Aquabrowser

After any interaction with a discovery tool that I particularly enjoyed using I cannot help but to ask myself whether I liked the experience's because I am a librarian who enjoys the search or if I liked it because it was a tool that helped me discover a resource I sought. This was the case with Aquabrowser.

After reading Aquabrowser: Search and information discovery for libraries found in Information Services and Use 27 (2007) 79-83, I was looking forward to playing with a tool the authors claimed would help me "find words for what [I] need, refine the available information, and offer connections to associated worlds of information."

One thing I really wanted to like (but couldn't) was the word web on the right side of the screen that was supposed to help me "discover" new veins of thought. As much as I like the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus and encourage its use of the 5 searches I performed only one (starting with the broad term 'cooking') was positively information by the floating associations provided.

What I most appreciated about Aquabrowser was its ability to limit format and subject. I liked the fact that subject headings (something I wish all of our students cared more to consider) were brought to a place of higher prominence.

All said, I would be interested in hearing how searches react to the numerous visual cues on a site that struck me as very information "full" and visually busy. Perhaps it is familiarity, but I still lean towards Worldcat when considering presentation and positive experience.