The search results screen returns a four column listing of all libraries or library staff matching your search criteria. In the case of branch and department searches, a three-column screen is shown. At the top of the screen is a reiteration of your search -- the field followed by the text or selection. At the bottom of the listing is the total number of results returned.
Tip - If you do not get any hits, or the database returns poor search results, doublecheck your spelling and selected search fields. It is easy enough to type something into the wrong box (e.g., a library name instead of an organization name).
Known Issue(s)
Department/Branch Searches - These searches do not seem to be functioning properly (May, 2004). We should fix shortly.
The organization and library are as much as possible, the names preferred by the organization itself. For public libraries, the organization name is the name of the municipality.
The library type column indicates whether the library is public, school, academic, or special. In some cases, special will show as: special-medical, special-law, special-corporate, or special-institutional
The Region column indicates which of the six regional library systems the library belongs to: Boston, Central, Metrowest, Northeast, Southeastern, or Western.
Select the hyperlinked branch or department name to go directly to the branch or department record.
The Branch or Department name is the name as given by the parent library. In many cases the department name will be the same or similar to its function (e.g., Reference Department). In some cases, the name will differ (e.g., Kirstein Business Branch of the Boston Public Library).
The library name is simply the name as it appears in the organization's record. For many libraries, the name is simply "Library". Usually a combination of the Library name and the Organization name will give the most accurate identification of the library.
Select the hyperlinked organization name to go to the parent library record. From there you will be able to go any branches, departments, or individuals associated with that library.
When you search for a library staff person or trustee, you may occasionally find that there are two or more entries for the same individual. This happens when a single individual is associated with more than one library organization. For instance, a staff person in Library A may be a trustee in their hometown public library, Library B. Some school libraries share a single librarian, so that librarian's name will appear once for each school library in the directory.
The library staff person's name is hyperlinked. Select it to go to the individual record.
The title shown in the summary listing is the librarian's actual job title. In many cases, this data is not yet available, so this column will be blank.
Tip - Job Title vs. Function. A librarian will typically have a job title, (e.g., Head of Access Services), but may have multiple functions (circulation, cataloging, interlibrary loan, library administration) Librarians can serve in many capacities within their organization. In order to be able to identify individuals by the roles that they play, a fixed set of job functions have been identified.
The final two columns Library Name and Organization Name are hyperlinked to the library record. Selecting either will take you to the same place.