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BookWeb.org Education Resources Page Now Features Improved Browsing Function
- By Liz Button
American Booksellers Association member booksellers who use BookWeb.org’s Education Resources page when seeking education curriculum materials, videos of educational sessions taped at ABA conferences, and more are invited to try out the page’s new and improved browsing function. The feature was recently redesigned to make it easier for booksellers to navigate the range of educational materials available on the ABA website.
According to Director of ABA Technology Greg Galloway, using input from booksellers and staff, changes have been made to the browsing function to make accessing educational materials on BookWeb.org simpler and more intuitive. Currently, content available on the Education Resources page includes presentations and videos from institutes, conferences, fall shows, and spring forums going back as far as 2007. When booksellers make a selection now, the page is automatically updated, so booksellers no longer need to choose the “apply” button. As the booksellers make further selections, the results are whittled down, until they are reduced to the narrowest possible range of applicable choices.
The ABA Education Resources page is found under the “For Booksellers” menu on BookWeb.org and can be accessed by clicking either “Education Resources” or “Browse Education Resources.” All education topics are now divided into seven categories, and users can find results by choosing from one or more section categories in order to see only the education on those topics. These seven categories are Advocacy, Bookselling Essentials, Buying and Selling, Diversity & Inclusion, Finance, Marketing & PR, and Operations.
Results are then filtered down within the selected categories. The three ways to filter results are by using tags with which ABA education staff has labeled each piece of educational material (101, ABACUS, Children’s Bookselling, Events, Genre, Handselling, Owners and Managers, Technology, and/or Used Books); by the specific format of the education material (Handout, List, Podcast, Slide Presentation, Spreadsheet, Video, and/or Webinar); and by the conference, session, or online/offline event the material comes from, along with the year of the event (ABA meetups, fall regionals, spring forums, Children’s Institute, Winter Institute, and/or BookExpo).
Each of the filters (tags, formats, and conference) further focus results, and may also reduce the number of categories to fewer than seven. Users’ options narrow down as they make each selection, ultimately decreasing to a final set of options.
Galloway told BTW that as he and other ABA staff learn more about what works and what doesn’t, adjustments and improvements will continue to be made. Booksellers who have questions about this new Education Resources page browsing feature can contact Galloway via e-mail.