General Principles
The Western American Watershed Map Archive is committed to providing high quality resources for our patrons and ensuring that these resources are easy locate and access. Recognizing that we have a diverse set of users with a wide array of needs, we have organized our collection in a manner that should be familiar to experienced patrons and easy to learn for novice researchers (see Metadata/Organization for more information on our classification scheme).
Discovery
WAWMA strives to provide effective and efficient search mechanisms to ensure that our patrons find the resources they need. As such, our interface was designed and organized with two important and related principles in mind: 1) Item records should be easy to find and 2) Resources should be easy to locate. In an effort to achieve these objectives, we provide multiple points of access to each item in our collection whenever it is possible to do so.
Our website offers users several different ways by which to search for maps in our collection. Our interactive map feature allows users to search for maps by clicking on a state or geographic region. From there, users can browse the maps we have available in both digital and physical format within their specific area of interest.
Users can also use our catalog to search for records of the maps in our collection. Our records employ the Library of Congress (LC) classification scheme and authority records, which describe the content, or “aboutness,” of each item. The controlled vocabulary used in the LC keywords and subject headings are commonly used and should be familiar to our users. These subject headings can be used to quickly search for related materials, either by clicking on the hyperlinks provided in individual records or by entering them as a search term. Use of the LC classification scheme also ensures that our records remain accurate and consistent with professional standards, which we hope will aid our patrons in any additional research they may do beyond our collection.
Our website offers users several different ways by which to search for maps in our collection. Our interactive map feature allows users to search for maps by clicking on a state or geographic region. From there, users can browse the maps we have available in both digital and physical format within their specific area of interest.
Users can also use our catalog to search for records of the maps in our collection. Our records employ the Library of Congress (LC) classification scheme and authority records, which describe the content, or “aboutness,” of each item. The controlled vocabulary used in the LC keywords and subject headings are commonly used and should be familiar to our users. These subject headings can be used to quickly search for related materials, either by clicking on the hyperlinks provided in individual records or by entering them as a search term. Use of the LC classification scheme also ensures that our records remain accurate and consistent with professional standards, which we hope will aid our patrons in any additional research they may do beyond our collection.
Physical Collection
In order to maintain the quality and order of our collection, patrons may not retrieve or return maps from their cases on their own. Instead, library staff will assist patrons in browsing through the collection and/or locating materials via the catalog. Reproductions of the most frequently requested maps will be placed in the main viewing room for general browsing and use. Staff will retrieve maps that are not available for general use for patrons once a specific map has been located. Depending on the condition of the item, some maps may have special handling requirements and borrowing may be restricted.
Sources
Hearst, M. (2009). Chapter 2. The evaluation of search user interfaces. Search User Interfaces (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Maxwell, R. L. (2010). Bibliographic control. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, 3rd ed., 497-505.
Maxwell, R. L. (2010). Bibliographic control. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, 3rd ed., 497-505.