This week, the Curious ‘Cat asks six library professionals – and searching is their jam you know – “Which Web Browser(s) Do You Prefer?”

Kristyna Carroll, research-support librarian for business and social sciences:

“I prefer Google Chrome as my browser. I like the way many tools that I use are integrated together through Google Chrome, and I only have to log in once (Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive). I use all of these Google tools every day, and sometimes additional ones.”

Rob LeBlanc—first-year experience/humanities librarian:

“I still prefer Firefox for its flexibility. As a well-established version of the Mozilla browser platform, I find the many add-ons (the Feedly blog reader, TinEye reverse image search, etc.) to be helpful and intuitive.

That being said, I find myself using Chrome more and more for its overall speed and flexibility. As they develop more add-ons, I will probably find myself well within their camp in the near future. I know the University supports it, but Internet Explorer is my least favorite for good reason: It is still one of the least web-standard-compliant browsers, and can be both buggy and slow.”

Jutta Seibert, team leader – Academic Integration:

“I’ve used Firefox since about 2001. On occasion I use Explorer, particularly in MyNova or to access the Villanova Gateway as both these applications are not optimized for Firefox. I use Safari on my iPad and personal MacBook and I like this search engine as well. The Firefox browser on my work computer is personalized in many ways, and for this reason I don’t like to switch browsers too often as I have to customize each new browser.”

Sarah Wingo, team leader – Humanities II, subject librarian for English, literature and theatre:

“I prefer Chrome and Firefox in that order. Both have different aspects that I like.  I have Gmail, and Chrome is great because it integrates all of my Google accounts, remembers my favorites/bookmarks and has plugins that I like. Firefox is my backup because it is reliable. Both browsers have their software updated regularly by their developers, which means they are less likely to glitch, be unable to open websites or be unable to play videos, etc. This also should, in theory, make them more secure.”

Dave Uspal, senior web specialist for library services and scholarly applications:

“My preference for browsers is Opera because it has an array of convenient and powerful tools built right into the browser, from Dragonfly (a web developer tool) to a Mobile SDK (Software Development Kit used for prototyping mobile pages on your desktop or laptop), to its Speed Dial tool (a touchscreen-optimized homepage) to a TV emulator to other tools like IRC chatting and Torrent downloading. Further, Opera seems more stable to me than other browsers—fewer browser crashes and slowdowns.

“It’s hard to recommend to others for day to day use, though, as many web developers don’t test for Opera when constructing pages. Banks or other financial institutions, for example, may only allow access to their site from certain browsers and versions for security reasons.”

Robin Bowles, nursing/life science librarian:

“We recommend Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer (if you are a Windows user) or Safari (if you are on a Mac).  Personally, I use Google’s Chrome because of its simplicity and great integration with my Android phone, and so far I haven’t found any big problems with using Chrome with our resources.”

Who are our Curious ‘Cats? Interviews by Gerald Dierkes, senior copy-editor for the Communication and Service Promotion team and a liaison to the Department of Theater with photographs by Alice Bampton, digital image specialist and senior writer. This week’s archival librarian headshots by Joanne Quinn, Safari fangirl and team leader for the Communication and Service Promotion team.