OCLC has released Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want.
Here's an excerpt from the Executive Summary:
- The end user's experience of the delivery of wanted items is as important, if not more important, than his or her discovery experience.
- End users rely on and expect enhanced content including summaries/abstracts and tables of contents.
- An advanced search option (supporting fielded searching) and facets help end users refine searches, navigate, browse and manage large result sets.
- Important differences exist between the catalog data quality priorities of end users and those who work in libraries.
- Librarians and library staff, like end users, approach catalogs and catalog data purposefully. End users generally want to find and obtain needed information; librarians and library staff generally have work responsibilities to carry out. The work roles of librarians and staff influence their data quality preferences.
- Librarians' choice of data quality enhancements reflects their understanding of the importance of accurate, structured data in the catalog.
