Public Catalog Most Popular Lists

A while back, I added some links on the public catalog page listing some popular titles and subjects. I would update this list manually, but the time it took to update forced me to update the list only once a quarter.

After an upgrade to our public catalog, I was able to utilize an automated tool that would do the same thing. Therefore, we now have the "Most Popular Lists" on every page of our public catalog. This list shows the top 5 Authors, Titles, and Subjects with the option to expand to the top 20 in each category. Of course, these list entries are links to searches for these topics. Rankings are taken directly from our circulation stats and are updated every Saturday night.

So, to review. These lists changed from manual quarterly updates to weekly automated updates. And these lists are located on every page instead of only on one page as it was before.

OPAC Enhancement: No Results???? Is That All I Get?

Previously, if you performed a search on our online public access catalog (or OPAC) and your search retrieved no results, you received the message "No results". However, digging around the configuration files of our OPAC, I found the source of this message and altered it. Now, if you perform a search and retrieve no results, you receive this message:

No Results. Please 1) check your spelling above; 2) resubmit your search as a Browse Search below; or 3) feel free to contact us for assistance in searching our catalog.

The third suggestion is a link to our contact page.

Popular Catalog Searches Now on Public Website

I recently wrote about the creation of popular library catalog searches. We have added this functionality to the public catalog so that customers can access these searches. Just go to the library's home page and click on the "Catalog" tab towards the top of the page. Scroll down the page and you will see "Popular Catalog Searches" with a drop-down menu. Select the type of search and click "Go!".

"I Need A List of All Your Videos"... "OK!"

I have added some content to the MPLIC Wiki in regards to popular searches on the online public access catalog. This page explains how to perform certain, broad searches that are popular with our customers. For example, "I need a list of all of your videos". We can do that.

And, for you added convenience, not only does this page show you how to perform these searches, it also has links that will perform the search in case you are in a time crunch.

If you have suggestions on additions to this page, please let me know. You could add a comment with your suggestion!

Click here to visit the new page. Or, you can navigate to this page from the Intranet site by clicking on the "MPLIC Wiki" link, clicking on the "Online Library Catalog" link, then clicking on "Popular Searches".

Hidden "Shadowed" Titles in the New Public Catalog

The online catalog on the EPS will not display "shadowed" records. In other words, titles will not display if they are missing, assumed lost, discarded, etc. This will remove any possibility that someone will request, place a hold, or even ask about any of these titles.

That does not take away the reality that a customer may remember that we had a title that has since gone missing. WorkFlows (our staff catalog interface) will show these titles when you perform a keyword search.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

Subscribing to Search Results with the New EPS

Customers will be able to "subscribe" to a search with the new EPS public catalog. How would they be able to do this? More and more people are utilizing web feed subscriptions as a way to handle information. You use an aggregator to subscribe to a web feed and you would then be notified whenever new content is added.

So basically, whenever you perform a search with our catalog, you can subscribe to the results. You would then be notified whenever a new item was added the the catalog that now appears in that search.

For example, a Civil War buff would subscribe to a search for "Civil War". Whenever a new item was added to the collection that included the phrase "civil war", the customer would be notified via their aggregator.

For more information on web feeds, see the previous articles I have written on that subject.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

Customer Account Capabilities with new EPS

Customer will be able to manage their accounts in various ways with the new EPS. They will be able to:

• View their items they have checked out.
• Renew those items, if they can.
• View the items they have on hold.
• View their position in the hold queue for each item.
• Cancel any holds.
• Suspend any holds.
• View fees (and on down the line, possibly pay fees)

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

EPS/Rooms Revisited

Our EPS will also utlitize a product called Rooms. The ILS blog had a good post explaining the Rooms concept. Here are some excerpts:

...Each of these Rooms features content selected and organized by library and content professionals at SirsiDynix...

...Even more significantly for MPLIC, however, we are acquiring the Rooms Builder, a Web-based tool that will allow our library staff to edit the "starter" Rooms, adding and subtracting sites and other content, as well as to create new Rooms, all without requiring knowledge of HTML.

