For my final blog entry, I am reviewing the Johnson County Library’s (JoCo Library) website and OPAC. and comparing it to that of another library whose site I have reviewed, the Hennepin County Library. This library’s online presence is particularly interesting and rivals the Hennepin County Library’s as the best I have seen. I actually like the look of the Johnson County Library’s website better since it has a cleaner, less cluttered look, at least on the homepage. JoCo Library’s homepage has a search box with a drop down menu of options for accessing the library’s OPAC, a “How do I…” drop down menu of activities, and an innovative section of library news represented by pictures that expand when you click on them to reveal more information.
One of the library’s most interesting features, like that of the Hennepin County Library, is the Find a Good Book feature. This section of the site offers a number of tools to help patrons find interesting books to read. One of these tools is a collection of reading lists on several topics. Unfortunately, these lists are very narrowly defined and it seems that only a few topics and genres are covered, particularly for nonfiction books. Library patrons can utilize the NoveList database, which evidently allows users to sort through books by plot, series, author, and more (I cannot tell for sure all the features NoveList offers since one needs to be a member of the library to log in to the system). Library patrons can also write reviews for books they have read. Other features include New York Times bestseller lists, Oprah’s Book Club, mock awards, featured author and genres, and Kansas notable books. Overall, the JoCo Library’s Find a Good Book section is not as well-developed as the Hennepin County Library’s, which is more innovative and has more means for patrons to participate, but is nonetheless an excellent library feature.
JoCo Library’s research section is laid out nicely and offers several interesting features. Although on closer inspection it has fewer subjects to research than the Hennepin County Library offers, it is better organized and more pleasing to my eye. In any case, the JoCo Library’s research section offers a lot of useful features for researching a variety of topics. JoCo Library also has special websites for business, family, health, kids, teens, and history.
JoCo Library’s OPAC, seems to be serviceable. One of the more interesting features is that the records for some holdings offer “A Look Inside” which provides a summary of the work and an excerpt. The search functionality of this OPAC, like all other OPACS I have tried out for my blog entries, leaves something to be desired. Once again, keyword and even title searches for Catch-22 and Dr. Strangelove do not return the famous book and movie at the top of the list of results. I guess at least I can take solace in the fact that this time they were on the first page of results.
Overall, the Johnson County Library, like the Hennepin County Library, has a strong online presence. I like the general design of the JoCo Library’s website better than that of the Hennepin County Library’s. On the other hand, the Hennepin County Library offers more features for finding good books and letting patrons participate. All told though, both of these libraries have websites that are likely the envy of public libraries, at least across the U.S.
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