Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Shelf Browsing
I'm a lunch-time library surfer.
Browsing the Web catalog links me to much more material than I can find on the shelf at a library branch. It also shows me book covers and offers multiple formats in one place. I can browse by title, author or subject. I can also take a call number, if I know one, and browse all the items in any format that would be next to one another on the shelf, if all the items in the system were in and were on one shelf in one building. I can do it when I want wherever I am.
Do I miss browsing the actual shelves? Not really. I can do that if I want to, too. Sometimes I go to the brick-and-mortor library because sitting among the shelves is a great stress reducer. Besides, I can always find a librarian if I need one.
Browsing the Web catalog links me to much more material than I can find on the shelf at a library branch. It also shows me book covers and offers multiple formats in one place. I can browse by title, author or subject. I can also take a call number, if I know one, and browse all the items in any format that would be next to one another on the shelf, if all the items in the system were in and were on one shelf in one building. I can do it when I want wherever I am.
Do I miss browsing the actual shelves? Not really. I can do that if I want to, too. Sometimes I go to the brick-and-mortor library because sitting among the shelves is a great stress reducer. Besides, I can always find a librarian if I need one.
