This month, Baruch is joining City College, LaGuardia Community College, and the Graduate Center, in testing out a new interface to the catalog that we are calling the Beta Catalog for now. Our existing Ex Libris Aleph catalog is not going away; instead, we are trying out a new separate search interface developed by SUNY and used at most of their libraries (IDS Search).
We are only exploring whether we want to offer this catalog search tool and absolutely need as much feedback as we can get about its strengths, weaknesses, quirks, etc.
Here are some key things to know about the Beta Catalog:
- Searches are not run against our records in Aleph but instead against our records in WorldCat
- Presents records from local and more distant libraries, with the opportunity to ILL the item
- Once a record is found, it queries Aleph for availability and location
- The interface is mobile friendly (unlike our existing catalog)
We plan to do usability tests on the interface to learn more about how our students actually respond to it.
In the meanwhile, we need you to try to use it as much as possible and to let us know how it’s working out for you. Send your feedback in whatever is the easiest way for you:
- Talk to Mike Waldman or me or email us or call us
- Print out screenshots and mark up by hand any notable things
- Come to the Tech Sharecase
By the third week of June, the four libraries piloting this project will see all their feedback passed on to the Beta Catalog developers (at the IDS Project).
In the coming weeks, you can expect to find links to the Beta Catalog on the library home page. Right now, you can find the Beta Catalog in the following places:
- Books page of the library website (link)
- Reference Desk LibGuide (link and embedded search box)