New Apple iPhone looks cool I read an interesting article in Time last week about the new Apple iPhone -- the article is available here if you're interested. I've always been a big proponent of good user interface design (few things cause me to rant and rave more than what I perceive as bad user interface design) and it really seems as if Apple is very interested in fixing some of the things that are broken with cell phone technology. (Of course, how much I am willing to PAY for good user interface design is another question altogether. The new iPhone is $499 and frankly I don't use my cell phone enough to be willing to fork over that kind of dough.)

The last paragraph of the article really spoke to me. I'm going to quote it here. "...When our tools don't work, we tend to blame ourselves, for being too stupid or not reading the manual or having too fat fingers.... In other words, when our tools are broken, we feel broken. And when somebody fixes one we feel a tiny bit more whole."

This must be how our library patrons feel when they are forced to use an unfriendly PAC that doesn't tolerate spelling errors or insists on making you click through several screens instead of just giving you a list of items that might match your request. At least with the card catalog, they could flip through nearby entries in hopes of finding what they needed. How many library users are currently feeling stupid and avoiding the library because they can't figure out how to use a tool (our PAC) that is broken?

What would happen if we could get our automation vendors to fix our PACs to work as fluidly and effectively as Amazon, instead of constantly developing new bells and whistles and new modules to attract new customers and not fixing the crappy PACs they currently provide?

All I can say is, thank God for Amazon. When I can't find what a patron wants in the PAC, I turn to Amazon, and I can usually find just what the patron wants. It's much more tolerant of user error.  ¶ posted by Mary Martin @ 9:32 AM