It does everything I could possibly ask of it. The linkage to other libraries is very useful, as are the links to the various databases. The inclusion of authors' journal publications in author searches is VERY useful.
What's not to like?
What's not to like?

I think tripod is a good system. The only thing is that I wish we could search for materials by college, because it would be nice to only see results from one school's library. That way, if I need something right now and I can't go over to HC or SC to get it, I don't have to look through all the titles at those schools.

One problem with Tripod is that it's not designed so that people can figure out what their options are. For example, you CAN search just by a single college, but a lot of people don't realize this. Here's what you do:

- Go to the "Advanced" search tab on the Tripod homepage.

- Type in your keyword, title, author, etc. as you would in a regular Tripod search.

- In the Location field, select the college you want to search.

You can also limit to a college AFTER you do a regular search: look for the button at the top of the screen that says "Limit/Sort Search" (It's near the "Request" button) and you'll see an option for limiting to where the item is located.

These are great features, but Tripod users often miss them... I think this must be a design problem!

Location, location, location... I wish the location link told where that object is located, not take me to a page listing where EVERYTHING is.
I really like this site: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/

when you type in a word, it only looks for things that begin with that word, and it would be more useful to find things that contain the word instead. i'm sure you can make tripod do it now, but that should be its default behavior. just like google scholar.

I absolutely adore tripod. It's very handy, and it has great links through the more! button when i search databases. Althought, i do find it odd that when i request materials from swarthmore, they come to bryn mawr the next day, while stuff from haverford takes longer. I wonder why that is. In any case, I love tripod. It's quality.

Tripod is the best web service offered by the college. Very clean, easy to use, fast and efficient.

I wish you could restrict searches to just books in a simple search, as easily as you can restrict to any other kind of material (just sound recordings, just . When you research musical topics, you sometimes want to escape the endless pages of CDs and scores, and going to Advanced Search is complicated.

It's kind of a pain to select keyword search every time. Same with the DVD search. It took me the longest time to figure this out, and until then tripod was pretty unusable.

I wish it would stay on keyword search by default. It's far more useful for me, especially because the title search is really picky about starting with the right word. And if you know the title a keyword search should (hopefully) get you there anyway.

I want to third the "make keyword the default" comments.

tripod rocks my socks

I wish Tripod had a wish list feature like Amazon.

What does everyone think about Tripod giving results from titles and chapter titles together? Is it useful to see everything even if it's just a tiny chapter, or is it annoying to have to go past pages of results to the title you really want?

I'm glad that Tripod gives results from both titles and chapter titles, but I'd prefer it if perhaps those search results could be delivered as two separate lists.

I use online catalogs for my own research, and for my purposes Tripod often serves me well. I tend to search by class number and subject heading. I noticed that you offer searching by Dewey class number. Given that so many records have the Dewey number embedded in them, might you consider indexing all Dewey numbers contained in your records? The DDC, despite its flaws, can be used for more than "mark and park" as OCLC Research is demonstrating with projects like Dewey Browser (Go to OCLC Research for more information) which allows one to use the DDC as a means of browsing a collection. Dewey had that in mind when he created the scheme. In the preface to the first edition of his scheme he writes that "The system was devised for cataloguing and indexing purposes, but it was found on trial to be equally valuable for numbering and arranging books and pamphlets on the shelves." "Mark and park" was an afterthought.

I like that clicking on a heading within a record takes me to a browsedisplay of other headings. Some systems do not do that.

I find the Tables of Contents useful only if the name headings in the record are validated. Otherwise clicking on the heading often brings one to all records under a variant form, not the preferred form. For example, let's say I happened upon The nature of truth : classic and contemporary perspectives (BD171.N35 2001), which is available in a few of your libraries. Quine's Truth is contained within that volume. Clicking on the hyperlink, I am taken to a browse display for only two works by Quine, yet he has written much more, and you own much more. I am more patient than the average patron and would do the search again. But what about the less patient patron? Thank you for considering my questions and comments.

Bryan Campbell
classz696@yahoo.com

Generally, I love Tripod. It would be great if searches could be restricted to just DVD, as opposed to DVD/VHS; frequently, I need video material to play on my laptop, which needless to say does not support VHS tapes. Thanks!

I agree with Sarah--Twice I have requested CD or DVD formats we do not have and received instead VHS or audio tape versions within our system. It's not just a question of format: in some cases there are substantive differences in content. I needed a series of interviews, for instance, from the DVD (absent on VHS).

I just took a look at the site Mike refers us to above: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/.

I like this, too!

The main problem I encountered is the time-out for saved searches. I once lost hours of search work because I stopped for a little while and when I returned to my search, all of the saved items were gone. At least I wish I had known about the time-out so I could plan ahead! It would also be nice to search titles by any word, not just the first word. The "Keyword" search doesn't make up for this because it searches in all fields.
On the plus side: I like the "Article Search" feature; the automatic link to the ILL order form from WorldCat; and the listing of chapters as well as books under an author's name. This "news and notes" page here is also great! Overall, I think Tripod is excellent.

D.: Thanks for your comments. You might like to know that you can search by "words in title" by using the Advanced Search Tab and selecting "Title" from the pull-down menu. (The searches from this tab run off of a keyword index, unlike the regular Title Search in the Basic Tab which searches a separate Title Index in strict alphabetical order.) So if you enter something like "paradox choice less more" (but without the quotes) you should find the title "The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less". Good luck!

Dear John,

Thank you! I had no idea. I just tried it, and this is exactly what I needed!

One problem with Tri-Pod is that you are only notified of over-due books via email AFTER they are over-due.

It would make much more sense to notify users a few days in advance, so that they can return the books on time.