Comments on: MetaLib v4.00 http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/2006/09/metalib-v400/ Ideas linking Libraries, Computing, E-learning, and anything else that springs to mind. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:48:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Nick Lewis http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/2006/09/metalib-v400/comment-page-1/#comment-141 Nick Lewis Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:11:11 +0000 http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/?p=270#comment-141 Was there any discussion of usability, in addition to accessibility, of the current version of MetaLib either formally or informally? I notice discussion of this topic in the recent smug4eu newsletter http://www.igelu.org/sfxmetalib/newsletter/smug4eu_issue3.pdf/view and we have also had feedback from users at UEA that the interface is not intuitive so I'm a bit disappointed that it will be largely the same in version 4. Will the tweaks mentioned make enough of a difference? As with the Aleph OPAC Ex Libris seems to be looking to PRIMO to provide the really simple interface - but I fear this will be at the expense of the existing OPAC and MetaLib interfaces. Also, PRIMO can't replace some aspects of existing interface such as subject categories for example. Is anyone else concerned about usability issues? Was there any discussion of usability, in addition to accessibility, of the current version of MetaLib either formally or informally?
I notice discussion of this topic in the recent smug4eu newsletter http://www.igelu.org/sfxmetalib/newsletter/smug4eu_issue3.pdf/view and we have also had feedback from users at UEA that the interface is not intuitive so I’m a bit disappointed that it will be largely the same in version 4. Will the tweaks mentioned make enough of a difference?
As with the Aleph OPAC Ex Libris seems to be looking to PRIMO to provide the really simple interface – but I fear this will be at the expense of the existing OPAC and MetaLib interfaces. Also, PRIMO can’t replace some aspects of existing interface such as subject categories for example.
Is anyone else concerned about usability issues?

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