Excerpt on RELEVANCY from … HOW OPAC’S SUCK, PART I:

"… By default, when a user conducts a search in a search engine—say, a search for the term million—the search engine should return best matches first. That’s relevance ranking: the cream of the search results rising to the top. We’re so used to this we don’t even think twice when Google’s first page of hits for the term million returns satisfying results…

"… But compare that same search in your typical online catalog. Today I picked two dozen online catalogs from around the country and conducted keyword searches for the term million. Call me picky, but the first page of hits—often the first or second hits—for those catalog searches should not include:

• Hog heaven: the story of the Harley-Davidson empire
• The rock from Mars: a detective story on two planets / Kathy Sawyer
• The Johnstown Flood
• Mosby’s 2006 drug consult for nurses
• Hotel Rwanda
• Teens cook dessert"

Now let’s see about SALLY (http://sally.sandiego.edu ) the OPAC at USD — Search < MILLION > by KEYWORD…

Karen Schneider gets honest about the OPAC on the ALA TechSource Blog.  See

How OPACS suck, Relevance Rank (Or the lack of it) (PART I)

How OPACS suck, The Checklist of Share (PART II)

How OPACS suck, The Big Picture (PART III)

The "HOTTEST" items in the University of Virginia Library collection (that is, most frequently checked out books, dvds, etc.) are …

• Sex in the city (videorecording) and
• Lost (Television program). 

Visit the University of Virginia Libraries for further insight into the wants and needs of UVa Library users (Hat tip University of Virginia Law Library’s Kent Olson).