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Unbundling the ILS @ NCSU: implementation of an e-commerce search solution Emily Lynema Andrew K. Pace North Carolina State University Libraries LITA 2006 National Forum Or better yet… Endeca: implementing a faceted search solution for the library catalog LITA 2006 National Forum Agenda The Context: Local Implementation Why, What and How? Challenges Encountered Assessment Next Gen Search Tools vs. OPAC Problems Usage Statistics Usability Testing The Future LITA 2006 National Forum The Context LITA 2006 National Forum Online Catalogs "Most integrated library systems, as they are currently configured and used, should be removed from public view." - Roy Tennant, CDL LITA 2006 National Forum Next gen search tools Proving that it’s possible to improve the search experience beyond the functionality that traditional OPACs have supported. LITA 2006 National Forum NextGen Library Search Tools WorldCat.org (Beta) RedLightGreen (RLG), subsumed by WorldCat OCLC Fictionfinder Vivisimo clustered search (Serials Solutions, Ex Libris) Aquabrowser visual context Endeca ProFind Innovative Interfaces “OPAC Pro” and “Encore” Ex Libris “Primo” Polaris, AJAX-Enabled OPAC SirsiDynix Enterprise Portal System, FAST Talis, et alWeb Services EBSCO Research Databases Georgia PINES, Koha, and the Library 2.0 Bandwagon And of course the entire commercial web LITA 2006 National Forum LITA 2006 National Forum LITA 2006 National Forum LITA 2006 National Forum LITA 2006 National Forum LITA 2006 National Forum LITA 2006 National Forum Existing catalogs are hard to use Known item searching works pretty well (sometimes), but … Lots of topical searches and poor subject access keyword gives too many or too few results – leads to general distrust among users authority searching is under-utilized and misunderstood Relevance = system sort order Impossible to browse the collection Unforgiving on spelling errors, stemming Response time doesn’t meet expectations of web-savvy users LITA 2006 National Forum Valuable metadata is buried Subject headings are not leveraged in keyword searching they should be browsed or linked from, not searched Data from the item record is not leveraged should be able to easily filter based on user’s changing requirements using item type, location, circulation status, popularity LITA 2006 National Forum What’s the big picture? Improve the quality of the library catalog user experience Exploit our existing authority infrastructure (aka make MARC data work harder) Build a more flexible catalog tool that can be integrated with discovery tools of the future. LITA 2006 National Forum What is Endeca? Software company based in Cambridge, MA Search and information access technology provider for a number of major ecommerce websites Developers of the Endeca Information Access Platform LITA 2006 National Forum Why Endeca? Customized relevance ranking of results Better subject access by leveraging available metadata (including item level data!) through facets Improved response time Enhanced natural language searching through spell correction, etc. Browse LITA 2006 National Forum Local Implementation LITA 2006 National Forum Demo LITA 2006 National Forum Relevance ranking Based on locally customizable algorithm: Most relevant: query as entered For multi-term searches: phrase match Field match title match more relevant than notes match Other factors: number of fields matched weighted frequency (tf/idf) static ordering (publication date, circulation stats) LITA 2006 National Forum Faceted browse Combine search and browse in single interface (Guided Navigation™) Filter results across multiple facets Remove facets in any order LITA 2006 National Forum Facet refinements Availability Author Library Format Language New LITA 2006 National Forum LC Classification Subject: Topic Subject: Genre Subject: Region Subject: Era True browse Regain ability to browse catalog without entering any search terms LITA 2006 National Forum Added search tools Automatic spell correction “Did you mean…” suggestions Automatic stemming LITA 2006 National Forum The nitty gritty Endeca co-exists with SirsiDynix Unicorn ILS and Web2 online catalog Endeca handles keyword search Web2 handles authority search and detail page display Endeca indexes MARC records exported nightly from Unicorn Endeca = discovery portion of the ILS LITA 2006 National Forum Technical overview Information Access Platform NCSU exports and reformats Data Foundry Parse text files Raw MARC data MDEX Engine Indices Flat text files HTTP HTTP LITA 2006 National Forum NCSU Web Application Technical overview Offline - Nightly NCSU exports and reformats Data Foundry Parse text files Raw MARC data MDEX Engine Indices Flat text files HTTP HTTP LITA 2006 National Forum NCSU Web Application Technical overview Always Online NCSU exports and reformats Data Foundry Parse text files Raw MARC data MDEX Engine Indices Flat text files HTTP HTTP LITA 2006 National Forum NCSU Web Application Implementation team Seven member team 5 IT/DLI staff, 1 cataloging librarian, 1 reference librarian As a team: functional requirements, metadata, interface issues (total of 40-60 hours) Java-trained IT librarian (~40 hrs/wk for 14 weeks) IT project manager: (~10 hours/wk for 20 weeks) Timeline License / negotiation: Spring 2005 Software acquisition: Summer 2005 Implementation: Aug 2005 to Jan 2006 LITA 2006 National Forum Local decision points Identifying appropriate facets LITA 2006 National Forum LITA 2006 National Forum Local decision points Identifying appropriate facets Designing the user interface LITA 2006 National Forum 1. Availability 2. Library of Congress Classification 3. Subject: Topic 4. Subject: Genre 5. Format 6. Library 7. Subject: Region 8. Subject: Era 9. Language 10. Author LITA 2006 