Catalogs for the FutureCatalogs for the Future

Andrew K. PaceNCSU LibrariesMarch 24, 2006

Library Automation: Yesterday’s Library Automation: Yesterday’s Technology TomorrowTechnology Tomorrow

ILS Vendors: Squandering our ILS Vendors: Squandering our money doing exactly what we money doing exactly what we

asked them to doasked them to do

The state of catalogsThe state of catalogs

One rarely gets what one deserves.

One almost never gets what ones does not ask for.

““OPAC Complainers”OPAC Complainers”“There is certainly no dearth of OPAC complainers. You have Andrew Pace (OPACs suck), and Roy Tennant (You Can’t Put Lipstick on a Pig) writing and presenting about the need for change (more simplicity) in the OPAC world. I can appreciate their arguments for a simpler OPAC (not to mention the rest of the system) but other then present their arguments, neither has much in the way of suggestions nor have they sparked a movement among librarians or the automation vendors to do anything about the situation.

-ACRL Blog entry, 13-Oct-2005

March 2005

“Lipstick on a Pig,” Digital Libraries Column, LJ April 15, 2005

NextGen OPACNextGen OPAC• The Next Generation OPAC is more than just a facelift

– RLG, OCLC Fictiofinder– Vivisimo clustered search (demo)– Aquabrowser visual context (demo)– Endeca faceted search (demo)– Innovative Interfaces “OPAC Pro”– Ex Libris “Primo”– Polaris, AJAX-Enabled OPAC– SirsiDynix Enterprise Portal System, FAST– Talis, et alWeb Services– OCLC Custom Worldcat– Georgia Pines and the Library 2.0 Bandwagon

Pursuit of FeaturesPursuit of Features

Endeca, et al• Speed• Relevance Ranking• Faceted Browsing• True Browsing (LC)• Spell-checking• Automatic stemming• “Did you mean…”

Unicorn / Web2• As if…• Last-in / First-out• Authority index links• Query required• Dictionary lookup only• No• No

Purchase DecisionPurchase Decision

• Lots of broad topical keyword searches• Authority infrastructure underutilized• No relevancy ranking of results• Opportunity to partner with Endeca

Technical OverviewTechnical Overview

• Endeca ProFind co-exists with SirsiDynix Unicorn ILS and Web2 online catalog.

• Endeca indexes MARC records exported from Unicorn.

• Index is refreshed nightly with records added/updated during previous day.

Endeca ProFind OverviewEndeca ProFind Overview• Endeca’s ProFind software is responsible for…

– Ingesting and indexing reformatted NCSU data.– Creating a back-end service that responds to queries

with result sets.• NCSU is responsible for…

– Reformatting MARC records into something Endeca application can parse.

– Keeping these reformatted records up to date.– Building the web application that users see.– Sending queries to Endeca back-end service and

displaying results.

Did someone say “MARC is dead” ?Did someone say “MARC is dead” ?

• Endeca doesn’t understand MARC records.

• MARC flat text file(s) for ingest by Endeca.

• Creates opportunity to manipulate data on the back-end.

Pre-Endeca Catalog SearchPre-Endeca Catalog Search

• 6 search tabs• 14 radio buttons• 1-4 drop down

boxes

Endeca Catalog SearchEndeca Catalog Search

• 3 search tabs• No radio buttons• 2 search boxes• Keyword search default

8th (and Final) Revision: • Ideas drawn from Web2, RedLightGreen, Amazon, etc.• Aggregate holdings information by library.

Reduces complexity of continuing and online resources.

Brief view vs. Full view gives user choice about displaying holdings.

10. Library of Congress Classification

9. Availability

1. Subject: Topic2. Subject: Genre3. Format4. Library5. Subject: Region6. Subject: Era7. Language8. Author

ChallengesChallenges• Using LCSH like it’s never been used before• Using LC Classification for collection

browsing• Integration with Web2 and authority searching• Creeping Featuritis• Uncharted territory

Single aggregate record represents 73 actual records — different editions of Iliad with Homer as author

Users performs keyword search for ‘iliad’

Click on ‘See all editions’ to view individual publication and holdings information for each aggregated result.

Some User ReactionSome User Reaction“This is absolutely the coolest thing I've seen all century.”

- Will Owen, Head of Systems (UNC Libraries)

“Also, I'm really digging the new NCSU library catalog. Very nice."

- Educause staff (non-librarian)

“The new Endeca system is incredible. It would be difficult to exaggerate how much better it is than our old online card catalog (and therefore that of most other universities). I've found myself searching the catalog just for fun, whereas before it was a chore to find what I needed.”- NCSU Undergrad, Statistics

Usability Testing & StatsUsability Testing & Stats

• 141,987 searches Feb 26- Mar 14

Future PlansFuture Plans• Ongoing tweaks:

– Continued usability testing– Relevance ranking algorithms & spell correction thresholds– Display fixes/enhancements– Additional browsing options

• Endeca 2.0 ideas– FRBR-ized display– Discussions with OCLC regarding FAST (Faceted Access to

Subject Terms)– Patron-generated refinements– Build detail page in Endeca with live item data from Oracle– Shopping cart functionality for email/export of records– Enrich records with supplemental content – more usable TOCs,

book reviews, etc.– The death of authority searching (?)

Catalog

A&I / FT DBs

Serials

Web

Catalog is only the first step…Catalog is only the first step…

Digital Repositories

ERM System

Faceted Search

Legacy ILS

Clustered Metasearch

IR GS

ThanksThanks

• http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca

Andrew Pace, Head, ITandrew_pace@ncsu.edu

Emily Lynema, Lead Developeremily_lynema@ncsu.edu