Zen and the Art of WSD

Maintenance

Web-Scale Discovery Services: Transforming

Access to Library Resources

NISO Virtual Conference

Athena Hoeppner

20 November 2013

UCF’s Web Scale Discovery Journey

Soft launch was June 2012• Merged bib records from 11 libraries

• Added new content providers to the central index

• Implemented LinkSource and AtoZ

• Migrated EZproxy to a new server

• Upgraded to SFX v4 on a new server

• Moved digital collections to a new server

• Rolled onto the newest version of EDS

• Created API to search and embed FT links in Canvas course system

Implementation Questionnaires

Some choices we live not

only once but a thousand

times over, remembering

them for the rest of our lives. -Richard Bach

Expected Maintenance

• Branding

• Central Index Contents

• MARC loads

• OAI loads

• ILS integration

• OpenURL and Links

• Search forms

• APIs

• Any Customizations

Tip: Look Under the Hood

• Searching

• Databases

• Viewing Results

• Linking

• Branding

Maintenance Team

Cataloging Systems Index Content

Local • Kim • Joel• Bobby

• Subject librarians

FLVC • Gerald• Jean

• Ned• Mark

• Claire

EBSCO • Brian • Brian • Brian

Technical SupportGreeting Line

• Brian

• Jessica

• Elan

• Joseph

• Tyler

• Ellini

• Thomas

• Monica

• Susan

• Sherry

• Jillian

• Heather

Staying Informed

Discussion List• New content

• New features

• Problem sharing

• Grousing

Wiki• Content details

• Partners spreadsheet

• Technical specs

• Innovative applications

Support Pages• FAQs

• Common approaches

Still Calm?

Expect Problems

• Embedded search form asking for login

• Shows MARC from other libraries

• Prefer different relevancy rankings

• English limiter eliminates results

• Auto-enabling new content providers

• Duplicate records showing

• Dedupping algorithm changes hit count

• Multiple full text/content links showing

• Full text links showing from 500 fields

• Bad data from content providers

• Insufficient data makes bad OpenURL

• Malformed DOIs from content providers

• Slow response time

• Duplicate/multiple login prompts

• 50+ authors showing in the brief view

• Full text HTML showing in the brief view

• Punctuation and stop words causing searches to fail

• EBSCOnet renewals turned off full text in AtoZ and LinkSource.

• Sub-locations not showing for catalog items

• Myriad cookies, pop-up, browser and end-user setting problems

• Myriad article access problems - EZproxy dropped, host config problem, dropped from aggregator, incorrect holdings threshold set, etc.

1.5 Year’s Worth of Problems

KEEP

CALM AND

INVESTIGATE

KEEP

CALM AND

REPLICATE

KEEP

CALM AND

COMMUNICATE

KEEP

CALM AND

MITIGATE

KEEP

CALM AND

ALLEVIATE

Problem Response

• Provide problem-report forms and options

• Enlist a core team to respond and investigate

• Replicate reported problems

• Communicate the problem in detail to the vendor

• Change the system to mitigate unresolvable problems

• Fix resolvable problems

Example Maintenance and Problem Response

• Purchased 12 Alexander Street Press video collections. Woot!

• Checked EBSCOadmin for option to turn on indexing. It’s possible, BUT…

• Checked options for linking to videos

• Discussed options with Brian at EBSCO

• Loaded ASP MARC into the catalog (thanks, Kim!)

• Nightly update loaded the new MARC into our EDS

• Checked 856s links in EDS –

PROBLEM!

Say Old Man, Do You Play the Fiddle?

Say Old Man, Do You Play the Fiddle?

• Checked representation in local view of catalog

• Captured images of the screen in EDS

• Reported problem to Kim, Gerald, Brian, with permalink and images

• Brian passed the problem to a catalog specialist

• Kim explained the 856 subfields involved

• Gerald fixed the export and EBSCO fixed the processing

It’s like music to my ears!

Beyond Maintenance

Placards

Profiles for subjects and content types

Discipline limitors

Specialized widgets for subjects and content types

Revamp header and footer

Load LibGuides as a content source

Shibboleth

More APIs

WSD Truisms

Everything is More Visible

Flaws are Magnified

Everything is Connected

Things Can Get Tangled

Tip: Cultivate a Team

Tip: Create a Sandbox

Tip: Seek Simplicity

Finis.

Web-Scale Discovery Services: Transforming Access to Library Resources

NISO Virtual Conference

20 November 2013

Athena Hoeppner

athean@ucf.edu

@cybrgrl