4.3. How to Use the ZooLex Website

4.3.1. For Work

On the ZooLex website professionals can shop ideas for changing or creating an animal exhibit. They may go to the ZooLex "Find" page and search for an animal species to find a range of exhibits for this specific species. They may also search for a certain type of habitat or a geographic region to retrieve ZooLex exhibits displaying animals from this habitat or region. Or they may just have heard about specific exhibits that they may want to see. The ZooLex  database offers a search engine for retrieving descriptions of animal exhibits by key words. Plans, images and descriptions of an existing exhibit help to get an impression of the exhibit's layout and operation. Described efforts in interpretation, conservation, research and use of local resources may challenge the reader to try something new. Figures of the size and costs as well as of the duration of design and construction give a general idea of the commitment and resource allocation that is necessary for a certain type of exhibit.

During the design process professionals might want to ask experts specific questions about the suitability of certain plants or how to combine certain animal species in one exhibit. They might need specifications for construction such as the width of a moat or the height of a fence for an animal species. By using the ZooLex search engine and retrieving comparable exhibits for this animal species, they find the contacts to the experts they need unter LOCATION of the exhibit descriptions.

Before considering using plants and construction features that also have been used elsewhere, the climatic diagrams of these places should be compared with one's own. This helps to understand similarities and differences in local climatic conditions that might affect the use of certain features.

When looking for a specialized firm for design or construction, the ZooLex "Firms" page is a resource to find references and contacts. Finally, the ZooLex pages "Links", "Publications", "Events" and the "Forum" will help professionals to keep up to date in the rapidly changing field of zoo design. The "Contests" will give hints about visitor expectations and how to focus marketing efforts.

Academics will use ZooLex as a resource on the topic of zoo design. Standardized descriptions of animal exhibits are a valuable base for further research or evaluation. ZooLex gives a picture of the state of the art in zoo design and offers contacts to experts.

4.3.2. For Leisure

Before visiting a city and deciding on a visit to the local zoo, an interested person nowadays is likely to go to the internet. From the city's website he or she will probably find a link to the zoo's website. There, the potential zoo visitor will find the common information on opening hours, entrance fees and how to get to the zoo, probably some information on special services, the number of species exhibited, new arrivals and press releases about recent and upcoming events. Some zoos feature pictures and descriptions of popular animal species they exhibit. A small but growing number of zoos link this information to a site plan where you can click on exhibit symbols to find these pictures. Sometimes they also offer a picture of the exhibit and a short description.

The potential zoo visitor will find enough information on a zoo's website to plan a visit but usually will not be able to decide if the visit is worthwhile. He or she will be able to estimate the time to spend in the zoo but not the likely experience. So hopefully, the zoo's website will provide a link to the ZooLex website, telling that this is where to go for more specific information on some of its exhibits.

The ZooLex standardized description of animal exhibits gives a relatively objective view of an exhbit and the zoo's approach to it. It also implies an image of the zoo in general. From reading the descriptions of FEATURES DEDICATED TO ANIMALS, KEEPERS and VISITORS, the reader can infer how much thought was given to each of these important user groups when designing the exhibit. The descriptions's section on INTERPRETATION, describing the signs and interactive devices related to the exhibit, shows a zoo's effort to use an exhibit for education purposes. RESEARCH and CONSERVATION efforts of a zoo are reflected in the related descriptions. The use of LOCAL RESOURCES is an indication of a zoo management's awareness of ecological issues. If any of the sections is not included in the standardized description of an animal exhibit, the reader will probably infer that the zoo is ignorant about the issue. Innovative approaches described in ZooLex on the other side might trigger a potential visitor's curiosity and affect his or her decision to really take the time for the visit. This means that ZooLex can stimulate visitation, help to orient and to form realistic expectations of a zoo visit.

Visitors to the ZooLex website will probably start browsing the pages to compare exhibits they know with others they have not seen. They might plan to see other zoos to actually visit interesting zoo exhibits. They also might want to express their opinion on what they have seen. ZooLex visitors can do so by sharing their opinion in the ZooLex "Forum" and by voting in ZooLex "Contests".

4.3.3. For Marketing

For example one zoo might want to stress its conservation effort by describing its in-situ program of reintroducing an endangered species to its original habitat. The zoo might tell about the breeding program in the descriptions's section on CONSERVATION and provide a link to its own special website showing how the animals are raised, prepared for release, how the local rangers are trained for their tasks, maybe even linking to webcams showing the animals before their release, etc. Another zoo might show its conservation efforts as pertaining to ecologically sound construction, describing the energy, water and waste management and illustrating how resources are saved by these measurements.

FEATURES DEDICATED TO ANIMALS is a section to show innovations in the field of environment enrichment to peers and visitors. Under INTERPRETATION zoos can show their creativity in producing interpretive devices, etc.

ZooLex standardized descriptions of animal exhibits are also a marketing tool for suppliers of products, technologies and services for zoos. Firms get worldwide exposure by presenting examples of their work without additional effort. The presentation of best practices also promotes the contracting of qualified professionals for planning, construction and maintenance of animal exhibits. Finally, sponsors supporting ZooLex will reach an international audience when they are advertised in ZooLex.