Professional Reading Shelf
Interfaces
Source: Library Journal
“Farewell to Metaphors”
Dr. Tenopir writes, have always liked metaphoric interfaces. When the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Engineering Information Village (Ei Village) first came out in the mid-1990s, they both made good use of metaphors. IPL used the metaphor of a small library reference/reading room, complete with reference librarian sitting behind the desk, ready-reference books on the desktop, bookshelves arranged in subject categories, and a study area. Ei Village took users on a walk down a small-town street, with possible stops at a government building, a library, a shopping mall, a telecommunications tower, and other structures that led to different types of information.”…”Clearly, most users did not agree. Both IPL and Ei Village have abandoned their metaphoric interfaces, replacing them with interfaces that are mere lists of titles of sources, a search box, and all text. Just the facts: uncluttered, linear, and boring. But boring seems to be a virtue with information retrieval interfaces, and the switch was deliberate (and welcomed by users).”

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