This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Our library did a study on how our library web site was being used. We created an online survey for people to give us their opinions on the overall design of the site, if it answered their information needs, and finally we asked them how they think it should be organized and what terms make sense to them.

The results were illuminating. Just like what Ranti's statement our users had no clue as to what a database is, does, can provide, etc. Now remember our users are mostly medical doctors, one would think they have done research before and had to use a database to find articles. Another interesting revelation is with the advent of online full text journals, we are noticing more and more users unfamiliar with the term journal stacks, journal shelves, print collection, etc. For them the print collection means hitting the printer icon.

After our survey, it was clear that we truely need a site re-design. (We had a pretty strong inkling based on our observations and phone querries, but the survey just supported our hunch.) We used a majority of the suggestions provided, those that we did not use were helpful in that it got us thinking out of the box and in another direction. After the site re-design we discovered other little quirks that we had not anticipated.

For example, many libraries use the phrase "Find Articles" to head or represent the page or list of databases because they found that most people are looking for articles on a particular topic and that is how they think. I don't disagree with that logic, it makes perfect sense. But it doesn't quite work in our library. We have a large group of users who already know the exact journal article they are looking for and just want the full text to that article online. We worry if we use the term "Find Articles" to represent databases, will these users go there to find their article instead of our full text journal list.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. We try our best but there are always people who will get confused no matter what. That is why we do user surveys, we try to see if we can at least understand and help them.

If you think the problem of library lingo is in your library, you might check out John Kupersmith (http://www.jkup.net/terms.html). His site is intended to help library web developers decide how to label key resources and services in such a way that most users can understand them well enough to make productive choices. Also, keep your ears and eyes open. Observe what your users are doing and saying...or not doing or saying. As I said we had an inkling that our web page might be in a foreign library land tongue, that is why we did the user survey.