Too much information combined with complicated search engines

Image from nostuff.org

All has been quiet on the blogging front. I started my second job a fortnight ago, which means working 8:30-7, and Saturday mornings. Sadly, university work became a priority over blogging.

University is actually going well. I emerged from the mathematical lecture understanding what had been explained and able to go home and relax, rather than tear hair out for hours attempting to fathom nonsense. The first two assessments are progressing well, which is nice to know. What isn't nice to know is there's another two assessments that haven't yet been started on.

One of my assessments is on improving awareness and use of web 2.0 tools in the library I work in and results of the survey I distributed shows that, just because these sites are available for libraries to promote their collections and services, without promotion they will never get consulted. Many of the people who completed the survey commented that using web 2.0 tools complicates things - what is wrong with using the main library page for all sources of information? Can there not be a list of new books on the library page, rather than navigating to another website such as LibraryThing or Twitter? Others commented that they just use Google because it's an easier database to search, despite the amount of information the library provides for them. As well as making these services available, libraries need to make sure they market them, otherwise people will not know they are there to use. Once people know they are there to use, they are unlikely to do so if it is too complicated, which means libraries then need to educate readers in how to benefit from the service. This still sounds like quite a lot of faff though when all people want is a basic and easy to use search engine/database. The sheer wealth of information makes finding your way through it complicated, and libraries aren't providing simple search engines to help, which makes you realise exactly why they don't use our services and opt for easy-to-use alternatives.