Transcript An Introduction to Next Generation Library Interfaces Marshall Breeding

An Introduction to Next
Generation Library Interfaces
Marshall Breeding
Director for Innovative Technologies and Research
Vanderbilt University
http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding
http://www.librarytechnology.org/
Northern Suburban Library System
Buffalo Grove, IL
March 18, 2008
Abstract
Marshall Breeding, Director of Innovative Technologies
and Research at Jean & Alexander Heard Library,
Vanderbilt University, and author of a 40-page report on
“Next Generation Library Catalogs” (Library Technology
Reports, July/August 2007) will present an overview of
this emerging genre of products that aim to provide
libraries with better tools for delivering content and
services to their users. Also included in Mr. Breeding’s
informative “tour” will be the general features and
capabilities of Next-Gen catalogs and some of the
options currently available to libraries.
Crowded Landscape of Information
Providers on the Web
• Lots of non-library Web destinations deliver
content to library patrons
–
–
–
–
Google Scholar
Amazon
Wikipedia
Ask.com
• Do Library Web sites and catalogs meet the
•
information needs of our users?
Do they attract their interest?
Troubling statistic
Where do you typically begin your
search for information on a
particular topic?
College Students Response:
• 89% Search engines (Google 62%)
• 2% Library Web Site (total respondents -> 1%)
• 2% Online Database
• 1% E-mail
• 1% Online News
• 1% Online bookstores
• 0% Instant Messaging / Online Chat
OCLC. Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources
(2005) p. 1-17.
The best Library OPAC?
Demand for compelling library
interfaces
• Urgent need for libraries to offer interfaces
their users will like to use
• Move out of the 1990’s
• Powerful search capabilities in tune with
how the Web works today
• User expectations set by other Web
destination
• Eg: iLink / iBistro introduced in 2000
Inadequacy of ILS OPACs
• Online Catalog modules provided with an
ILS subject to broad criticism as failing to
meet expectations of growing segments of
library patrons.
• Not great at delivering electronic content
• Complex text-based interfaces
• Relatively weak keyword search engines
• Lack of good relevancy sorting
• Narrow scope of content
Typical Library Web site
components
• Books: Library OPAC (ILS module)
• Articles: Aggregated content products, e-
journal collections
• OpenURL linking services
• E-journal finding aids (Often managed by
link resolver)
• Local digital collections
– ETDs, photos, rich media collections
• Metasearch engines
Change underway
• Widespread dissatisfaction with most of the
•
•
current OPACs. Many efforts toward nextgeneration catalogs and interfaces.
Movement among libraries to break out of the
current mold of library catalogs and offer new
interfaces better suited to the expectations of
library users.
Decoupling of the front-end interface from the
back-end library automation system.
Working toward a new generation
of library interfaces
• Redefinition of the “library catalog”
• Traditional notions of the library catalog
are being questioned
• Better information delivery tools
• More powerful search capabilities
• More elegant presentation
Redefinition of library catalogs
• More comprehensive information discovery environments
• It’s no longer enough to provide a catalog limited to
•
•
•
print resources
Digital resources cannot be an afterthought
Forcing users to use different interfaces depending on
type of content becoming less tenable
Libraries working toward consolidated search
environments that give equal footing to digital and print
resources
Comprehensive Search Service
• More like OAI
– Open Archives Initiative
– Consolidated search services based on
metadata and data gathered in advance
• Problems of scale diminished
• Problems of cooperation persist
• Eg: Royal Library of Denmark
Web 2.0 Flavorings
• A more social and collaborative approach
• Web Tools and technology that foster
collaboration
• Blogs, wiki, blogs, tagging, social
bookmarking, user rating, user reviews
Web 2.0 supporting
technologies
• Web services
• XML APIs
• AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
The holy grail of New Gen
Library Interfaces
• A single point of entry into all the content
and services offered by the library
• Print + Electronic
• Local + Remote
• Locally created Content
Interface expectations
• Millennial generation library users are well
•
acclimated to the Web
Used to relevancy ranking
– The “good stuff” should be listed first
– Users tend not to delve deep into a result list
– Good relevancy requires a sophisticated approach,
including objective matching criteria supplemented by
popularity and relatedness factors.
• “Did you mean?” and other features to avoid
•
“No results found”
More like this
Interface expectations (cont…)
• Very rapid response. Users have a low tolerance for slow
•
•
•
systems
Rich visual information: book jacket images, rating
scores, etc.
