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Screenshots of GetRef Version 2
These screen shots relate to visual browsers. All the functionality shown is available without Javascript, and the user interface has been designed to be fully accessible to non-visual browsers. If you would like details concerning accessibility features, please contact edina@ed.ac.uk.
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This shot shows GetRef running a search across multiple targets. The progress of each search is clearly indicated by images and text, which update to show results as each search is completed (equivalent text messages are provided for non-visual browsers, to ensure accessibility).
If the user does not with to wait for all the searches to complete, there is an option to interrupt and show those results available so far. If the user interrupts, the incomplete searches will carry on running in the background, and the results will be offered to the user when they become available.
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This shot shows GetRef search results. Results sets are summarised for each target database. This enables the user to compare and contrast the databases, and make informed decisions about which database contains records that suits their needs. In this way, naive users can learn about the databases offered by their library; experienced users may also find that useful articles can be found in databases of which they were unaware.
GetRef does not merge results from databases, for a variety of reasons. Merging of results sets tends to give emphasis simply to those databases with the greatest numbers of records, though a smaller and more specific database may be of greater value in many cases. We also feel that merging results prevents users learning about the separate databases offered by their library. In most cases individual databases will offer sophisticated "native" user interfaces, with powerful features; GetRef is designed to allow users to discover these resources and move on to advanced searching of specific databases when they wish. Technical considerations also mean that merging results sets can be unsatisfactory, since it will be limited according to numbers of results, can adversely affect performance, and is likely to place unjustified loads on other service providers' servers.
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This shot shows GetRef search results for a specific database. Records may be viewed in brief (shown here) or full format (complete metadata, with abstracts when available). OpenURL links are automatically provided to each user's local OpenURL resolver (provided that is registered with the OpenURL Router; this is free of charge). GetRef also provides links to the native user interface for the database, so that a user can move to more advanced searching if they wish.
The user interface, which uses the familiar and intuitive "binary tree" structure, allows the user to access records from all the databases without having to navigate between multiple screens. The graphical version is displayed in this screen shot, but careful design ensures that this structure is also fully accessible via non-visual browsers.
