extremely successful visual OPAC for young users. --Orzech 12:29, 29 July 2007 (EDT)

• International Children's Digital Library http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SimpleSearchCategory

The ICDL is a digital library online children's books in 40 languages (and growing). It is a research project of the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and Microsoft Research. HCI researchers at the University of Maryland worked with children to create the interface. Searching consists of illustrative buttons with choices of cover color, child's age, length of book, subject, and books of some notoriety. (Toggle between two sets of buttons with the "More Choices" button.) There is a keyword search as well as a search by collection. --Bordac 15:35, 13 November 2007 (EST)

• Pleasanton Public Library, http://millennium.ci.pleasanton.ca.us:90/kids/

The Pleasanton Public Library is a visually-based OPAC which is designed to meet the special needs of kids. Library patrons are given the options to: Type It, Picture It, Browse It, or Help!. It's very user friendly and fun. --Hickey3 06:05, 9 May 2008 (EDT)

• Reed College Library, Trees of Reed, http://web.reed.edu/trees/

Reed College has a collection of trees that have been researched, identified and mapped. The website offers the viewer the ability to see tree location on campus using a map and to identify species name. --Sears 09:47, 6 February 2007 (EST)

• University of Adelaide Library, http://library.adelaide.edu.au/local/dev/deweycloud.html

The University of Adelaide in Australia has "Dewey Cloud" to visually present the library's print collection based on the number of items under each heading. --Suzuki 19:24, 3 November 2006 (EST)