[Eril-l] Selecting all results on a page of search results

[Stephen Francoeur]

I've been wondering about the pros and cons of having a search results page
that lets the user select all the items on the page (so they can be saved,
exported, etc.) A quick survey of some major database platforms, discovery
services, and our catalog shows that this feature is not available in every
interface:

Have it:
Factiva
LexisNexis Academic
ProQuest
Web of Science

Don't have it:
Ex Libris Aleph
EBSCOhost
JSTOR
Gale
Primo (including new UI)
ScienceDirect
Summon

I'm not sure if this is necessarily a bad thing for an interface to be
missing the "select all items" function. I suspect that usage of this
feature might vary by tool (article databases vs. discovery layers vs.
traditional catalog interfaces). Should we be clamoring for this function
across all tools? Some of them? None of them? Is it too much of an expert
searcher tool to bother with (or to bother with in some tools?)

I realize that to answer these questions conclusively would require access
to usage data we don't necessarily have (how many users clicked on the
feature in the interfaces where it's an option) and observational data
(from interviews, usability testing, etc.). I'm curious about what others
think about this feature.

Stephen Francoeur
User Experience Librarian
Newman Library
Baruch College
New York, NY
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