Bedford Public Library

Bedford Public Library

This time, I chose to examine the Bedford Public Library OPAC (Open Public Access Catalog). First of all, what attracted my attention is the color scheme of the home page. The main page of the Bedford Public Library presents the earthy scheme of colors (i.e., green, brown, & blue) that makes it easy to view the interface. According to its color, the main page is divided into the menus in three columns and a top row.

The top row menu bar offers the information on the library services in general in accordance with ages and library patron's interest: infozone, reader's corner, kids place, teenspace, seniors, and events in addition to the general library services information such as catalog, patron's account, hours, location/map, library cards, and contact info. The left side column provides the detailed info on patron's account, how to use library, and how to get involved in the library activities; the middle column with the up-to-date news in the library community (i.e., Tax Preparation help, new library blog, and library on Flickr); the right column with the more specified info on finding information, books for readers' corner, and news & events.

What's more user-friendly in the BPL is the search feature that accommodates patrons' or just browsing users' needs: 1. there's quick search engine for "Find books, movies, music & more." 2. The BPL OPAC also provides site search engine. 3. Quick links supplies the bird-eye view of the list of what users might be interested in accessing, searching, and finding.

In order to understand better the BPL OPAC, I clicked "Catalog." The menu directed me to another page that specifically deals with searching, finding, & retrieving the items that users want. What stood out is the color scheme that made easy on my eye to read the letter on the screen.

Users can search the desired item by title, subject, call number, author, keyword, or isbn/issn. And also, the site provides the explicit guideline that users limit search to DVDs|Videos|Music|Books on CD|Books on Tape|eBooks|Titles on Order.

I tentatively typed "Shakespeare in Love" by title. It directed me to the page that lists all the metadata possible pertaining to the movie. The metadata includes a plethora of information of description on its duration, performer, director, photographer, format, audience level, subjects, authors, ISBN, and tags.

What captured my attention is the tags. All the tags listed on the metadata show how users label the movie in accordance with their own understanding and easiness of their own retrieval later on. The most interesting tags include Colin Firth, Judi Dench, 16th century acting cinema, and the like. The users tagging information accounts for the endeavor that the BPL is making to accommodate the users need and to understand users behavior on the library OPAC interface.

On the bottom of the page displays the user-friendly icons for new search, place a hold, save records, MARC Display, and another search. I was surprised to find MARC (Machine Readable Catalog) display.


The Bedford Public Library OPAC does appear user-friendly for a variety of users, whether they are the general public or information specialists.