The Overdrive Library Search Sucks!

kennyc · 10-25-2011, 05:42 AM

That is all...

JSWolf · 10-25-2011, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

That is all...

User error. I find it just fine.

tubemonkey · 10-25-2011, 05:50 AM

What does it do?

kennyc · 10-25-2011, 05:57 AM

It just plain sucks. It finds all kinds of irrelevant stuff. I sent a bug report a few weeks back (via the local library) because whenever you search for "Science and Math" books you get "Science Fiction!" how stupid is that?

Was told they forwarded the bug report and it does seem they fixed that but man...they could certainly take some lessons from google.

Asawi · 10-25-2011, 06:23 AM

I use the "search within results" a lot. Meaning I make a wide search first (like for example "science") and then I search for "math" (or whatevever) within those results.

HomeInMyShoes · 10-25-2011, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

It just plain sucks. It finds all kinds of irrelevant stuff. I sent a bug report a few weeks back (via the local library) because whenever you search for "Science and Math" books you get "Science Fiction!" how stupid is that?

Was told they forwarded the bug report and it does seem they fixed that but man...they could certainly take some lessons from google.

Sounds like the classic using an OR search by default instead of an AND search. That's just bad search implementation. You see it on a lot of sites, even on sites you'd expect good search implementations.

JD Gumby · 10-25-2011, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Sounds like the classic using an OR search by default instead of an AND search. That's just bad search implementation. You see it on a lot of sites, even on sites you'd expect good search implementations.

*shrug* Even Google does it that way. I miss the old days where AND was the default for searches (and search engines didn't take it upon themselves to search for variations on your search terms, either, beyond maybe offering an option to apply the terms to substrings).

HomeInMyShoes · 10-25-2011, 09:25 AM

^Google compensates by having a pretty decent ranking and usefulness algorithm in the background, but few companies are Google when it comes to search. You can get around it with good ranking, but if you don't have the data and algorithms to do that, you should stick with AND by default. One of the difficult aspects when telling people their search sucks is they don't believe you. But the more noise you throw at a user the longer it takes them to find things and the longer they take to find something the higher the likelihood they are just going to give up and go elsewhere.

IA is one of my passions.

emilikins · 10-25-2011, 09:57 AM

I love it when I do an author search, regardless if it's first name-last name or flipped: I will still get authors with names that don't even come close to what I put in. If you don't have that author, just say so, so I can move on.

jj2me · 10-25-2011, 10:06 AM

Great search option for finding newly added audiobooks and e-books:
"Advanced Search" --> "Date added to site" --> choose a dropdown, like "Within the last 7 days".

kennyc · 10-25-2011, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emilikins

I love it when I do an author search, regardless if it's first name-last name or flipped: I will still get authors with names that don't even come close to what I put in. If you don't have that author, just say so, so I can move on.

Exactly that sort of krap is why it sucks.

It's not even close to correct.

SleepyBob · 10-25-2011, 03:10 PM

Their whole site has issues. To check out a book, first you go to "my holds". Then you click on the book you have on hold. Then you have to go to your cart. Then you get to check out your book.

Or you want to check out the first 5 books of "Women's Murder Club" by James Patterson. So you search on James Patterson. You find the book you want and put it on hold. Then you click on "return to browsing", and where does it take you? Back to the list of books you had been browsing? Of course not - it takes you to the Home page. Which you could have gotten to by clicking the "Home" button at the top of the page. So now you have to start your search from scratch.

SleepyBob · 10-25-2011, 03:10 PM

And don't get me started on the fact that it doesn't require a password.

JSWolf · 10-25-2011, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SleepyBob

Their whole site has issues. To check out a book, first you go to "my holds". Then you click on the book you have on hold. Then you have to go to your cart. Then you get to check out your book.

Or you want to check out the first 5 books of "Women's Murder Club" by James Patterson. So you search on James Patterson. You find the book you want and put it on hold. Then you click on "return to browsing", and where does it take you? Back to the list of books you had been browsing? Of course not - it takes you to the Home page. Which you could have gotten to by clicking the "Home" button at the top of the page. So now you have to start your search from scratch.

Ah! You are doing it the hard way. It's so easy. Just get Firefox 7.0.1 and it's trivial. What you do is after you've jumped away from your search results, you right click the forward arrow on the URL bar and select the first search results entry closest to the top of the list and it takes you back where you were. It's just so easy. But of course, you do have to be browser savvy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SleepyBob

And don't get me started on the fact that it doesn't require a password.

It does requite a library card number and sometimes a pin as well.

Avwriter · 10-25-2011, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

That is all...

It is a free service. If you do not like it, then don't use it.

There is nothing wrong with discussing bugs or other problems, but instead of starting off with a vague accusation, it would have made more sense to just begin by explaining the problem, and leaving the emotion out of it.

10-25-2011, 05:42 AM	#1
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	The Overdrive Library Search Sucks! That is all...

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10-25-2011, 05:50 AM	#3
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,476 Karma: 158151390 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	What does it do?

10-25-2011, 05:57 AM	#4
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	It just plain sucks. It finds all kinds of irrelevant stuff. I sent a bug report a few weeks back (via the local library) because whenever you search for "Science and Math" books you get "Science Fiction!" how stupid is that? Was told they forwarded the bug report and it does seem they fixed that but man...they could certainly take some lessons from google.

10-25-2011, 06:23 AM	#5
Asawi Gadgetoholic Posts: 1,462 Karma: 2731820 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Sweden Device: Kobo Libra2, Tolino Vision 6	I use the "search within results" a lot. Meaning I make a wide search first (like for example "science") and then I search for "math" (or whatevever) within those results.

10-25-2011, 09:25 AM	#8
HomeInMyShoes Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,226 Karma: 67780237 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	^Google compensates by having a pretty decent ranking and usefulness algorithm in the background, but few companies are Google when it comes to search. You can get around it with good ranking, but if you don't have the data and algorithms to do that, you should stick with AND by default. One of the difficult aspects when telling people their search sucks is they don't believe you. But the more noise you throw at a user the longer it takes them to find things and the longer they take to find something the higher the likelihood they are just going to give up and go elsewhere. IA is one of my passions.

10-25-2011, 09:57 AM	#9
emilikins Short One in the Stacks Posts: 142 Karma: 198348 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Midwest Device: HTC Flyer; Kobo WiFi	I love it when I do an author search, regardless if it's first name-last name or flipped: I will still get authors with names that don't even come close to what I put in. If you don't have that author, just say so, so I can move on.

10-25-2011, 10:06 AM	#10
jj2me Guru Posts: 820 Karma: 8820388 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Sony PRS-505, -350; Kindle 3 3G, DX, PW 2; various tablets	Great search option for finding newly added audiobooks and e-books: "Advanced Search" --> "Date added to site" --> choose a dropdown, like "Within the last 7 days".

10-25-2011, 03:10 PM	#12
SleepyBob Evangelist Posts: 420 Karma: 8522810 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wisconsin, USA Device: Kindle PW3	Their whole site has issues. To check out a book, first you go to "my holds". Then you click on the book you have on hold. Then you have to go to your cart. Then you get to check out your book. Or you want to check out the first 5 books of "Women's Murder Club" by James Patterson. So you search on James Patterson. You find the book you want and put it on hold. Then you click on "return to browsing", and where does it take you? Back to the list of books you had been browsing? Of course not - it takes you to the Home page. Which you could have gotten to by clicking the "Home" button at the top of the page. So now you have to start your search from scratch.

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