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Notes on UTCat Online


This prototype is a proposed revision of the current ways in which UTCat may be searched. The main page lacks the number of links of the actual UT Libraries Page; it is intended only as an entry into the search functions. Forms are largely non-functional and have no CGIscript or attendant databases. The sample searches are proposed methods only, intended to illustrate how the suggested modifications to the current system would improve item retrieval.

Only two items have been illustrated. One is searching the library holdings, and the other is obtaining information about library hours of operation. The sample searches, by author, subject, and title, follow a relatively uniform method. The current system allows for very little modification of searches, and beginning a new search is awkward. These samples are intended to show how modification of the current procedure into one more closely resembling an Internet search engine might improve service. The Library Services link is active only inasmuch as to provide a link from a final search page; no service links are currently functioning.

The change in finding library hours is a relatively straightforward one. Currently, libraries may be looked up by name, and their hours of operation gotten by link. This modification introduces an image map as well as an alphabetical listing of libraries and collections, and hours may be gotten from either source. The chief advantage of this is that the map gives the physical location of the library building as well as its times of operation.


Return to main page


scripts for sample searches:

Author search

Library hours

Subject search

Title search