Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
Minimize the number of clicks users must make
Place links to different types of research materials and sources (such as electronic journals, databases or OPACs) right on the homepage of your library website. Most users come to a library site wanting to do research, and the shorter their paths, the happier they are.
In 2001, a survey of 105 academic library websites showed 67 offered homepages linking directly to lists of e-journals available through the libraries (Rich & Rabine, 2001). It’s good news for users that on 64% of the homepages examined, e-journals were just one click away. But it’s too bad that over one-third, 36% in fact, of the library sites could have offered users a shorter path.
Beyond offering direct links from your library homepage to lists of e-journals, you might even want to offer links to frequently used databases (Crowley et al., 2002).
Helping shorten researchers' paths, the homepage of the Houston Academy of Medicine – Texas Medical Center Library offers a link to Scopus. The page appears at
http://resource.library.tmc.edu/alert
An easy way to shorten researchers' paths is to feature a Scopus HTML Feed, such as this one on Baystate Health's Health Sciences Library homepage at
http://libraryinfo.bhs.org. All titles in a Scopus HTML Feed are linked to Scopus. When a user affiliated with an organization licensed to Scopus clicks on a title in a Scopus HTML Feed, the user is taken into Scopus. There the user can get more information on the publication and if authorizations are in place can click through to the fulltext. The user can also get more information on the author’s publication history and citation counts. This screenshot shows a Scopus HTML Feed created via instructions at
www.info.scopus.com/htmlfeeds
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