Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

New catalog interface offers better searching and information access

August 18th, 2010

The Libraries’ updated catalog search interface recently came out of beta and is now the default search option for searching the Libraries catalog. To see the new catalog search, visit http://catalog.lib.purdue.edu.

The updated catalog search interface offers faceted searching, or options for users to narrow their searches by format, author, or even library, among other categories. This brings the catalog search interface more in line with popular site search tools, like those at Amazon.com.

A tutorial on using the new search interface is available at http://www.lib.purdue.edu/mel/Tutorials/Vufind%20beta/newvufind_demo_catalog.swf.

The search interface is based on the open-source software VuFind, which was developed by Villanova University and has been further developed by libraries all over the world.

The previous version of the catalog will be available for those who would prefer to use the former search interface for a limited period of time. To access the former catalog interface, click “Search Classic” in the catalog tab. Feedback and suggestions on the new catalog interface can be submitted by clicking on the orange “Feedback” button.