Full Moon, the FMU Newsletter

Tony McSean

Tony McSean, Director of Library Relations,Elsevier, Oxford, UK

The last Full Moon was mostly taken up with Full MU Library’s efforts to capture the 2005 Nobel Prize for Librarianship. Iron Maiden’s old sound system has been cranking out student-friendly songs, but the coincidence of distribution date and copy deadline means our requests for readers to suggest library-related songs that could be blasted out at 110db has not yet produced a rich crop and so results are being held over till the next time around. So you still have time to send in your suggestions and receive Full Moon t-shirts.* Entries to full.moon@elsevier.com, please. (For added details on this plea, see page 15 in the Library Connect Newsletter, 3(4), at www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect)

As our musical approach to modifying student behavior remains under development, FullMU’s Nobel nomination instead centered on the pioneering new Muddle search engine developed by the library’s Department for Cognitive Displacement (CogDis). Muddle offers all the features of a traditional search engine but adds a highly developed visual pattern recognition capability to the more usual Web crawling method of data harvesting. One outstanding feature, MuddleHome, illustrates the potential of this groundbreaking new technology.

Answering many common household problems is now as simple as following MuddleHome’s three-stage process: 1. Log onto the MuddleHome homepage; 2. Fill out the registration form; 3. Connect up a simple cordless video camera (such as the iMuddle). Then go round the house videoing everything including the insides of drawers and underneath the beds, and when you have finished log out. The system’s advanced software makes a complete inventory of every item and where it is. In coming months, all you need to do is input a message such as “Where are my car keys?” and MuddleHome will give you the answer (e.g., “On the table in the hall, you oaf, under the Blockbuster DVD case”), saving time and preventing marital friction. There is a parental control option which when enabled only allows epithets up to and including “damned” to be inserted into the search argument. It is also possible to print out a full inventory, useful in support of insurance claims.

Which brings us to why this service will be such an important element in the forthcoming Muddle share flotation. MuddleHome is wholly free, and its sustainable business plan is as innovative as its central concept. Its operation is entirely supported by the profits of its sister service MuddleBurgle, whose name essentially says it all. Profit maximization is ensured by dynamic real-time links to Web auction sites, so hard-to-find collectors’ items commanding the highest prices can be matched with locations on the MuddleHome database.

To summarize, FullMU Library is proud to recognize the out-of-the-box pioneering spirit demonstrated by Muddle and its related service. In future months we will proudly share with you further news of the Muddle our colleagues have produced, achievements which make FullMU faculty feared and discussed wherever academics gather.

* Not available in any shops, guaranteed to survive two washes, available in sizes up to marquee, terms and conditions apply, etc.

Library Connect is doggone good!

Helle Lauridsen, Head of Serial Services at the State and University Library at Aarhus University in Denmark, sent in this photo.

Thanks, Helle! Anyone with quirky photos to share, please send them to libraryconnect@elsevier.

Chris Jasek of Elsevier’s User Centered Design Group answers your usability questions.

Q: Does our library website need navigation menus on the left and top? A: The answer depends on your website's content and how it is presented. Nearly all websites have navigation at the top of pages, and typically this is the sites' main navigation. Although some websites feature main navigation along the left side of pages (e.g., CNN.com), most of the time the left is used for secondary navigation. My suggestion is to start by trying to design your site with top navigation alone. Then, if it is needed add secondary left-side navigation. While navigation is very important to usability of a site, there is no benefit to having additional navigation unless it is truly needed. In general, I believe most library websites could use top-only navigation, but of course there is never a one-size-fits-all library website template. Top-only navigation brings two main benefits: The navigation is in a prominent and expected location, and the area below is freed for content — making for a cleaner design. Left-side navigation on the other hand allows a larger number of links as they are stacked on top of each other rather than strung out in one long horizontal row. Whatever design you choose for your navigation it is important that labeling of navigation buttons is clear and meaningful to your users. It is also important that the navigation buttons and their order do not change from page to page in the site, as such changes confuse and disorient users. Finally it is also a nice touch to indicate which navigation button the user is currently visiting by changing that button's visual appearance (e.g., changing the color or bolding the text).

CHRIS JASEK

earned his BS in computer science and a master’s degree in human factors engineering from the University of Illinois, and then started his career with Reed Elsevier. For the past 11 years, while working for LexisNexis and Elsevier, he has helped design and ensure usability of Scopus, ScienceDirect, nexis.com and other information products. Today Chris leads Elsevier’s User Centered Design Group, which he helped form.

Explore More

• Fleming J. (1998). Web navigation: Designing the user experience. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly.
• Jasek, C. (2004). How to design library Web sites to maximize usability. San Diego, CA: Elsevier. www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect
• Morville, P., & Rosenfeld, L. (2002). Information architecture forthe World Wide Web. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.