Find Databases search/browse
Here is a later version of one of two new functioning screens we had users test in our November round.  Notice that we went with the tab approach but used simple, understandable terms, as Jakob Nielsen recommends and as is the current trend with many library research portals .  From our Library Gateway home page navigation bar, we planned to include each of these tabs as a separate entry point into the system:  Find:  Articles, Databases, and, (later), e-Journals.

The screen you are looking at, Find Databases, allows for resource discovery, what ENCompass 2.0 was calling “Discover a Resource” in that screen I showed you a few moments ago.  You will notice that we chose to keep searching and browsing on one screen but separated them and did away with the expandable table/checkbox look and feel.  If users wanted to browse through categories, they could click on a hypertext link and launch a new page, rather than expanding within the same page.  This approach had been taken with the existing e-Reference collection and had worked well, so after experimenting with alternatives, we decided to go with the familiar.

To try to clarify the relationship between Find Databases and Find Articles, we added a scope note to the right of the search box.  Admittedly, this note added “clutter” but became a priority later as reference librarians submitted their feedback.

Here is an example of what you might see if you expanded a browse category below the search box…