National Forum Local decision points Identifying appropriate facets Designing the user interface Integrating authority searching and Endeca keyword searching LITA 2006 National Forum Pre-Endeca Catalog Search •6 search tabs •14 radio buttons •1-4 drop down boxes •Title begins with search default LITA 2006 National Forum Post-Endeca catalog search • 3 search tabs • No radio buttons • 2 search boxes • Keyword search default Endeca keyword Web2 authority LITA 2006 National Forum Local decision points Identifying appropriate facets Designing the user interface Integrating authority searching and Endeca keyword searching Creating the relevance ranking algorithm for each field index LITA 2006 National Forum Special challenges encountered ILS data with MARC-8 encoding => Text data with UTF-8 encoding Data consistency between ILS and Endeca catalog indexes (updates!) Data issues revealed by exposing metadata (ex: subject headings) in facets LITA 2006 National Forum Assessment LITA 2006 National Forum Usage statistics Requests by Search Type July - September 2006 Search + Navigation 21% Navigation 11% Search 68% LITA 2006 National Forum Usage statistics Navigation by Facet: July - September 2006 Subject: Topic LC Classification New Format Library Subject: Genre Author Subject: Region Language Subject: Era Availability 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 Requests LITA 2006 National Forum 40,000 50,000 60,000 Usage statistics Navigation by Facet: July - September 2006 Other (≤ 5%) 16% Subject: Topic 24% Subject: Genre 6% Library 8% Format 10% LC Classification 22% New 14% LITA 2006 National Forum Usage statistics Navigation by Facet: July - September 2006 Availability LC Classification Subject: Topic Subject: Genre Format Library Subject: Region Subject: Era Language Author 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 Requests LITA 2006 National Forum 40,000 50,000 60,000 Usability testing 10 undergraduate students 5 with new Endeca-based interface 5 with old catalog interface Identical searching tasks Data collected Task difficulty/failure Task duration LITA 2006 National Forum Usability testing Task Difficulty: New Catalog Task Difficulty: Old Catalog Failed 22% Failed 23% Easy 43% Hard 7% Easy 59% Hard 22% Medium 12% Medium 12% LITA 2006 National Forum Usability testing A verage Task D uration: O ld vs New Catalog 00:00.0 00:43.2 01:26.4 Task 1 02:09.6 02:52.8 03:36.0 Old Catalog New Catalog Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Task 5 Task 6 Task 7 Task 8 Task 9 Task 10 LITA 2006 National Forum Usability testing For students, relevance ranking is key. Faceted browsing is intuitive, even for students who don’t use it. Beware of library jargon March 2006: ~13% continue to page 2 “keyword anywhere”, “keyword in subject” User behavior is influenced by previous experience. LITA 2006 National Forum Relevance Are search results in Endeca more likely to be relevant to a user’s query than search results in old OPAC? 100 topical user searches from 1 month in Fall 2005 How many of top 5 results relevant? 40% relevant in Web2 OPAC; 31 no hits 68% relevant in Endeca catalog; 12 no hits LITA 2006 National Forum The Future LITA 2006 National Forum Future directions Experiment with FRBR search/display through partnership with OCLC. Update circulation status throughout the day. Integrate catalog w/other tools through web services: Enrich catalog through external web services: OpenSearch, RSS book jackets, reviews, etc. – Amazon/OCLC Build modular shopping cart functionality. Use Endeca to index local collections. LITA 2006 National Forum From the Calhoun report "If one accepts the premise that library collections have value, then library leaders must move swiftly to establish the catalog within the framework of online information discovery systems of all kinds. Because it is catalog data that has made collections accessible over time, to fail to define a strategic future for library catalogs places in jeopardy the legacy of the world's library collections themselves. For this reason, the option of rejecting library catalogs is not considered in this report." LITA 2006 National Forum So what? It’s still just a catalog Serials A&I / FT DBs Metasearch ERM Systems GS Catalog Guided Navigation Digital Repositories Web Legacy ILS IR LITA 2006 National Forum Strong to our finish “Too often, we have an "eat your spinach" message about the library: come to the library, it is good for you.” Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC LITA 2006 National Forum Moving in a new direction OLD SEARCH MODEL NEW SEARCH MODEL LITA 2006 National Forum Things to read Rethinking how we provide bibliographic services for the University of California by the Bibliographic Services Task Force http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/sopag/BSTF/Final.pdf The Changing nature of the catalog and its integration with other discovery tools by Karen Calhoun http://www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf The Changing nature of the catalog and its integration with other discovery tools: A Critical review by Thomas Mann http://www.guild2910.org/AFSCMECalhounReviewREV.pdf A “Next Generation Catalog”, Eric Morgan http://dewey.library.nd.edu/morgan/ngc/ Metadata Research Center, SILS http://ils.unc.edu/mrc/ University of Rochester eXtensible Catalog http://www.extensiblecatalog.info/ Toward a 21st Century Catalog, ITAL, Sept. 2006, Antelman, Lynema, and Pace http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca/publications/antelman_lynema_pace.pdf LITA 2006 National Forum Thanks NCSU project site: Andrew K. Pace http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca Head, Information Technology [email protected] Emily Lynema Systems Librarian for Digital Projects [email protected] LITA 2006 National Forum