Making Search Better for Patrons

How can we make search seem less like a trek through the jungle and more like a walk in the park?

Search What?

First off, we need to figure out what content needs to get searched then effectively convey this searched content to our users. Searching from a library website could mean searching the catalog, the calendar, the databases, the internet, or some combination of these. From a patron usability perspective, simple is better. Jakob Nielsen, web usability expert, says this about search: "Search is the user's lifeline for mastering complex websites. The best designs offer a simple search box on the home page and play down advanced search and scoping."

So, one search box on the front page. Now, what does it search, and how? And how do you convey that? Hybrid OPAC/blog solutions such as Scriblio offer a basic search box that defaults to searching "everything" with a prominent link for users who want to search only the library's catalog. Other library websites, such as the one at North Carolina State University library, have a basic search box on the front page that breaks results out into facets with some actual results on the returned page. However, the results page also includes quantified links (e.g., "Videos and DVDs (12)") pointing to content in the catalog that's only one click away.