The Library System

Catalog

Innovations,

Enhancements,

Extended Access

by

Robert J. Tiess

&

Mary Susan Flannery Climes

Middletown Thrall Library

Reference Services

Presented

June 14, 2012

Some Facts...

Patrons want to search and browse.

Patrons want both simple and advanced

searching and browsing capabilities.

Patrons appreciate having the ability to discover

and delve deeper into themes, topics, and authors.

Thrall is the only library in the RCLS system

and one of the few in the world

offering patrons such easy and extensive ways

to explore the vast contents

of an entire library system within a few clicks.

These innovations, enhancements, and efforts to ease

and extend access to the system's holdings

were created entirely in-house by us.

All of these developments are directly inspired

by our day-to-day interactions with patrons

- their requests, their opinions, their wishes,.

Beginning with our home page

www.thrall.org

Patrons have the ability to access the catalog through:

a “Library Catalog” link (center column)

a search box (upper right)

monthly featured title lists (right column)

a “Recent Titles” link (right column)

clicking one of the featured book cover images.

This is our own “entrance page”

to the library system catalog:

Here patrons can...

Quickly view select new titles (upper right)

Click on “New Titles” to visually browse titles.

Browse by genre, topic, titles by month, fiction,

nonfiction, and more.

Log into their library account or switch to another

catalog topic.

Patrons can also use our exclusive

Suggestion box

to find possible matches

for titles or authors – simultaneously.

Matches appear instantly

the moment a patron types something.

Patrons can click on any match (title or author)

to instantly search the catalog.

Each month

Mary provides a list of forthcoming titles.

These go into our Booklover's Blog,

where patrons can instantly click a title

or author to search the catalog instantly.

These titles also enter our main catalog entrance page,

our monthly Future Title Watch publication,

and are broadcast via our Impart! resource

discovery network service, where other RCLS libraries

can create catalog links to new fiction / nonfiction titles.

Future Title Watch is our “one-stop-shopping”

guide to the latest fiction and nonfiction titles.

We create and publish these monthly.

Patrons can also download and print

FTW issues from our website:

www.thrall.org/future

Mary also provides ISBNs, which we use

to generate, via software we created,

links to book cover images

for our visual book browser:

Patrons can switch between

this visual browsing mode

and a text-only view.

Library Account

Access

Since eBooks became available,

we provided a dual login page

so patrons could go to one place to access

either their regular library account in the catalog

or their eBook account (“eAccount”):

www.thrall.org/myact

Discovery

For years we have developed – and continue to advance –

ways patrons can more directly and easily

explore our library's various collections and resources

as well as all other materials throughout RCLS.

Our new “Library Catalog Topics” menu

www.thrall.org/catalogs

enables patrons to quickly traverse

the full spectrum of library catalog topics...

Patrons can instantly explore

bestsellers and award-winning books...

www.thrall.org/best

Literature and Poetry...

www.thrall.org/literature

www.thrall.org/poetry

Children's and Young Adults Items (along with award-winning

children's and young adult titles and authors).

eBooks

www.thrall.org/ebooks

Government Information

Local, State, and Federal

Documents (current, past, and historic),

reports, and other publications

(print, CD, electronic/online)

www.thrall.org/gov

Language Materials

Browse materials in other languages,

bilingual materials,

and language learning resources

with the ability to browse by age

(adult or children's materials)

Local History & Genealogy

Resources

Browse by topic, town / county / state

or explore

popular local history books by title

www.thrall.org/lh

Videos

www.thrall.org/videos

Search by title/keyword and limit to adult or children's videos

Browse new videos (ours or all RCLS) – in one click

Explore new videos by genre and title – in one click

Find movie summaries, reviews, and parental advisories instantly

Browse films by names of actor/actress or movie characters, or by

directors / filmmakers , movie genres.

Locate books major films were based upon or novelizations.

And every other major topic in the catalog...

literally from A to Z.

www.thrall.org/subjects

Our Online Information Guides include Web resources and convenient guides

to related topics in the library catalog.

www.thrall.org/guides

www.thrall.org/readyref

Some examples...

Music

www.thrall.org/music

Education

www.thrall.org/education

Health & Wellness

www.thrall.org/health

Religion & Spirituality

www.thrall.org/spirituality

Law

www.thrall.org/law

Business, Personal Finance

& Investments

www.thrall.org/invest

Art... Philosophy... Science...

www.thrall.org/readyref

Elsewhere... everywhere...

Enhanced access to the catalog also extends to our blogs

where we include links to titles, authors, or subjects

so patrons can locate related library materials

just by clicking on a link...

www.thrall.org/blogs

Beyond Thrall

Members of other libraries

can also enjoy

the extended access we provide

to library system resources through

the catalog topic menus in our

Ready Reference Center

www.thrall.org/readyref

which enables you to browse by subject

and limit the search results

to any single RCLS library.

Our work continues...