Library Introduces Updated Catalog

Rodman Public Library’s catalog ( roc.rodmanlibrary.com ) has undergone some distinct changes. Its appearance is the most obvious change but several other enhancements add more powerful features for users.

The new features include an enhanced keyword search, relevance stars, book jacket pictures, a ‘reserve’ button, a ‘more information’ button, a book cart, a 'good reads' option, ask reference a question, and My Account/Renew. The library’s staff invites the public to try out the new enhancements, described below:

• Patrons will still be able to search the catalog for titles, authors, subjects, call numbers, and keywords. However, the keyword search has been enhanced so that it searches the entire record, thus giving users a more comprehensive search.
• One to five relevance stars will appear in the keyword search results display. The more stars, the more relevant the title is to the user’s search words.
• Book jacket images, when available, are displayed next to each title to help users identify the book.
• The availability of any item for check out will also be immediately apparent from the ‘browse’ screen.
• The ‘reserve’ button allows catalog users to reserve an item from their home Internet connection.
• Clicking on the ‘more information’ button will offer users book jacket pictures, first chapters, plot synopses, book reviews, the position of the item in its series, and other information.
• As patrons search within the catalog, they can select one or several titles by putting them in a ‘Book Cart,’ which works just like an online shopping cart. With it users can reserve titles en masse, email the list to themselves, or save the records to a file for later use.
• The ‘Good Reads’ option offers staff reviews of books and videos on many topics for adults and children and a link to ‘Newly Cataloged Titles.’
• Whenever patrons have a more extensive question while they are searching the catalog, they can select the ‘Ask a Question’ button. The reference department will respond with an answer via email, regular mail, or telephone.
• Finally, the ‘My Account/Renew’ option lets patrons see the items they have checked out (along with their due dates), renew the items, check their fines, reserve titles, save favorite searches, tell the library to send them an email when a new title that matches the favorite search is cataloged, and keep a reading history if the patron desires.

Rodman Public Library hopes that the library experience is enhanced for each patron by these new features.