Re: [VuFind-General] Commenting functionality

[Demian K. <dem...@vi...>]

We definitely haven't seen heavy use of the functionality at Villanova either.

I think there's a network effect on this kind of thing -- people are more likely to use it if they know it's there and see other people already using it.  The comments tab doesn't really stand out in VuFind, so I suspect few people look at it.  Even if it does get used, there's no top-level "see recent comments" page to bring together user-entered content and show what's possible.  I think if we want to see heavier use of the social elements of VuFind, we need to make them more visible and interactive than they currently are.

Of course, I don't claim that the average student is going to be very interested in contributing to discussions taking place in a library catalog even if we do address the visibility issues...  but if we want to pursue these features further, I think that's the next step.

- Demian

> -----Original Message-----
> From: M....@ls... [mailto:M....@ls...]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:53 PM
> To: vuf...@li...
> Subject: [VuFind-General] Commenting functionality
> 
> Just curious what others' experience has been with the 'comment on
> this'
> option (either in VuFind or in equivalent products)? We had thought
> students would leap on the opportunity to share their thoughts on the
> books they were borrowing, but we've had the catalogue running for over
> a year (and since September it has been our main interface with c.5,000
> hits a day), and to date we've had a grand total of ... two comments.
> 
> To add insult to injury, one of those was clearly just testing what
> happens when you hit the submit button, and the other comment was
> reporting a broken link.
> 
> Should we take the hint that this functionality just doesn't appeal to
> our students? Are any other sites seeing the comment functionality
> used?
> 
> Thanks,
> Michael.
> 
> 
> Michael Fake
> Library Systems Manager
> London School of Economics & Political Science
> T: +44 (0) 20 7955 6447
> E: m....@ls...
> 
> 
> Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
> communications disclaimer:
> http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/secretariat/legal/disclaimer.htm
> 
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