So this will give the customer a portal to content on the Web that has been categorized and evaluated by MPLIC and SirsiDynix staff. We have certainly done that already, but this is taking it to another level. It is making it easier for the customer to find the information they need.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

EPS Results: Keeping Items

When looking at a results list, you will see Keep and Hold at the top-right of each item. Customers can click on Keep to "mark" a record for future reference. For example, if someone is doing research on several topics, instead of writing down the call number or title of each item that they would like to check-out, they only need to click on Keep. The button will then change to Kept.

At any time, a customer can click on Kept Records to view all the items they have selected. They will have the option at that point to place a hold on all items.

NOTE: I have noticed that the availability of this service has been inconsistent on the test server.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

EPS Results: A Look Inside

The new EPS will provide additional material about our collection than our standard catalog. Customers will have access to reviews, summaries, excerpts, and more.

From the result list, you will see little symbols for each item (if available). Some items have more symbols than others, that is because more reviews, summaries, etc. are available for certain items. Placing your pointer on top of a symbol will let you know what type of material is provided. This is necessary as the symbols really do not give a clear indication as to what they represent.

Once you click on a symbol, you are taken to the review, excerpt, etc. Some of these appear as new windows. Others are listed on the item's detailed page, which we will discuss next!

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

EPS Results List: More Human than Machine

When customers view the results of their searches in the new EPS, they will not be viewing something that looks like it was spat out from a machine. While the basic search was a step towards "googlefication", the results list is a step towards being "Amazonified".

First, the results list will show a picture of the book cover when available. And second, only the most pertinent information is shown in the first brief results list. Customers are given the author, title, publication date, and a brief holdings list.

How can a holdings list be brief? Generally, a customer does not need to know the whereabouts of every single item we have for a title. The customer just wants to know who has a copy and how they can get their hands on it. The EPS does that by quickly listing all branches that have an available copy of the title along with the branch's phone number. So this brief results list is not only brief, it is also ever changing, dependent on our current availabilities.

Of course, customers can view the entire holdings list for a title in the complete listing for each title. That is one of the features I will discuss in the next Go Live post.

For more information, see Viewing Results on the Go Live Training Wiki.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

Operators, Records, and Fields...

When using the EPS, you will notice a search box near the top/center of just about every page (see image). This gives the customer quick access to our catalog. With the drop-down menu, you can apply a quick limiter to your search. But can you just type whatever words you want into the search box? Yes and no. While this is a step towards a "googleified" search process, this does not work quite the same as a search engine. You still have to use boolean operators and such.

While you give up a little simplicity, you gain much more control. For example, searching for chicago and history with return all records with the words chicago and history anywhere in the record.

Searching for chicago same history will return all records with the words chicago and history within the same field.

Searching for chicago with history will return all records with the words chicago and history within the same sentence within a field.

Searching for chicago near history will return all records with the words chicago and history next to each other within a field.

Confused about the terms Record and Field? Visit this page.

For more information about boolean operators and other search strategies, visit this page.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).

EPS: Our Face on the Web

So all of the posts from the Go Live Series thus far have pertained to Holds via WorkFlows. But I am going to shift gears a bit and talk about something other than WorkFlows. Why? Well, all staff do not have access to WorkFlows, yet. Eventually, we will have WorkFlows installed at each location with a connection to a "Test Server". This will allow staff to use the product without affecting real data. So it would be nice if you could read something here and then go try it out on the Test Server. So, until that is available, I will focus on other tools that you can currently get your hands on.

For instance, the Enterprise Portal Solution (while still in the works) has a sample version that you can currently take for a spin. Although not all customizations are in place yet, you can begin to get an idea of the enhanced experience in store for MPLIC customers and staff. But first, what is the Enterprise Portal Solution?

The ILS Blog had a series almost a year ago(!) about the Enterprise Portal Solution. It would be worth it to go back and review those posts. Here they are:

• Guide to the Enterprise Portal Solution, Part I (or, Whatever happened to iBistro?)
• Guide to the Enterprise Portal Solution, Part 2 (or, What is a portal, anyway?)
• Guide to the Enterprise Portal Solution, Part 3 (or, What are Rooms?)

In short, the Enterprise Portal Solution will be the new public web page. Next, I will talk about item searching via the EPS.

Here is the link to the EPS page on the training wiki.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please let me know (email, phone, comments, wiki discussion page, etc.).