A librarians advice on how people might approach the information, ultimately assists in the provision of the correct type of information design. We know that readers require different functionality from their onscreen material depending on if they are using known-item searching techniques, exploratory searching techniques or a full scale comprehensive search. My company helps organisations make digital virtual libraries by scanning their information captured in hardcopy and releasing it into a digital environment, usually on cd rom. As well as keyword searching, our virtual libraries use traditional library finding tools such as author, title and subject lists, and use hyperlinking to connect the content with the lists. This way, we can cater for those people who prefer to exercise their known searching skills in a familiar environment as well as cater to those advanced users who understand and can effectively use Boolean searching techniques in a digital context.
Librarians make good usability advocates.
The science of usability engineering is developing a prominence as it requires specialists with a sound knowledge of the way readers interact with a body of knowledge. As documents online become longer, ease of information discovery becomes more and more important for the retrieval of the information. I consider myself to have the skills of a usability engineer through my association with librarianship. Librarianship is more about accessibility of information these days than it is with the guardianship of knowledge. Usability is all about making information discoverable.