the extensible catalog’s drupal toolkit: a discovery interface to address users’ needs

The eXtensible Catalog’s Drupal Toolkit: a Discovery Interface to Address Users’ Needs

Jennifer BowenUniversity of Rochester, Rochester, NY

ALA LITA Drupal Interest Group, June 25, 2011New Orleans, LA

Problem:

• User research is of limited value if a library doesn’t have control over its discovery environment

• Our solution:– Develop our own software (eXtensible Catalog)– Offer a modular architecture (4 “toolkits”)– Make it as configurable as possible– Give it away (open source)

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How XC Uses Drupal

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MARCXMLDC

XC Software Components

User Interface for searching and browsing

Library Website (on Drupal)

Integrated Library System Repository

XC Drupal Toolkit

Tools for automated processing of large batches of metadata

XC Metadata Services Toolkit

Tools for connectivity between XC and an ILS

XC

Circ

. Sta

tus/

Req.

Auth

entic

ation

XC NCIP Toolkit

XC OAI Toolkit

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User Interface for searching and browsing

Tools for automated processing of large batches of metadata

Tools for connectivity between XC and an ILS

Drupal Toolkit (User Interface)

Integrated Library System

MARCXMLDC

Library Website (on Drupal)

Repository

XC Drupal Toolkit

XC Metadata Services Toolkit

XC

Circ

. Sta

tus/

Req.

Auth

entic

ation

XC NCIP Toolkit

XC OAI Toolkit

Integrated Library System

MARCXMLDC

Repository

XC Metadata Services Toolkit

XC

Circ

. Sta

tus/

Req.

Auth

entic

ation

XC NCIP Toolkit

XC OAI Toolkit

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Drupal Toolkit (User Interface)

Integrated Library System

MARCXMLDC

Library Website (on Drupal)

Repository

XC Drupal Toolkit

XC Metadata Services Toolkit

XC

Circ

. Sta

tus/

Req.

Auth

entic

ation

XC NCIP Toolkit

Features

XC OAI Toolkit

Integrated Library System

MARCXMLDC

Repository

XC Metadata Services Toolkit

XC

Circ

. Sta

tus/

Req.

Auth

entic

ation

XC NCIP Toolkit

XC OAI Toolkit

Single search interface across:Library catalogDigital repositoryWebsite resources

Faceted browsing of resultsFRBRized metadataIntegration with ILS circulation

systemExtensive customization

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XC User Interface Customization

ThemesIndexesFacet definitionsResult ListsRecord DisplaysBrowse interfaces for specific users/purposes

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XC Drupal Toolkit

• Built on Drupal 6 – upgrade to Drupal 7 is planned• 20+ new XC Drupal modules • Software available now on www.drupal.org • Demo site available soon!• Implements a FRBR-based data structure in Drupal• Each FRBR-based metadata record is treated as a

Drupal node

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XC Drupal Toolkit modules

• OAI-PMH harvester module to harvest metadata from the XC Metadata Services Toolkit

• Separate modules support each metadata schema: XC Schema and Dublin Core included; others possible

• Storage modules manage both SOLR and mySQL for storing library metadata

• XC Drupal/SOLR module supports configuration of searching and faceting

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More XC Drupal Toolkit modules

• NCIP - live circ status, circ requests• Link resolution• Ezproxy• Syndetic Solutions - thumbnails, etc.

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User Research for the eXtensible Catalog

Cornell UniversityOhio State UniversityUniversity of RochesterYale University

XC User Research Partners

• What articles, books and other resources had researchers used most recently?– How did they know the items existed?– How did they obtain them?– How did they use them?

• How do they keep current in their fields?

XC User Research Approach

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A Few User Research Findings

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User Research Findings

• Users want to choose between versions of a resource, see relationships between resources

• XC approach:– Underlying XC metadata is based on FRBR model:

works, expressions, manifestations… – Eventually: aggregate/group FRBR entities in the

User Interface

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User Research Findings

• Users have preferred material and format types, depending upon their projects– Show online materials only– Exclude microforms

• Users want to know why items appear on a search result list– Show keywords in context

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XC User Interface Demo

Translating User Research Findings into XC Functionality

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Next Steps for XC Software

• All XC toolkits available for download: www.extensiblecatalog.org

• Enabling record aggregation/FRBR groupings with grant from The Mellon Foundation via CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois)

• Robust, end-to-end discovery system: coming soon!

www.eXtensibleCatalog.orgjbowen@library.rochester.edu

Thanks to Nancy Fried Foster and David Lindahl for the use of selected slides.

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“View XC Schema”

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Next Steps for XC Software

• All XC toolkits available for download: www.extensiblecatalog.org

• Enabling record aggregation/FRBR groupings with grant from The Mellon Foundation via CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois)

• Robust, end-to-end discovery system: coming soon!

www.eXtensibleCatalog.orgjbowen@library.rochester.edu

Thanks to Nancy Fried Foster and David Lindahl for the use of selected slides.