We are intending to make the journals link on the new home page go directly to the Serials Solutions journal page, after we have made some amendments to it. This page now displays print and electronic holdings, and is a much easier way for our users to find journals than using the catalogue.
Janette and I want to suggest a few changes, the most significant of which is that we’d like to remove the “Go directly to the database or journal publisher’s website” section. We think it adds extra complication to the page and has the potential to cause confusion. It’s an all-or-nothing addition on the page – I have asked if we could have it display as a link to another page, but this is not possible.
Does anyone have any concerns about removing this section, and/or any impelling reasons why it should remain? Also, could you let me know if you agree with the idea of removing it.
Other suggestions for changes are more minor. We want to remove the E- from all headings and remove the word portal from the main heading. I’m still working with Serials Solutions about display issues – the size of the headings is not right, and there are some colour problems still.
Catherine Jane
All those changes sound good to me. The only other thing I notice on that page is that the "please note" at the top is followed by quotation marks instead of a colon.
I strongly object to removing the "Go directly to the database or journal publisher’s website" section. This is essential for quick access to Terms of Use and I often direct people through the publisher site if access to a particular journal is not directly available for one reason or another.
Furthermore, we in Serials constantly use this section as a means to access our subscriptions. I think the option should be available for those who make use of it. Those who don’t, or don’t even notice it because they only see the top part of the page, are not inconvenienced by its inclusion.