Vol. 28 No. 3 Nov/Dec 2000

Internet Librarian 2001

Pasadena CA

Nov. 6 – 8

Having spent considerable time perusing the pre-conference materials I had my agenda all laid out before I even arrived in Pasadena. Basically I was interested in the “B” Track – “Navigating the Net.” After all, that’s my “thing.” I’m the firm’s “web guru” – if it’s on the Net, I can find it. And I am not a techie by any stretch of the imagination: I know how to turn on my PC and not a lot more from a technical standpoint (sort of like my relationship with my car).

But you know what they say about the best laid plans. Thanks to some really riveting Keynote speeches my horizons were significantly broadened. Tuesday’s presentation “Library Science and Usability Engineering” just blew me away. I was absolutely transfixed by the speaker, Eric Schaffer (CEO of Human Factors International).and quickly ditched my well-laid plans and moved into the fascinating world of usability.

According to Schaffer, we are now in the third wave of the Information Age. Hardware and software have become commodities, fairly mundane and fungible. The real news is in applications, specifically those that are useful, satisfying and “user centered”. Now, this made a lot of sense to me. We’ve all come across websites which are equally stunning in their profound visual beauty and utter lack of usefulness (thanks to poor design). You can tell the information is in there somewhere, but you just can’t find it – at least not before extreme frustration sets in and you begin contemplating a worthwhile curse to wish on the webmaster.

We all have strong opinions about what makes a good website. But how do you know what works for the user? Schaffer (and the subsequent speakers) broke it down so that even I (a one time philosophy major) could understand. I encourage you to check the materials which will be available at the Information Today website for further information.

The other presentation that I found truly fascinating (and perhaps a little more up my alley) was Thursday’s keynote address on the evolution of search engines by Danny Sullivan. I particularly appreciated his recognition of the balance between the search engine’s need to exist as a feasible business and the impact that may have on the results returned by those engines. The variation in information “freshness” provided by these engines varies tremendously. I had no idea that Google is refreshed only once a month! Additional information on Sullivan’s presentation is available at www.calafia.com/presentations.

On the whole the presentations were very good. There seemed to truly be something for everyone. As usual one of the real rewards of attending the Internet Librarian is talking to librarians from organizations very different from your own, learning what they’ve done and what they plan to do.

Lynn Connor Merring

Stradling Yocca Carlson Et Al