Infographic designed by Joanne Quinn with copy and invaluable assistance provided by Demian Katz and Darren Poley.

VuFind, an open source library search engine, is more powerful and user-friendly than the traditional online public access catalog (OPAC). Using VuFind, for example, Falvey’s catalog now enables users to perform just a single search to see not only books, media and articles but also Falvey-website items and books from other libraries—all on one page.

David Lacy presents at VuFind ’13

The first VuFind 2.0 Summit occurred in Sept. 2010. It expanded to a VuStuff Conference in Oct. 2011. By Oct. 2012, VuFind had gained international recognition; this annual conference attracted librarians and technologists from Nepal, Portugal, Germany and Norway. The following year, this annual gathering of software developers featured several components, in addition to VuFind, and lasted a week. VuFind Summit 2014, the fifth annual VuFind conference, will take place for two days and focus exclusively on VuFind.

Presenters for this year’s conference come from the Murray Library at Messiah College, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, OCLC Developer Network and Falvey Memorial Library, to name a few. Falvey will host this event, and registration is required. Click here for registration information.

Would you like to improve your Library and at the same time receive a gift? We need students who would like to participate in website usability testing. Just 30 minutes of your time will help us improve the library’s website. Volunteers who participated in the usability testing this spring enjoyed the experience. You will receive a set of three mini clip-on flash drives with 4 GB of memory as a thank you gift. Please contact Melanie Wood if you are interested.

A new high-end scanner on the first floor has been installed on a trial basis.  We invite students, staff, faculty and visitors to help us test it out. The large flatbed (book edge) scanner and accompanying PC with touch screen interface are easy to use.  The software can even convert text to audio. You’ll find the trial scanner near the public print station on the first floor of the Library. Feedback forms are available. Give it a try and tell us what you think!

We are looking for students who would like to participate in website usability testing. Commit 30 minutes of your time and help us improve the library’s website. A fun gift basket will be our gift to you. Please contact Melanie Wood if you are interested. Read the Usability Testing Flyer for more detailed information.

Two high-end scanners have been installed on a trial basis and we invite students, staff, faculty, and visitors to help us test them. We have a large flatbed scanner and an overhead scanner. They are both located between the Circulation desk & the public printer on the first floor of the library. Feedback forms are available at the scanning stations. Give them a try and tell us what you think!