Not quite as good as a couch...

MyUniversity Library has a new book display. It has comfy couches. I can watch what other people are choosing. I can flick through several books in one sitting..not reading, browsing. It is in a corridor between two buildings, and right near our reference desk. This means people strolling past or waiting for the ref. desk are introduced to our new stock.

Comfy chairs, books on wall.

I don't like the list of new books in our catalogue. I can't absorb it in one glance...and it takes too much effort to read each title. I do like the way it displays the cover of one new book on the backlinked page.

AM sent me a nice half way idea for those times when I can't get into the library and browse. Edward Vielmetti , who writes the Superpatron - Friends of the Library, for the net blog has made a mashup using the RSS feed from the Ann Arbor District Library 's Innovative Interfaces catalogue. He's taken the cover pictures of books featured in the new books list and placed them all on a single screen. He explains it here and has an image of it here. Clicking on a cover takes you to the catalogue record.

Now, all I need is someone to somehow integrate the Amazon.com function that lets you "look inside" an item, sit on my comfy couch and pretend.