Salt Lake County Library locations

The final search interface is called Children’s Searches. It is a very basic interface, with only three tools to provide searchers access to the library’s holdings. These are Children’s Author Keyword, Children’s General Keyword, and Children’s Title Keyword. This interface allows users to focus on finding only those materials specifically labeled children’s.

Assistance Available for Using the Catalog

There are several different types of assistance offered to users of this OPAC, ranging from tips and hints included right on the face of the interface to a separate selection of Help and Instructions provided by the manufacturer of the OPAC, and accessible from the top of every page.

While the more detailed information provided by the manufacturer does not precisely match the OPAC as customized by SLCLS, it does allow users to learn how to use the catalog and how to perform specific searches. Horizon, the Integrated Library System (ILS) used by SLCLS, offers three basic search interfaces as explained in the ‘Help and Instructions’ section: Basic Search, Advanced Search, and Power Search. Interestingly enough, SLCLS has modified these interfaces to create 5 different ones, three using the ‘Advanced Search’ format (AV Search, Starts With, and Children’s Search), one using the ‘Power Search’ (interestingly this is the Advanced Search on the catalog), and the one Basic Search. Because the specific searches are customized by SLCLS, there is no information specific to assisting users with them. For instance, the Children’s Search uses the same basic template as the AV search, so there is no information available as to what is searched in the Children’s Search, such as whether it includes Teen materials, AV materials, or works by Children’s authors in other genres.

What explanations/tools are available to evaluate the results of using the catalog, particularly for those looking for materials for Children?

Once a search has been attempted, the question becomes how well can a user determine which result will most closely match their information need. There are a lot of factors in this, one of which is how well can the results be sorted through to find those that might suit. Another important factor is what information is present in the record, and how well can this information be assessed/accessed.