Where are you using the catalog?
A big idea that seems to be hot right now is making the catalog available in contexts outside of the normal OPAC. Whether this is integration with portals or syndication of reading lists/search results via RSS. I’ve even seen talk of IM interfaces or SMS. I’ve messed around with the III XML server a bit to get an idea of what is possible. So far I found that RSS, OpenSearch and similar things are very easy to implement even with as little programming knowledge I have. Here’s what it took me to get OpenSearch working (though crudely):
Innovative XML Server: OpenSearch
So what are you doing with your catalog data? What projects/demo’s do you have?
Technorati Tags: big idea, integration, integration, libraries, library, library technology, opac, open search, portals, rss, search results, syndication, xml, xml server
July 15th, 2005 at 2:53 pm
I wrote a redirection script, which enabled us to “unshackle” the catalog search forms from the catalog server.
Essentially, we can integrate the catalog search anywhere we choose, including the header of every page:
http://library.uncc.edu
(look in the header or click catalog search)
Not rocket science or anything, but I expanded the scope of the script to “funnel” other searches such as our FAQ search through the same script.
I was inspired by a Google story, which is essentially query visualization… I’ll tell you the story in a minute.
Anyway, I created a query logger for our FAQ search, and created some tools, which permit our FAQ maintainers to visualize search queries, and subsequently tweak the index and search results.
Such a strategy could work for catalog searches too… the log would be bigger of course…
In summary, putting middleware between the catalog search user interface and the catalog itself opens up new possibilities for query visualization, analysis, and processing.
Okay, the Google story, which inspired me…
Google has big screens in their offices, which show search queries streaming by. An employee noted someone searching for ways to commit suicide. Looking at the results, it showed what you would expect; means to an end. So evidently, Google can tweak the results display. The employee placed links for suicide help lines, etc. into the result set to help future “suicide” searchers…
July 25th, 2005 at 7:54 am
Brad,
I’ve been thinking about creating some sort of mediating page that will log catalog searches and offer additional search options for some time. Your comment reminded me that I can start small by just logging the searches (without names/identity, of course) to better understand how our catalog is being used and add in the suggestions and other features later.
August 4th, 2005 at 12:43 pm
I don’t log anything but the query… I’d like to write a flash, or something, that would display the queries one at a time, fading in and out.
Don’t think it would be a public display though… it would probably freak people out.
August 20th, 2005 at 1:30 pm
At San Marcos we de-shackled the search forms from our catalog about 2 1/2 years ago, and started logging queries — in addition to the terms, we also log the index, the scope, time of day, and IP address.
It’s great. We now have a ton of data that we use to better understand our user’s information seeking behavior, as well as provide real-world search scenarios. For example, when testing out our metasearch system, I use the queries from the log files rather trying to dream-up search terms myself.
August 21st, 2005 at 1:07 pm
Any trends or insights that you’ve picked up in the process? I’d be interested in reading more about changes you made due to this data, etc. Anything published anywhere?
October 21st, 2005 at 8:55 am
[…] So now, when searching for Harry Potter, you’ll also find relevant results from Plymouth State University’s Lamson Library. We’re not the first library — I think Seattle Public was — and my work mostly follows the cookbook written up by Ryan Eby, of Michigan State University Libraries. Thanks also go to our university IT sysadmins who installed the XSLT extension for PHP5 earlier this week. […]