YouSeeMore Enhancements
YouSeeMore is a dynamic, interactive portal that integrates with a library's Web site and allows patrons to personalize individual pages with streaming media, resources, and information based on their individual preferences. It is in use at 40 library sites nationwide and provides an interactive library experience.

New features include "Personal Saved Searches," whereby a patron can create stored searches for items that are of ongoing interest. Now upon login, all items relating to the "saved search" topic will be instantly displayed. Further, a "Patron Online Registration" component is being developed, enabling users to pay fines and make purchases online, as well as receive e-mail notices.

The latest YouSeeMore features also provide patrons with the added customization and flexibility to more easily manage their account settings and select from enhanced new features. TLC/CARL has also included 12 new book lists. These include Edgar Awards, British Crime Writers' Association, Anthony Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, Agatha Awards, Hugo Awards, NebulaAwards, RITA Awards, Spur Awards, National Book Critics Circle, World Fantasy Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize.

TLC/CARL has also enabled YouSeeMore with wireless access using an IPAC hand-held device. In addition, the company reports that its developers are working to make access seamless with other types of wireless devices, thereby delivering library resources anywhere and anytime.

To capture the full benefits of YouSeeMore, patrons submit their preferences using a simple Web form, and in return receive a personal portal account that delivers recommendations for books, music, and videos based on their ratings of previous selections. Those recommendations are then linked to the library catalog displaying the book jacket image, table of contents, reviews, and availability. A participating library patron's personal portal can then be accessed anywhere online.

TLC is also leveraging the fully customizable Web environment of YouSeeMore to offer additional products, such as Outreach Services. Outreach Services takes advantage of such YouSeeMore features as Personal Saved Searches to record personalized reading interests for use in identifying and recommending materials to homebound patrons.
 

Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
Located in western Oregon, the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library chose Library•Solution, which replaced a DRA system. The agreement calls for 53 workstations within the main library site, its four branches, and a state-of-the-art bookmobile. Installation is scheduled to be completed by late spring.

Currently, the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library System has a staff of 50 and library holdings in excess of 281,000 books. With a circulation of over 1.5 million books per year, it is one of the busiest public libraries of its size in the nation. The new automation system will provide up-to-date information and allow a fully customizable Web interface; a link to electronic resources, including files, images, and documents; and global change capabilities. Making it possible is Library•Solution, an advanced automation technology that fuses Internet linkage, Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems, Intel-compatible hardware, and an Oracle database. Further, the product delivers a comprehensive, yet easy-to-use automation system that frees librarians from patching together separate networks for cataloging, circulation, and online resources, according to the company.

Source: TLC/CARL, Inwood, WV, 800/325-7759; http://www.tlcdelivers.com.