Bookshelf, the books division of the PubMed Central database, has announced that the books in Bookshelf have been given a new look as part of a redesign that is taking place in several stages. The Bookshelf redesign includes infrastructural improvements to facilitate the discovery of information at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
The first (and completed) stage is the redesign that improves how all book pages are displayed. The table of contents page of every book now displays the book's bibliographic data, such as the book title, author, publisher and copyright information. A thumbnail display of the book cover shows prominently and an abstract or excerpt from the book is displayed above the table of contents. On the right side of the page, related PubMed citations and history of recent activity are displayed. Where available, links to other NCBI resources, such as Gene and OMIM, are also present. These new panels mark the ongoing work to create rich links between NCBI resources and to maximise discoverability of related materials.
In common with PubMed, the blue NCBI header and search bar are displayed at the top of all pages. The standard NCBI footer links to many other NCBI resources.
Once inside a book, all pages have been given a more balanced and clean layout. The text of the page is more readable through improved page layout, typography, and standardised headings. Figures can be quickly previewed: a large version of the image pops up over the page when you mouseover the thumbnail. Clicking on the thumbnail opens the image in a new window and allows one to see the title and caption for the figure.
From the interior pages of a book, searching within the book is the default. However, one can expand the search to the whole Bookshelf, or search any of the other NCBI resources by choosing a different option from the dropdown menu next to the search box. One of the main goals of the redesign was to improve navigation. The next steps for Bookshelf include a new homepage and a redesigned search interface; a new browse tool; and new pages highlighting new and featured content.
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