http://hdl.handle.net/2142/745 23rd Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (1986). Edited by F.W. Lancaster. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/767 Design issues in automatic translation for online information retrieval systems Toliver, David E. One objective of computer intermediary systems is to minimize incidental and accidental differences among the many distinct languages found in online bibliographic retrieval. Three classes of languages are identified: access protocols, retrieval commands/responses, and database structures. Each class has its own characteristic requirements for automatic translation. In developing one intermediary product the Sci-Mate Searcher distinct translation approaches proved most effective for each class: a procedural language for access protocols, customized coding for retrieval commands/responses, and a knowledge-based table for database structures. Despite differences in translation methods, users are presented with a consistent view throughout the product. Libraries --Automation User interfaces (Computer systems) Design Information retrieval http://hdl.handle.net/2142/766 User friendly future: Applications of new information technology Smith, Linda C. This paper considers the clinic theme, "What Is User Friendly?" from a scientific and technical perspective. As Burch has observed in the introduction to a bibliography on computer ergonomics and user friendly design, the term user friendly is an anomaly as a technical term: "Most words borrowed from science enter the popular language stream long after their associated discoveries have become history. The term 'user friendly' is an exception to this rule; it became popular long before a scientific basis for 'user friendliness' had even been looked for." 1 The current emphasis on user friendliness is both market- and technology-driven. There is an interest in making computers more useful tools for people who are not computer specialists, thus expanding the potential user population; and there are new technological components that may be employed to make systems easier to use. Libraries --Automation User interfaces (Computer systems) Design http://hdl.handle.net/2142/765 Aristotle meets Plato in the library catalog: Part 1 Shaw, Ward This paper is part 1 of a presentation titled "Aristotle Meets Plato in the Library Catalog." In it, I hope to set forth some aspects of the theoretical context, or point of view, from which we at the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) approach the design and implementation of what the organizers of this clinic have called "user friendly" systems, to describe a bit the organizational and systems setting within which we work, outline some of the design principles that guide our development, and provide a brief overview of the system as it exists today. Libraries --Automation Library catalogs and users http://hdl.handle.net/2142/764 Linking the unlinkable Gorman, Michael Keynote speech at the 1986 What is user friendly? : Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing. The focus of the talk is the idea of using microcomputers as the central component of a third way of achieving and extending developed online catalogs. The term online catalog is now simply a term of convenience and one which is now so inaccurate as to be seriously misleading. The idea has never been that we should simply automate the pre-machine catalog (though, to tell the truth, some have tried to do just that), but that we should produce an online system which has at least three important differences from the pre-machine catalog. Libraries --Automation Library catalogs and users Library catalog http://hdl.handle.net/2142/763 Taming the unfriendly system: Microcomputers as patron terminals to access an online catalog Golden, Gary A. Automation in libraries has been on a rapidly moving roller coaster over the past decade. At first the major concerns were whether to automate with the few existing vendor systems. Many libraries designed their own systems while others shopped around or waited. Over the past five years many turnkey systems promising an automation nirvana for libraries were developed. This conference and the growing body of literature shift this emphasis toward making these systems easier to use. An even newer concern is how to develop integrated systems or "information gateways" to allow access to expanding internal and external databases. The rallying cry for librarians is not whether to automate, but can we automate our many internal processes and access external systems from the same terminal. Automation, however, takes place within the constraints of limited money. The question becomes, How can we allow all patrons easy and quick access to a new world of information choices? Libraries --Automation Library catalogs and users http://hdl.handle.net/2142/762 User interfaces for online library catalogs Fayan, Emily Gallup Online library systems are a classic example of complex systems of programs designed for use by others. Library systems are made up of many intricate programs with complex relations among them. The library database consists of numerous files which are interrelated in various ways. Library users both staff and patrons need to perform a large number of complex actions using these programs and files. The challenge to the library systems designer is to create an effective user interface for this environment. Libraries --Automation Library catalogs and users User interfaces (Computer systems) Design http://hdl.handle.net/2142/761 Aristotle meets Plato in the library catalog: Part 2 Dowlin, Kenneth E. I will discuss the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) system implementation as the basic housekeeping system at the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) on MAGGIE III and how PPLD has used the capabilities of the software in the CARL system to greatly expand and enhance MAGGIE'S PLACE (the computer system at PPLD). Libraries --Automation Library catalogs and users http://hdl.handle.net/2142/760 Natural language user interfaces in information retrieval Doszkocs, Tamas E. This paper examines the role of natural language (NL) processing in information retrieval in the context of large operational information retrieval systems and services. State-of-the-art information retrieval systems combine the functional capabilities of the conventional inverted file Boolean logic term adjacency approach commonly employed by commercial search services, with statistical-combinatorial techniques pioneered in experimental information retrieval (IR) research, and formal natural language processing methods and tools borrowed from artificial intelligence (AI). The emergence and ever increasing importance of end user searching provides challenging opportunities for the integration of sophisticated natural language analysis and processing techniques in user friendly interfaces. Information retrieval Natural language Libraries --Automation http://hdl.handle.net/2142/759 Is "User Friendly" really possible in library automation? Carrison, Dale K. The term user friendly has become a buzzword. Everyone would probably agree that online library systems should be approachable. However, despite efforts to make system use easier, many first-time users still feel intimidated. The major cause of user fear may be the everyday jargon used by those persons who are the corporate keepers of the Holy Grail i.e., automated library systems. Often the words used in discussing online systems are overly expressive and needlessly violent in tone. Even the term user fits this situation because it sounds drug related rather than library related. Libraries --Automation Library catalogs and users User interfaces (Computer systems) Design http://hdl.handle.net/2142/758 Toward a definition of user friendliness: A psychological perspective Borgman, Christine L. If a system is transparent to the user, it means that the user is looking through the system to the task being accomplished and not focusing on the system itself. A transparent system is one that supports and simplifies a task rather than becoming a task in and of itself. This paper will discuss current research on information systems that has the implicit goal of making systems more user friendly and that is being conducted from a psychological perspective. Library catalogs and users Use and users of systems User interfaces (Computer systems) Design