Users’ Perspectives of Next Generation Library Catalogs

June 25, 2008HKUST Library

Kevin HoCatherine Kwok

HKUST Library – Scriblio Workshop 2008

OutlinePart I Perceptions of Library & OPAC How Bad Is OPAC? What is a Next Generation Catalog? Demo on a commercial NGC

Part II Demo on HKUST Scriblio What Do We Think? Other Desirable Features Q & A


For many years ……The Library Catalog:

Is the primary means of locating library’s collections.

Display the holdings of the library.

Over the last decades, the catalog’s functions have evolved a lot. Now, catalogs also act as an access mechanism to resources beyond the library.


Perceptions of Library & OPACIn 2005, OCLC conducted a study and found:

89% of college students uses search engine. Only 1 % use library website to begin information search.

Use the library less and more time spent on Internet.

Search engines fit users’ lifestyle better than physical or online libraries.

90% of study respondents are with search engines. Search satisfaction has a strong correlation with the quality & quantity of information returned in search process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJD-safYEb0

The OPAC SucksRecorded by: the anAACRonisms

the OPAC sucks, that's all i gotta say

i'm getting bad results. don't act like it's my fault

the OPAC sucks, a sad calamitylike it's stuck in 8 million b.c.

the OPAC sucks so bad that it's a crime what does it want from me?i'm stumbling blindly

the OPAC sucks, people are confusedit runs amok, committing its abuse

the OPAC sucks, that's all i gotta say ... (Lyrics and music: Brian Smith)

you’re outta luck if you can’t spell “Hemingway”

the title that I seek is buried very deep

the law is broken “save the reader’s time”

years and years and years ago, computers replaced cards how come find what I want is still so goddamn hard?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJD-safYEb0)

http://www.laughinglibrarian.com/bd_opac.htm


So What’re the Problems? Made for librarians, not patrons.

Best for “known-item” searching , not topic searching.

No relevance ranking. Most catalog search results are simply ranked last-in/first-out.

No cutting edge features (e.g. Blog, Wikis & RSS feeds)

Too much text and Boolean-based More…


Characteristics of NGCsA Next Generation Catalog (NGC) should:

Provide simple search interface

Relevance ranking

Drill down through a large result list

Include Web 2.0 functionalities

Eye-catching & Feature-rich environment


Examples of Next Generation Catalogs Aquabrowser – University of Chicago

Encore – Michigan State, Kentucky University

Endeca – NCSU, McMaster University, Phoenix Public Library

Evergreen – University of Prince Edward Island. [open source]

ExLibris Primo – Université du Québec

Koha – Northeast Kansas Library [open source]

OCLC Worldcat Local – University of Washington

Polaris Library System – Dallas Public Library

Scriblio – HKUST, Plymouth State University [open source]

Web 2.0 Library OCLC Next Generation Catalog E-books Hong Kong University of Science & Technology Workshop

Scriblio Course Reserve Alumni HKUST E-Theses

RSS Feeds Special CollectionsFeedback

Guides to Resources Collections Institutional Repository

Ask a Librarian Information Resources Microfilm Wi-FiGoogle Bibliographic Records Marc

Innovative Electronic Resources Encore Search WebBridge Collections

Tag Clouds Blogging

Keyword

Author Description & Reviews e-Journals OCLC Worldcat Ranking

Experimental Static vs Dynamic Subject Headings

Access Points

HKUST Library

Faceted BrowsingBoolean & Truncation

Reference

System

Access Services Acquisition

DSS

Cataloguing

Collection Highlights HKALL My Library Catalog Account ISBN

e-Resources Periodicals

June 2008Call Number Beta Unicode

Users’ Perspective Customization

CJK

http://catalog.ust.hk


Main Scriblio Features Search

Google-like search box

Support Unicode

Search all record contents

Results Clustering of results into facets

Relevance ranking

25 records per page, customizable

Maximum retrieval of 1,000 records


Main Scriblio FeaturesA Record is made up of both static + dynamic content:

Static (pre-loaded) Bib info, Amazon book cover & descriptions, tags, related items

Dynamic (real-time) Holdings, library links, Google Books+Preview


Static vs Dynamic Content


Web 2.0 Features Users comments & RSS feeds

Tag clouds: mouse over for no. of hits

Search suggestion Did you mean? vs No entries found

More like this Related items

Forward search: WB, HKALL, Worldcat, Google Scholar

Link to Amazon summary, book covers & Google Books


This is So Cool Simple, intuitive

Google-like search box

No more Boolean, no more search forms

Visually more attractive, large-font tag clouds

Discover by serendipity, just click here & there

Some Web 2.0 integration

Permalinks of comments, full records


Search Optional advanced search: author, title, call number for finding known items

Search suggestions sometimes fail

Federated search with subscription resources

Narrow search vs Expand search


Known Item Search

Comes up 24th


McMaster University

Michigan StateUniversity


… Display Allows some degree of customization, show/hide

Options for sorting results: relevance, title, date, circulation frequency

More visual cues

Fat vs slim brief records

Better navigation aids: next, previous, back


Phoenix Public Library


Fat vs Slim


… Facets & Search Bar Add language as browsable facets

Link to Reserve mode

Add Scriblio link on browser’s instant search bar


… More Enriched Content Link to review sites for feature films


… More Personalized Functions

Record searches, folders, user tagging, sharing [ Mystuff in Ask.com, Worldcat, LibraryThing ]

One login to perform all personalized functions

RSS feeders and social bookmarking


Visit Our DEL.CIO.US Bookmarks

http://del.icio.us/ust_ngc

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