Amazon gets stuff done

I think the value of any experience can be measured in the number of new places it takes you.

That’s why being a WILL intern is so important to me.

For the first time in nearly two years on campus, I went to the Grainger Engineering Library. There, WILL internet director Jack Brighton was testing the interface of a new OAI (Open Access Initiative) site – CIC. To my knowledge, CIC archives the content in Big Ten special collection libraries.

Jack and I were pretty impressed. Searching content among these sites was fairly sleek and straight-forward, almost like searching the UIUC library catalog but better. It included thumbnail pictures of some of the sites, and a lot of good metadata.

As far as I could see, the interface only had two major problems: 1) Unclear search directions, and 2) No one really wants to search special library collections!

The best part, though, was that Jack got a $15 gift certificate to Amazon.com for providing his critique of the site!

We also got some good ideas for WILL’s own OAI project, which is still in the woodwork. Walking back from Grainger, we pretty much decided on the next step:

$15 gift certificates for grad students knowledgeable in creating databases and OAI.