[Yulcat-l] Cataloger's Desktop enhancements & call for testers

[Steven Arakawa]

This off the Cataloger's Desktop List. Note that the deadline for 
volunteering is tomorrow. Even if you're not interested in testing, I 
thought you might find some of the forthcoming enhancements to be of interest.

--Steven Arakawa


Message-ID:  <s3df7680.054 at loc.gov>
Date:         Tue, 31 Jan 2006 14:37:04 -0500
Reply-To: "Cataloger's Desktop Forum" <DESKTOP at loc.gov>
Sender: "Cataloger's Desktop Forum" <DESKTOP at loc.gov>
From: Bruce C Johnson <bjoh at loc.gov>
Subject: Cataloger's Desktop enhancement testers needed
Comments: To: desktop at loc.gov
To: DESKTOP at sun8.LOC.GOV
Precedence: list

Colleagues:

    CDS is nearly ready to roll out a number of enhancements to Cataloger's 
Desktop and we need your help.  First a little information about the 
enhancements:

1.  In the 2005 Desktop and Cataloging Documentation surveys we received 
quite a lot of feedback from people who would like to have a simpler 
interface.  While this was by no means a universal observation, there were 
quite a few who felt that the complexity of Desktop's interface seemed to 
be a barrier to quick and effective searching.  In response we have built a 
simpler interface that we hope will address this problem without 
sacrificing functionality for those who prefer the current interface.

2.  The current product allows subscribers to create a finite number of 
bookmarks but does not allow them to control what the bookmarks will be 
called.  Additionally, bookmarks currently can not be ported from one 
computer to another or shared with other subscribers.  Additionally, since 
the current approach to bookmarking relies on cookies technology, bookmarks 
(and other customizations) are not as persistent as many would prefer.  To 
address these limitations we have re-engineered how bookmarks are created 
and stored.  Bookmarks will can be stored remotely and can be accessed from 
wherever your logon is used.  Annotations will also be available and 
remotely accessible.  Additionally, both notes and bookmarks can be named 
whatever the subscriber wishes to call them.

3.  There are additional enhancements that should speed up the product.

    As noted above, these enhancements are nearly ready to go, but we need 
your assistance in testing them for us.  We need to see whether these 
changes appropriately address subscribers' expectations, and we also 
frankly want to discover whether there are any bugs in the changes.  If 
testing goes well we should be able to implement the enhancements in a few 
weeks.

    If you would be interested in being a tester for these enhancements, 
please contact me OFFLIST at <bjoh at loc.gov>. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS 
MESSAGE ON THE LIST.  Please respond by COB Wednesday, February 1st.  Thank 
you very much for your help.

Bruce




Bruce Chr. Johnson
President-Elect, Association for Library Collections & Technical Services 
(ALCTS)
a division of the American Library Association

and

Library of Congress
Cataloging Distribution Service
Washington, DC 20540-4911 USA

202-707-1652 (voice)  bjoh at loc.gov
202-707-3959 (fax)

----------------------------------------------------------
Steven Arakawa
Catalog Librarian for Training & Documentation
Catalog Dept. Sterling Memorial Library. Yale University.
P.O. Box 208240 New Haven, CT 06520-8240
(203)432-8286 steven.arakawa at yale.edu