Let users drill down through the result set incrementally
narrowing the field
Faceted Browsing
– Drill-down vs up-front Boolean or “Advanced Search”
– gives the users clues about the number of hits in each sub topic
– Ability to explore collections without a priori knowledge
• Navigational Bread crumbs
Appropriate organizational
structures
• LCSH vs FAST (Faceted Application of
Subject Terminology)
• Full MARC vs Dublin Core or MODS
• Discipline-specific thesauri or ontologies
• “tags”
Deep search
• Increasing opportunities to search the full
contents
– Google Library Print, Google Publisher, Open Content
Alliance, Microsoft Live Book Search, etc.
– High-quality metadata will improve search precision
• Commercial search providers already offer
•
•
“search inside the book”
No comprehensive full text search for books
quite yet
Not currently available through library search
environments
Beyond Discovery
• Fulfillment oriented
• Search -> select -> view
• Delivery/Fulfillment much harder than
discovery
• Back-end complexity should be as
seamless as possible to the user
Library-specific Features
• Appropriate relevance factors
– Objective keyword ranking + Library
weightings
– Circulation frequency, OCLC holdings,
scholarly content
• Results grouping (FRBR)
• Collection focused (vs sales-driven)
Enterprise Integration
• Ability to deliver content and services
through non-library applications
• Campus portal solutions
• Courseware
• Social networking environments
• Search portals / Feed aggregators
Smart and Sophisticated
• Much more difficult than old gen OPACS
• Not a dumbed-down approach
• Wed library specific requirements and
expectations with e-commerce
technologies
Architecture and Standards
• Need to have an standard approach for
connecting new generation interfaces with
ILS and other repositories
• Proprietary and ad hoc methods currently
prevail
• Digital Library Federation
– ILS-Discovery Interface Group
New-Gen Library Interfaces
Current Commercial and Open
Source Products
Common characteristics
• Decoupled interface
• Mass export of catalog data
• Alternative search engine
• Alternative interface
• Hooks back into the ILS for holdings and
patron services
Endeca Guided Navigation
• North Carolina State University
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/
• McMaster University
http://libcat.mcmaster.ca/
• Phoenix Public Library
http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/
• Florida Center for Library Automation
http://catalog.fcla.edu/ux.jsp
AquaBrowser Library
• Queens Borough Public Library
– http://aqua.queenslibrary.org/
• Oklahoma State University
– http://boss.library.okstate.edu/
• University of Chicago
– http://lens.lib.uchicago.edu/
Ex Libris Primo
• Discovery and Delivery platform for
academic libraries
• Vanderbilt University
http://alphasearch.library.vanderbilt.edu
• University of Minnesota
http://prime2.oit.umn.edu:1701/primo_library/li
bweb/action/search.do?vid=TWINCITIES
• University of Iowa
http://smartsearch.uiowa.edu/
Encore from Innovative
Interfaces
• Designed for academic, public and special
•
libraries
Nashville Public Library
http://nplencore.library.nashville.org/iii/encore/app
• Scottsdale Public Library
http://encore.scottsdaleaz.gov/iii/encore/app
• Yale University Lillian Goldman Law
Library
http://encore.law.yale.edu/iii/encore/app
OCLC Worldcat Local
• OCLC Worldcat customized for local library
catalog
– Relies on hooks into ILS for local services
– Tied to library holdings set in WorldCat
• University of Washington Libraries
http://uwashington.worldcat.org/
• University of California Melvyl Catalog
SirsiDynix
• No faceted search product currently available:
– Enterprise Portal Solution
– Rooms / SchoolRooms
– iLink / iBistro (legacy)
• Product based on FAST announced in March
•
2006 – withdrawn
Product based on Brainware Globalbrain
announced in Nov 2007
– Prototype Expected by April 2008
The Library Corporation
• Indigo
• Library Positioning Software
VUFind – Villanova
University
Based on Apache Solr search toolkit
http://www.vufind.org/
Library-developed solutions
• eXtensible Catalog
• University of Rochester – River Campus
Libraries
• Financial support from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation
• http://www.extensiblecatalog.info/
For more information
Next Generation Library
Catalogs by Marshall
Breeding
Library Technology
Reports June/July
2007
ALA TechSource
Questions and Discussion