Creating Synergy between your Website and Catalog – Glenn Peterson

OPAC developments: 2006
– “ILS Customer Bill of Rights” and “patREST,” both from John Blyberg (blyberg.net)
– NCSU/Endeca catalog
– NGC4LIB
– catalog searches everywhere
 – Amazon, Google, MySpace

showed:
–  Hennepin County Greasemonkey script in Amazon that shows the library owns the title and how many copies; can also click on that link to go right to the catalog (can get code at userscripts.org)
– a personalized Google page with HCL headlines and a search box for the catalog
– library catalog search box on the Library’s MySpace page; can also give that code to MySpace users who can add it to their page, too

how can we make our websites and catalogs work together to add value to the user’s experience and save the time of the user (Ranganathan’s Fourth Law)

two approaches:
1 – vendors are offering portal products
2 – integrate the catalog as one of many web-based resources

showed Fort Collins PL page and catalog, Ann Arbor site and catalog, and Phoenix PL’s site, all of which use the same navigation on the website and catalog (same template)

opportunities:
– links to titles for booklists (Indianapolis Marion County PL; increase in use of booklists at HCL when they added live links), newsletters, new book alerts, events listings
– links to catalog searches for pre-selected searches from subject guides, pathfinders, reader’s advisory
– make your links “smarter”
 – keeping your patrons logged in as they move around your site, included as they navigate your catalog (HCL sets profile based on user’s IP address and logs in the user)
– single login for viewing your items, commenting in the catalog, etc.

takeaways:
– learn how to link from your website into your catalog and look for opportunities
– explore ways to keep your patrons logged in as they move across your sites
– “mobilize” your catalog via RSS/email, Google gadgets, and MySpace

Nanette Donohue

LSTA grant for new website

first step – user survey
– asked features of website
– types of enhancements they would like to see

survey results
– most patrons said they came to site to use the online catalog and that they ONLY used the online catalog
– many said the catalog was unattractive and difficult to use

second step – setting goals
– integrate website into catalog, a la Hennepin County Library
– wanted spotlighted items, recommendations systems, etc.

third step – planning
– studied what other libraries have done in this area
– talked to the people that administered their catalog to see what could be done on their end without affecting other libraries’ use of the catalog (they’re part of a consortial catalog)
– investigated third-party solutions like Aquabrowser, Endeca, etc. (main drawback was cost)

as part of the planning process, they:
– considered what they liked and didn’t like about other libraries’ “improved” catalogs (resulted in a 30–page document!)
– considered the opinions of public service staff throughout the library, since they are closest to the user’s perspective of the catalog
– kept in touch with the consortium’s automation staff
– prioritized features into “must have” and “can wait for phase two” since they were under significant time constraints due to LSTA budget requirements

finally, they dreamed big because it was the best possible opportunity to make the catalog as usable as possible; didn’t want to dismiss any enhancements without making absolutely certain that they were NOT feasible; essential brainstorming with no negativity – threw it all out on the table

implementation: roadblocks (this is where things went downhill pretty fast)
– upcoming (major) ILS upgrades
– vendor unwilling to provide API
– consortial concerns
– time concerns (ultimately determined they couldn’t pull it off in the LSTA time frame)

Online Catalog 2.0 : where do we go from here?

what libraries can do?
– need to hire programmers if we’re going to embrace Library 2.0 (or grow your own)
– support vendors who are willing to release the API for their software and support third-party development of enhancements – or go open source! (even Microsoft is releasing its API these days!)
– insist on features that our “power users” want – because these are the features that the average user will want two years from now

what ILS vendors can do:
– anticipate user’s needs, and develop innovative products
– look at what libraries are doing with your products. implement some of their innovations as standard in the next version
– understand that no company can do it all and do it well. releasing your API and opening your software is a good thing

what catalogers should do:
– recognize we are competing with Google, Amazin, etc. – a little competition is a good thing. it can save us from complacency and inspire us to modernize our practices
– try to understand that user tagging is not the end of controlled vocabularies. can exist in tandem; helps provide user access at a different level, addresses deficiencies in subject access
– provide adequate subject access for all types of materials in all formats – regardless of whether you feel that the materials have “lasting value”

too often we catalog for cataloging’s sake

until we change the way materials are cataloged, any enhancements to an online catalog are tantamount to spraying pefrume on a skunk

we’re still working with rules that were applied for the card catalog

audience question: which scripting language to use?
Glenn: they went with coldfusion because it was available at the time and is very easy to adapt; can also go open source with PHP or Perl

audience question: any vendors that do share their APIs
Nanette: not sure, but their vendor said sure we’ll share it, but then wouldn’t
Glenn: uses same vendor, who says API is available, but it’s not what we would think of as an API

audience question: do you track users who download the Greasemonkey script for Amazon? seems to negate the “make it easy for me” concept
Glenn: haven’t tracked this; hopefully will be easier in future versions of Firefox because is clunky right now

audience question: looks like you’re saving user information to browser, are you encrypting it?
Glenn: using https if they want to connect using that; problems with vendor means they can’t do https on the vendor sign; don’t pass the user pin as part of the URL; use session number to go back and forth, which dies after the user session

audience question: keeping user profile on user IP address – what does that mean?
Glenn: it’s not the user’s IP, but if it’s internal or external

audience question: do you have anything on your site that goes back to the bookstores
Glenn: if there are no local comments for a title in the catalog, they’ll show Amazon reviews, with a link back to Amazon

il2006