Rich and Dynamic Library Catalogs

The authors redesign the user interface of an online library catalog, leveraging current Web technologies that allow dynamic and fine-grained user interaction. Over the course of their iterative design and test cycle, they identified four key areas where such dynamic Web technologies can be used to improve the support for typical information seeking strategies, namely: 1) the use of overview + details, 2) a tabular data display, 3) using tabs as a history mechanism, and 4) embedding a suggestion bar. The authors believe that the revised affordances created by their changes in these four areas will inform the design of future search interfaces.