Re: form & genre index name?

["Schupbach ,Mr William" <w dot schupbach at wellcome dot ac dot uk>]

We use "Genre/medium" in drop downs, and "Genres and Media search" on the dedicated search page.

http://catalogue.wellcome.ac.uk/search/m

We also say in the Help tips "To see what genres and media are used in the catalogue, type any sequence of letters, e.g. ppp then press <Enter> or click Submit Search and you will be shown the alphabetical list of terms".

That's to help the searcher who hasn't got the faintest idea what "Genres and Media" means, and therefore does not know what to type in the box. Still, I think Media is more likely to be understood than Form, at least by a British audience.

Typing anything in a box is a big problem for some searchers. They seem to like nice long lists of things to be displayed on the screen (like a Google results list or an Innovative Featured List) with minimal input from them.  I'd like to get the system to do even more to help them, by exposing the contents of the catalogue more explicitly.

William Schupbach
Wellcome Library, 210 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, England
E-mail: w dot schupbach at wellcome dot ac dot uk
Catalogue: http://catalogue.wellcome.ac.uk/search/X
[British registered charity no. 210183]