Insomniac Librarians Why sleep when there's field literature?

Last year, I noted how the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and others analyzed the user experience in the catalog and began using MeeboMe as a way to provide a path out of the “no results” dead end. Now we have another great example from the Allen County Public Library of re-examining dead ends in the catalog
Hi-Tech Hi-Touch: A Sirsi Patron Material Request Form
“The point of need that interested me was to make a material request form available for the patron when they could not find their search item….
The real meat of the processing is handled by the findit.php code. This is a reentrant form that does all the validation and processing. If you would like a copy of the code just email and I will send it to you.” [ACPL’s Innovation through Technology]

So basically, Sean Robinson at ACPL added a purchase request form to the search results page of the catalog so that if the Library doesn’t own the title the patron is looking for, she can immediately submit a purchase request. It’s these seemingly minor improvements that provide a more robust service in a place patrons don’t normally find a librarian. Why our vendors can’t think of these things is beyond me, but it’s great to see librarians like Sean taking the initiative to implement them.
allen county public library, opac 2.0, sean robinson