The library's on-line catalog is moving from a 1970s to a year 2000 system, and this week begins your chance to test it and give the library feedback.
The new system currently under design will allow you to search, recall books from circulation, view your borrower record and more from the library's Website, accessible with any World Wide Web browser.
Why the change? You are happy with your Telnet access and can find what you want quite efficiently.
First of all, if you love Telnet, all is not lost. The library will continue to provide character-based, Telnet access for users who cannot or prefer not to search over the Web. The look and function of the Telnet interface will change to offer capabilities-for example, menus and journal title searches-not available in today's text-based Franklin.
But the Web searches will offer so much more. You will still be able to search by author, title, subject, call number and use full Boolean keyword searching. But you'll be working with a graphic layout that makes searching easier and clearer. The search capacity includes a new key-word search capability that ranks by relevancy, similar to the way some Web search tools like Alta Vista do.
You will be able to limit your searches by date, library location and type of material as well.
Hot links will short circuit some steps. Links to related subjects can increase search productivity. And links will enable you to go straight from the catalog to some electronic journals, full-text files and on-line government publications.
Penn's is the first library in the Ivy League and the largest to adopt Voyager, but it's not the first library ever to use it or similar systems. The University of Rochester and others have gone before us.
But the library is modifying Voyager to adapt it to larger collections and the needs of Penn users. For example, the library is modifying the visual organization and names of links for clarity. The goal is not merely to use technology for technology's sake but to make the library easier to use.
The library catalog and networked databases logged 6.3 million searches in 1996, more than 3 million of them in Franklin alone. The other 3.3 million were in the nearly 100 indexes available on the library Web pages.
The new system will provide the capacity to add more information on line and to integrate the growing variety of electronic information for easier and more convenient access. It will also allow the library to adapt to new technologies as they come on line.
Response time on the preview site will be slow while further improvements are made to the Web interface. But with a little patience, you can test Franklin's future capabilities. The library is providing a response form to encourage searchers to send feedback on what they liked and what might be improved as the system develops. The Web address for the preview site to Voyager is www.franklin.library.upenn.edu
The test page for the new Voyager system, which will eventually make library catalog searches faster, easier and more effective, went up on the Internet Sunday. The library is providing a response form to encourage searchers to send feedback on what they liked and what might be improved as the system develops.
Return to Compass Features for April 29, 1997