connecting users to collections

Connecting users to CollectionsCollection Development/Resource Sharing Conference

March 26, 2009Jean Phillips

Florida Center for Library Automationjeanp@ufl.edu

Connecting users to Collections• There is no one place/one tool/one starting

point/one type of user• The tool that best represents what we have

available to our users is the catalog• How are we improving the catalog?• Are they using it?

Are they using the catalog?

• Mango averages over 1 million searches a month

• Statistics from FY2007/2008

How are we improving the catalog?

• Stealth OPACs• Better User Interfaces• Wider Discovery• More Interactive• Clearer Delivery Options

“Stealth Opacs”• Coined by David Pattern in his blog “Self-plagiarism is style”• Most important feature of nextgen catalog in 2007 survey

Can you find the catalog?

How about now?

Now?

Here?

Here?

http://fgcu.libguides.com/accounting_and_tax

Recognize the device?…

In the palm of your hand

Mango on the IPhone

This one is a little harder…

Example using one of the tools• Get an email about interesting lecture on the

TED website, topic is organization structures

Better User Interfaces

• More like other Web interfaces• Less instruction required for basic use• More access points, ways to search• Progressive improvement of look and feel

First generation online interface

First generation web interface

Vendor designed web interface

NextGen Catalog at NCSU

Mango is born• Mango is FCLA created web application that

uses the Endeca search engine and repository• Began work in October 2007• Went live in August 2008• Still maintaining Aleph OPACs• 9.1 million bibliographic records• Aleph records from 11 SULs merged into one

record

University of West Florida Catalog

Union Catalog in Mango

Better User Interfaces

• David Pattern’s Top 5 Priorities– Stealth OPAC– Relevance ranking– Faceted searching

• Special collections facets• New Title facet

– RSS– Did you mean

• Other features important to SULs– Export/save options– Guided Navigation– Text to mobiles– Permalinks

Aleph keyword search

Mango keyword search

Mango interactive• Live connection to LMS info. in Aleph

– Availability– Patron accounts/Renewals– Requests

• Book covers and more from Google books• Citation formats from WorldCat: “Cite this”• Export of citations to Refworks• Text of title and call no. to cell phones • Linking out to library location maps: “floor map”

Mango

State University Libraries of Florida

Mango

State University Libraries of Florida

Wider discovery: what’s in your catalog?

• Aleph catalog records: 16 million bibliographic records merged into 8 million

• Center for Research Libraries• Digital collections: DLU01/Digitool

Wider discovery: what could be added?

• UF Digital Collections• Wolfsonian Museum• IFAS EDIS publications• E-Gov Docs • Open Access Digitized books (Mbooks or all

Hathi Trust)• Non-MARC resources

Delivery: How do our users "get it”?• Open URLs, link resolvers (sfx and Serials solutions)

Delivery: electronic• URLs in the metadata, for example:

– Digital objects• Images• Full text• Video/audio

– Federal Government documents– Ejournals– Ebooks

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.htm

Delivery: digital

Delivery: map• Go to the shelves (location mapping)

Delivery: map

Delivery: requests

Delivery: ILL

InterLibrary loan requests

Delivery: Future• Uborrow

– Unmediated borrowing– 1st Phase returnables within SULs – Aleph ILL or ILLiad– later phases

• expand to CCLA colleges and beyond • articles

Continuous improvement• SUL OPAC subcommittee development list• Articles – in process• Ideas to be prioritized

– Social tagging– Recommender– Reviews– Integrated course reserves– Subject oriented interfaces – More data sources– Cross references from Authority records

Future of interfaces?

• Sixth sense project at MIT–“Wearable gestural interface”–http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects

/sixthsense/#PICTURES–Ultimate mobile device

Future of interfaces?