WorldCat vs. Scopus vs. Me…Which one do you think will lose?

Though I have never used WorldCat prior to this assignment; I found it very easy to navigate. Honestly, after the debacle with Google Reader, I was not really excited to begin using another new form of technology. But I found it was really easy to use and I was able to quickly locate 50 resources for this assignment.
However, as much as I enjoyed using WorldCat, I think I liked Scopus better. When using Scopus, it offered the user a chance to read the abstract to the articles they were looking at. This made deciding if the article was relevant to my needs much, much easier. In WorldCat, the abstract/ summary of the material was not always present. In WorldCat, a patron could see which libraries the information could be located at in relevance to their location. This was a nice feature, but at the same time it seemed to make an extra step for the patron. Also, if after all that searching and clicking, you find out the material was not relevant to you, well you just wasted a lot of time. I for one really don’t have a ton of time to waste. I like being able to click on the title of the article and find out if it’s something I should look deeper into. In today’s society everything is about time and if a program takes too long or has too many steps people, even librarians may not use it. Another thing I do not like about WorldCat is that when you go to save items to a list or delete them you have to go to the top of the page. I think it would be easier if that toolbar was located at both the top and the bottom. It’s more convenient for everyone.
When I was saving items to a list, I just kept checkmarking the items I wanted and going to the next page. So I was pretty surprised when on the fourth or fifth page I decided to send them to a list that way I could see exactly how many resources I had, and only two showed up in the list. I did not know you had to send each page separately or it deleted the checkmarks. I guess you live and learn!
Still, even though I seem to favor Scopus, I appreciate and like WorldCat. I think it is a great program that is very useful to educators and librarians. I like how you can export your list of references into numerous formats or send the entire list to RefWorks. I also liked how you can make your list private or public. I really believe WorldCat has a lot to offer.
Of course, I spoke too soon! I was working on both this blog and my WorldCat assignment and let me tell you I’m ready to scream. In the assignment we are asked to export the list using the RIS format. This took me a little time to figure out where to convert the information and export it. However, when you export using the RIS format it is not in the spreadsheet format. So now I have a massive problem. How do I get the list into a Google Docs spreadsheet without having to cut and paste a million times! I am so confused and just really have had enough with Google Docs. So I have to wait until this evening to discuss this with the group in the chat room. Hopefully, someone will be able to help me figure out my issue. I don’t want to lose points on this assignment, just because I am confused!