Increasing usage of Databases

A large amount of money is spent on offering electronic databases to our users. One of our goals is to increase usage of these great tools. We and other libraries consistently run into the issue of how to make sure our user (and staff) remember to find and use them. Or better yet, stumble upon the databases at the moment they need the information. With the implementation of LS2 and the redesign of our home pages we will be doing at least these 2 things to highlight these valuable tools.

A large percentage of staff have responded to my earlier request for comment and advocated better organization of the databases to make them easier to find. We will be acting on your suggestions in this area. We will be redesigning our database and categories pages so that it is easier and more intuitive to use our databases. We also will be re-sequencing the list of databases, so that the most relevant databases for each category appear at the top of the list.

We will also be creating entries in our catalog for each database. The idea is that when someone searches for "Chevrolet truck repairs" they will not only receive a list of our books but also a link to the Auto Repair Resource Center, for example. Then the patron can click to follow the link to the database or just go get the books. I think the links to the database will be helpful for those info seekers who need it when the buildings are closed. It is my thinking that since the public already uses the catalog to search for books, they should not have to learn any new techniques to find the databases. Since the catalog already acts as a search engine for our books, music, and movies, why not stick with it for our databases as well.

To make this work, we will be adding traditional subject heading to the cataloging records for our databases, but we will also be using the new tagging feature of LS2 PAC. We will create numerous tags for each subject covered by each database, then whenever someone searches for the topic, the database that is most suitable to that topic will also be revealed in the catalog.