Portals and Libraries

Citation

Parry, F. (2006), "Portals and Libraries", The Electronic Library, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 419-420. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470610671268

This work has been assembled from 11 different sets of authors, each concentrating on a different aspect of library portals, such as types of portal, technologies, planning, usability testing and various case studies. Also included is a reprint of the influential final report of the Association of Research Libraries “Scholars Portal” project.

The use of the word “portal” – as opposed to “gateway” – often creates some debate in the information community. Michalak's introductory remarks makes mention of everyone's “dream portal”, that is “a powerful search engine that would search […] the Web, designated OPACs, and licensed databases all at one time and would return the highest quality academic resources”. At the back of everyone's mind is the spectre of Google and the welter of uncritically presented or filtered information in place of the “highest quality” information to which Michalak refers. Hence the importance of portals. In fairness to the major search engines, such developments as Google Scholar are a little too recent for this and other studies to consider and evaluate.

The early chapters concentrate on the range and variety of portals that are being developed. The Internet Public Library's portal was developed in Michigan to help students in library and information studies develop practical experience in digital collection building, interface design, usability testing and database and library management. A different kind of portal, the MyLibrary at NC State University, aims to produce a flexible, easy to use library portal, which will hopefully integrate at some point with the campus portal to offer seamless information flow in the learning environment. The Library of Congress Guide to Web Resources on International Topics draws on the expertise of Library of Congress specialists and lists sites chosen for their research value.

There are several chapters that concentrate on usability, or the user‐centred approach to designing portals. Ann Marie Breznay and Leslie M. Haas's chapter – “If you build it will they come?” – in particular stands out with its recognition that library collections can be intimidating places for users. They make the point that popular sites such as Google or Amazon work because they are simple and easy to use, and go on to list the ways in which libraries can adapt portals using personalised, smart, add‐on Amazon‐like features. There are also several chapters on the technology of setting up and maintaining portals and one on the technical side of usability testing. The final chapter by Mary E. Jackson looks forward to the future of portals and is a mix of wishful thinking tinged with grim reality. Jackson cheerily envisages undergraduates eventually abandoning Google in favour of a faster, more powerful library portal yet recognises that “current hopes for portal technology outstrip available technology”. And here we have at last the admission that portals, while a “good idea”, often fail to live up to the hype and need a lot of work to deliver on the early promise.

The book has a good index but could have benefited from an appendix listing internet addresses. Similarly, some chapters have extensive notes and references but others do not. A good overall bibliography would have been a welcome addition. Nonetheless, it is a useful state‐of‐the‐art work that will provide interesting reading to library and information professionals.