Post on 17-Jan-2018
description
Escape from Alcatraz
Freeing the OPAC from traditional constraintsLloyd Sokvitne
Senior Manager (Digital Strategies)State Library of Tasmania
lloyd.sokvitne@education.tas.gov.au
Your OPACInhospitable
Distant
Uninviting
Information discovery in libraries
Information discovery on the web
Inviting
Friendly
Easy
Today’s presentation
Our experience with a new discovery model• Based on aggregating metadata from a variety of
sources• What happens when you actually try to use that
metadata for discovery• What other challenges emerge
Providing a single search
• Disillusioned with federated searching• Aggregating metadata as preferred
approach– NLA, OAI, and other successes– Include both Marc and Non-Marc Metadata– Its our own data anyway
• Want control over outcomes
Moving outside the ILMS
• easier web friendly deliverables• applications adaptable/flexible• client-orientated outcomes
– discovery services– interactive web2.0 developments
• We are seeing a growing need to be able to interact with the ILS in various ways, so that some functionality can be placed in another interface – Lorcan Dempsey, 20 Jan 20, 2006
A 3-tier architecture
Uncoupling the data from the applications that create itProviding client services that are not defined by data containersThe data should be usable by any or all applications above it
Client Service
Data Storage
Applications
MODULES1. client
interaction2. acquisitions3. indexing4. searching5. circulation 6. DOM
Aggregated Metadata Information System (AMIS)
• Proof of concept developed– 500,000 OPAC Marc records exported
• Converted to a common XML format– Other records converted (images, etc)– XML records were indexed using Lucene
• 5 hrs on a desktop pc– Query screen written– All up – 2-3 days effort
Screenshot
Fast : Able to add new features : Able to participate in web environment
Screenshot
Live query works for live data
Also able to provide facets for format, genre, location, subject, etc
Prototype results
• Proved concept– Technology part is easy– Tender process almost over, market
response good– Identified that we will need to improve the
actual data• How did we want our portal to work?
To match user behaviour
• Offline behaviour– browsing• Ignored in virtually every library system• facets: open-display of content, and refining
• Online behaviour – satisficing/ranking• Ignored in virtually every library system• Ranking as the key determinant
• User interaction – ratings, reviews, etc
Now possible because we are outside the ILMS
Aggregator metadata
• Need appropriate metadata– Valid only if useful to actual searching as performed by our
clients• Data mining
– frequency of use, number of reservations, etc• Data sharing
– reviews, commentaries, tables of contents, etc• Data creation
– Libraries – adding more information, discarding unused data– Users – adding ratings, reviews, etc
Next steps
• Client interaction modules – reviews, – ratings, – wikis, – RSS, – Blogs, etc
• will be added progressively
Data is just a commodity
• ILMS integration occurred for efficiency– data storage, consistency, reuse
• efficiency now possible in other ways– moving data in large quantities is easy– accessing data in real time is easy
An OPAC no longer needs to be something provided by an ILMS
Conclusions
• AMIS – technically easy, doable• Need the right metadata to succeed• Need the right search interface
– not just a slightly modified OPAC– the design is up to us
• (there couldn’t be a better time to be a librarian)
A connected OPAC
Easy
Relevant
Busy and used
The new Alcatraz
Thank you
Lloyd SokvitneSenior Manager (Digital Strategies)
State Library of Tasmanialloyd.sokvitne@education.tas.gov.au
Recommended reading• Don't Make Me Think : A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Steve Krug,
2nd Ed, New Riders Press; 2005
• Rethinking how we provide bibliographic services for the University of California, Final Report: December 2005, Bibliographic Services Task Force (BSTF). http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/sopag/BSTF/Final.pdf
• Integrating Information Resources: Principles, Technologies, and Approaches, Heather Christenson and Roy Tenant, http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/metasearch/nsdl/nsdl_report2.pdf
• Recommendations for urgently needed improvement of OPAC and the role of the National Bibliographic Agency in achieving it. John D Byrum, Jr. http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/124e-Byrum.pdf
• Northern Caroline State University Library catalogue –http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/browse.html ( browsing using Marc data)