When I first arrived at the Johnson County Library homepage, I was immediately impressed by it's friendly and usable appearance. The simple catalog search and the “How Do I” pull down list gave a clear menu of options that both the initiate and uninitiate library user can easily and quickly appreciate and use. The tabs across the top were noticeable, and I didn't have to search around for more library options.
The “Find a Good Book” tab caught my eye; I'm always looking for good reader's advisory websites. This website blew me away with its amazing features: recommended reading lists by age, searching books by plot, series, or author, book discussion blogs, featured books and authors, best selling lists, and downloadable audiobooks (to name just a few). I decided to evaluate these different browsing tools to see if they were as useful as they claimed to be.
Sadly, the Novelist databases with the plot and series search capabilities are only available to card carrying members, so I couldn't play with them. The recommended reading lists were organized according to age groups, genres, gender (chick lit) and allowed readers to write reviews of the books. The lists were not incredibly long (but then again, if they were, the list would be more of a catalog than a recommended list), and some of the choices were surprising. For example, at the top of the adventure recommended reading list was Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit. While I personally am a huge fan of Dickens, for a library to choose this lesser-known novel as the top recommended adventure novel (not even A Tale of Two Cities!) seemed odd.
The links to best seller lists and library promotions were more helpful, I thought, than the odd choices on the recommended reading lists. I especially liked the Kansas City Literary Map that documents literary landmarks across Kansas City. The experience of going on a literary scavenger hunt in your home town with your book club, family, or friends sounds amazingly fun. What a great way to promote library use!
In the end, the Johnson County Library website was quite user friendly and tried to be ahead of the times, although the recommended reading lists had a few odd choices. I was impressed by the accessibility of the downloadable audiobooks and the promotional projects like the Kansas City Literary Map. Overall, I thought the website was very user-friendly and efficient but needed a little polishing with time.
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