One of the most common questions I am asked when helping patrons use our catalog concerns item availability. Patrons want to know if the item is in the library and available to check out. Answering this question was not always intuitive for researchers using our older online catalog. For example, look at the screenshot below [...]
We’ve talked quite a bit about WorldCat Local lately on our blog, and I’ll continue covering it until I have finished giving an overview of the new features, but today I want to take a break from WorldCat and take a look at another search tool available to our patrons: EbscoHost.
We subscribe to a number [...]
At the top of the main library web page we have updated the “Search the Catalog” feature with WorldCat Local. Now, to use the many new features of WCL, you no longer need to go to sbts.worldcat.org, but you can navigate to our web page, type your search terms, and you will be taken directly [...]
While perusing your search results in WorldCat Local (WCL), inevitably you will want more information about a particular item. For example, say you run a search on the keywords “church history reformation.” The second result is The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World. You notice that this title is a book [...]
A significant improvement in WCL over our classic OPAC is the way in which search results are delivered. The search results screen resembles the design of online retailers such as Amazon.com, providing an intuitive place to begin sifting through works that relate to your research topic.
The improvements in WCL are more than merely aesthetic; they [...]