Title:DRA Web2 Catalog at Your Service

DRA Web2 Catalog at Your Service

THE LIBRARY'S "CATALOG OF THE FUTURE" IS NOW AVAILABLE IN A TEST FORMAT

Since the replacement of our card catalog with the on-line catalog of the PALNI (Private Academic Library Network of Indiana) libraries in the summer of 1995, you have been accessing the catalog through a text-based interface. You communicated with the computer by typing commands, and waiting for the computer to respond to those commands.

If you have used the World Wide Web and Internet for any other searching, you probably realize that most searching today is done with a graphical interface. You type words or phrases into a box, click buttons to indicate what you want to do, and select from the results with a mouse-click. A graphical interface is what you use when you search for books on Amazon at www.amazon.com. Christian Book Distributors uses a grahical interface at www.christianbook.com. You even find a modern, graphical interface when you access the on-line catalog of Allen County Public Library at www.acpl.lib.in.us. Graphical interfaces are undoubted-ly the wave of the future for next-generation catalogs.

The next-generation library catalog is now available for your use. The "DRA Web2" catalog gives you state-of-the-art access to our holdings through a graphical interface. You can access the catalog through the "Life of the World" portal (http://www.lifeoftheworld.com/)-just click on the library icon in the upper right corner-or directly through the library's home page (http://www.ctsfw.edu/library/). Click on "Look for Books & Articles in the Library," then click on "Web Access to the PALNI Catalog." This will take you to the search screen of the new Web2 catalog.

You communicate with the computer in the new Web2 with the mouse and point-and-click actions, instead of with typed commands and arrow keys. Although using the new interface is easier than using the old interface, be aware of the following: (1) the new Web2 is still in a test format -some things may not yet work quite correctly; (2) a graphical interface is inherently slower than a text-based interface. What you gain in ease of use, you lose some in speed.

Web2 has a number of good help screens to assist you in your searching. Although you will need to learn some skills to use Web2, you will surely enjoy the ease of use once you become accustomed to it.

Previous Article  |  Newsletter Index  |  Next Article