opening the door: using endeca for a faceted catalog emily lynema ncsu libraries mlc: discovery...

Opening the Door:using Endeca for a faceted catalog

Emily LynemaNCSU LibrariesMLC: Discovery & AccessMarch 2, 2007

MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond

The Context


What is faceted navigation?


Why faceted navigation?

Information Foraging (Pirolli and Card) People seek maximum benefit for minimal

effort when searching for information People look for clues to determine if they are

on the right path Faceted results provide clues Help users help themselves


A question

“How is the new generation of library catalog being developed?” informed and enhanced by search

technologies developed outside of the library based on how our users know how to search,

not on how we want them to search What does search look like for our users?


Existing OPACs are hard to use

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 Unforgiving on spelling errors, stemming Response time doesn’t meet

expectations of web-savvy users


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


What’s the big picture?

Improve the quality of the library catalog user experience.

Exploit our existing metadata infrastructure (make MARC work harder).

Build a more flexible catalog tool that can be integrated with discovery tools of the future.


Local Implementation: Endeca


What is Endeca?

Software company based in Cambridge, MA

Search and information access technology provider for a number of major e-commerce websites

Developers of the Endeca Information Access Platform


Why Endeca?

Customized relevance ranking of results Better subject access by leveraging

available metadata through facets Improved response time Enhanced natural language searching

through spell correction, etc. Browse


Demo

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca/presentations/endeca-demo-large.wmv


Relevance ranking

Based on a locally managed and customizable algorithm

Factors Query as entered most relevant Field match weighting (title > notes field) Number of fields matched

Lots of other levers and dials to tweak


Faceted navigation

1. Availability2. LC Classification3. Subject: Topic4. Subject: Genre5. Format

11. Browse tab: New

6. Library7. Subject: Region8. Subject: Era9. Language10. Author


True browse

Regain ability to browse catalog without entering any search terms


Added search tools

Automatic spell correction

“Did you mean…” suggestions

Automatic stemming Bookmark-ability


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


Outcomes


Usage statistics

Requests by Search TypeJuly 06 - January 07

Search 67%

Navigation 8%

Search + Navigation

21%


Usage statistics

Navigation by Facet: July 06 - Jan 07

LC Classification21%

Format10%

Subject: Genre6%

New10%

Library10%

Subject: Topic26%

Other (< 5%)11%

Author6%


Usage statisticsNavigation by Facet: July 06 - Jan 07

0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000

Author

Language

Subject: Era

Subject: Region

Library

Format

Subject: Genre

Subject: Topic

LC Classification

Availability

Requests


Usage statisticsDimension Value Requests

New NEW 56,286

Format Book 16,188

LC Classification Q - Science 12,462

Library Textiles 11,160

Library D.H. Hill 11,060

Availability Available 9,276

Library Online Resources 8,164

LC Classification T – Technology 8,052

Subject: Topic History 7,915

Format Online 7,858

LC Classification P - Language and literature 7,005

LC Classification H - Social Sciences 6,953

Language English 6,854

Subject: Region United States 6,298

Format Journal, Magazine, or Serial 4,621


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


Usability testing

Task Difficulty: Old Catalog

Easy43%

Medium12%

Hard22%

Failed23%

Task Difficulty: New Catalog

Easy59%

Medium12%

Hard7%

Failed22%


Usability testing

Average Task Duration:Old vs New Catalog

00:00.0 00:43.2 01:26.4 02:09.6 02:52.8 03:36.0

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Task 5

Task 6

Task 7

Task 8

Task 9

Task 10

Old Catalog

New Catalog


Usability testing

For students, relevance ranking is key. July 06 – Jan 07: ~19% continued to page 2

Faceted navigation is intuitive, even for students who don’t use it.

Beware of library jargon “keyword anywhere”, “keyword in subject”

User behavior is influenced by previous experience.


Opening Doors


Freedom to build

Don’t underestimate the power to build… ‘CatalogWS’ -> web services

RSS QuickSearch integration Mobile phone search interface And more…


RSS


OpenSearch

Auto-discovery from HTML catalog search page.

Like a browser plugin, but easier to get.


QuickSearch


More open doors

Within our institution Enrich results with external data Experiment with a work display model Bring additional digital collections into the

catalog’s search interface


More open doors

Outside our institution Momentum for change Ngc4lib Primo and other offerings from vendors Solr from the open source community


So what? It’s still just a catalog

1. Dismantle the old

2. Rebuild / exchange individual parts

3. Rebuild into something new

4. Repeat as necessary


Thanks

NCSU project site (including slides): http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca

Emily Lynema Systems Librarian for Digital Projects [email protected]

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca

mailto:[email protected]

opening the door: using endeca for a faceted catalog emily lynema ncsu libraries mlc: discovery...

Documents

discovery access

library rebooted discovery

endeca slide

discovery tools

popularity slide

context slide

poor subject access

users authority