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Although I don't always agree with him, Jacob Nielsen has advice on the provision of 'Advanced Search' - essentially, most users cannot use it effectively - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010513.html The only problem with this is that the short report doesn't make it very clear what 'advanced search' might consist of, and where users have a problem (it mentions that most users don't do Boolean, but I'm not sure this is what I'd regard as 'advanced search') The longer (charged for) report might have more detailed advice - anyone tried it? Owen Owen Stephens Assistant Director: eStrategy and Information Resources Central Library Imperial College London South Kensington Campus London SW7 2AZ t: +44 (0)20 7594 8829 e: [log in to unmask] > -----Original Message----- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of > Sean Hannan > Sent: 15 November 2008 16:19 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Good advanced search screens > > If you haven't already, I'd suggest that you poke around in the IxDA > mailing list archives (http://www.ixda.org/). I find that list (and > its members) invaluable for design/usability best practices (often > backed up with published research). > > Luke Wroblewski's blog (http://www.lukew.com/ff/index.asp) and book > (http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/webforms/info/description/) might be > other good places to look for inspiration. > > -Sean > > Sean Hannan > Web Developer > Sheridan Libraries > Johns Hopkins University > [log in to unmask] > > >>> "Walker, David" <[log in to unmask]> 11/14/2008 4:48 PM >>> > I'm working on an advanced search screen as part of our WorldCat API > project. > > WorldCat has dozens of indexes and a ton of limiters. So many, in > fact, that it's rather daunting trying to design it all in a way that > isn't just a big dump of fields and check boxes that only a cataloger > could decipher. > > So I'm looking for examples of good advanced search screens (for > bibliographic databases or otherwise) to gain some inspiration. > Thanks! > > --Dave > > ================== > David Walker > Library Web Services Manager > California State University > http://xerxes.calstate.edu