I’ve mentioned before that I am annoyed when universities don’t link to their libraries on their home page, forcing me to hunt for the link through some other link (e.g. to “Academics”) or dropdown menu.
What if, on a library’s home page, there was no link to its online catalog? What then? It may sound odd but that’s exactly what has happened in the case of the library where I work. Perhaps even more bizarre is the fact that I don’t mind it at all 
The reason for my lack of concern is simple: Our library catalog data is deeply integrated into our website in various forms of search, browseable lists, subject lists, and so forth. Catalog data underpins just about everything. The online catalog still exists and is still maintained, but instead of forcing our users to use its interface to find stuff, we have turned the catalog inside out and integrated its data into our library portal in numerous ways.
I’ve worked on this for months. I knew that this new way of thinking was rather unusual or different but it didn’t really hit me how different it would be until our new portal went live a few weeks ago. I remember looking at the homepage and instinctively hunting for the link to the catalog before realizing, “Oh yeah, it’s not there. And oh yeah, that actually makes sense!” There are links to the catalog deeper into the portal, just not on the home page.
I’m still working through the implications of what, for me anyway, is a radical shift in thinking and approach.
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