Surfing the catalogue

So today I attended a very interesting seminar on ebooks and downloadable audiobooks.

The day started with presentations from 2 libraries that have downloadable audio books. Port Phillip have had the Wavesound (Clipper) product for 6 weeks and gave us an insight into how it's going so far.

One thing that struck me was that it was not a completely seamless interface - there seemed quite a few clicks from the library site to the Clipper site.

Melbourne Libraries followed with their product from Overdrive which seemed to integrate more naturally into the library catalogue.

In the afternoon we had presentations from three vendors - Wavesound (Clipper), Ebsco, & Bolinda.

The day finished with a panel consisting of the three vendors and they answered a range of questions from the audience.

It was an interesting day and certainly got me thinking about the provision of ebooks and downloadable audio books for our patrons.

It was obvious there is no one answer to the question of which product is the best -all have their strengths but hopefully I can be involved in the evaluation phase when we start to look seriously at downloadables at my library.

An aside.

One of the presenters used the term 'surfing the catalogue'. I was immediately taken by the phrase and my mind wandered into ways we could use the phrase in marketing & promotions.

Does it make the catalogue more approachable? (surfing vs searching?) or does it make absolutely no difference.

My thoughts are very much half formed at the moment - I have some ideas that I might play with when I have a moment.