Agreed - most patrons are usually confused by all of those terms (including "databases") and aren't going to care about the differences between them, they just want the content. "Articles" is understandable, but incomplete - "Articles and Other Online Resources" is inclusive and easier to understand, but too long. I usually go with something like "Online Resources" to try to balance the understandability with the intent.


Terran McCanna 
PINES Program Manager 
Georgia Public Library Service 
1800 Century Place, Suite 150 
Atlanta, GA 30345 
404-235-7138 
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Erik Sandall" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2015 12:34:03 PM
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] talking about "digital collections" vs "electronic resources"

Most patrons won't understand the meanings of "digital collections" and 
"electronic resources". We should use terminology that they would use. 
My brain is a fog this morning so I don't have any brilliant suggestions 
at the moment. There is likely to be UX-type research about this in the 
current literature. "Databases" is probably better, for example. 
"Articles" is probably even better than "databases".

For what it's worth...

/Erik

--
Erik Sandall, MLIS
Electronic Services Librarian & Webmaster
Mechanics' Institute
57 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94104
415-393-0111
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On 3/18/2015 9:25 AM, Matt Sherman wrote:
> I haven't done any testing on that, but your understanding it the
> conventional on in the field.
>
> On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 12:22 PM, Derek Merleaux <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> I've always been inclined to use "digital collections" to talk about a
>> collection of things that have been digitized or perhaps including born
>> digital things that are part of a "collection" in an archival sort of way.
>> I prefer the term "electronic resources" for the databases and other
>> things...
>> -Derek
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 12:04 PM, Jenn C <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi-
>>>
>>> We're having a discussion about some web site labeling and navigation. We
>>> have a list of "digital collections" which are collections that contain
>>> items we've digitized. There was concern expressed that we have something
>>> labeled "digital collections" patrons might think that includes databases
>>> and other items.
>>>
>>> Has anyone done user testing around this or have any experience/ideas
>> about
>>> how to handle the difference between these?
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>> jenn
>>>
>>