Making Things More Complex than They Need to Be

The Shifted Librarian revealed that ProQuest has debuted new search widgets.

Take a look over to your right at my sidebar---voila, widget! Give it a try, and see what you think.

This is a terrific idea, yes? In theory, perhaps. In practice, not so much. The idea behind these widgets (which appear to have been primarily created for librarians) is that you can develop a custom search tool for a specific subject, and then place the search widget on your subject guide page. Here are some examples of it in play.

Some observations on why this idea, while noble, is implemented in a pretty impossible manner:

1) You have to know html code to use this. Isn't that enough of a barrier in itself? Take a look at any widget available through widgetbox or igoogle. No code needed, except perhaps to define the size and color of the widget. As it should be.

2) The widget is designed so that you enter search terms (like 'information literacy') when you are creating it, but the search terms you have identified don't show up in the search box! I think what they were going for was making the widgets subject-specialized (i.e., a PQ widget on an advertising guide page would conduct a search with the word 'Advertising' automatically added on to the search) the user adds their additional terms to further focus the search.

This is an idea that does not work. To the user, a blank search box is just that--a canvas to be filled. Putting in additional terms that aren't visible to the user is simply going to increase frustration. (Incidentally, my widget does not include search terms, but I had to work pretty hard to make it function without them.)

3) You have to know your EZProxy server. Not impossible, but that, combined with the other two issues I identified, closes out this tool for librarian use only.

You might ask yourself, why would I use Proquest's widget when I could simply use the existing ProQuest widget for Penn State? (which is much easier, and already optimized for use in places like iGoogle and Netvibes.)

Good question.