Innovative Users Group – ALA Midwinter 2010

The midwinter IUG usually features a mixture of user presentations and Innovative updates. Read on for this year’s menu of goodies.

Single Sign-On
Jennifer Fritz
Dartmouth College

The Single Sign-On product requires an additional server that runs its own instance of Millennium. This implementation involves changing the hostname of the production server. Patrons point to the SSO server. Affiliated users without associated login credentials have to use the new server name.

Server information has to be changed in in a number of locations:

III manual URL
Web Management Reports URL
Self-check units
Millennium client
SSH client
Anzio spine label printing
Z39.50 connections
URLs in the OPAC and library website had to be updated
Blackboard

Innopac functionality is absent on the SSO server.

Sites cannot self-upgrade
Sites cannot place the certificate on the server without assistance from III

Some people do not want to be logged in as staff by default.

This site is software-only, so their implementation required collaboration between the library, campus IT, and Innovative Interfaces.

Implementing Encore at UNLV
Kristen Costello
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

UNLV has a main branch as well as Architecture, Curriculum Materials, and Music branch libraries.

The Innovative system is shared with UNLV, UNLV Law Library, College of Southern Nevada, and the Desert Research Institute.

For a number of years UNLV bought essentially all III products when they became available. Encore was one of those purchases although they were not able to deploy it immediately.

Encore is now the default search across the library website.

Encore 3.0 includes hold pickup and due date alerts.

Patron usability results

Patrons used the search box like Google
Facets weren’t obvious
Email was fine, but text to phone was preferred
Not clear how to return to Encore home page
Intermingled shared institutions holdings confusing

Encore Staff Survey Results

Not overly enthusiastic – prefer classic catalog
Problem finding specific items
Want advanced search options
Like facets

Suggested improvements

Allow or provide Javascripting add-ons
Advanced search option
View MARC display

Statistics from facets are available through Google Analytics.

Innovative Update
Betsy Graham

Release 2009B – 16 sites
Release 2009A – 474 sites
Release 2007 – 579 sites
Release 2006 – 155 sites

2009B will be a full Millennium release for many modules, but it won’t be available for another couple of months yet.

Encore: integration, context, relevance
Rice Majors

Rice noted that he wanted to use the theme of "deep integration" as a common thread for his Encore presentation. He’ll be touching on several areas:

Article integration
Millennium integration
Local content via harvesting
Community engagement
Widgets and more

Deep Article Integration

Article results now appear inline with other search results.
There are new article facets for "limit to full text" or "limit to peer reviewed" – if this data is passed from the vendor.

Deep Millennium Integration

Leverage local MARC and Millennium ILS data for new kinds of searching and refining.

Subject headings rendered as tag clouds make LCSH much more accessible to patron.

New facets – course or professor if search results include course reserves.

Integration of ERM so that patrons can see the various ways to access e-content.

"Availability" facet will be available – example uses DVDs listed in the catalog. Patron may want to view only those items that are currently available for checkout.

"Did you mean" suggestions appear. Example used – "Hary Poter and the Wizard’s Rock" yields a suggestion for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Authority records appear in result content as well. Following the authority records yields a very clean result set for things such as scores, sound recordings, etc.

Patron Record Integration

Patron alerts appear for logged in users. Patrons can see indicators about upcoming due dates or hold shelf pickup alerts.

Integrate local databases with Encore Harvesting Services

Puts resources in the information flow of the users

Lets patrons easily discover locally held content

Data can be shared via harvesting by OAI-compliant aggregators

Harvested records are interfiled with catalog results

With Encore, the user doesn’t have to consider:

What kinds of resources they prefer

What kinds of resources the library may own or have access to

How the library may organize its resources

For example, Encore can search the Millennium server, CONTENTdm, institutional repository, and other servers simultaneously.

Community participation: tags and tagging

Flickr, del.icio.us, Amazon, etc.

Added by users = folksonomy

Encore lets users tag bibliographic and harvested records

Encore uses subject headings to seed the tag pool

This seed pool lets patrons complement the work done by librarians while still leaving authoritative tags created by experts

Library of Congress & Flickr Commons

Tagging projects build public engagement with the library

Tags can add value by bridging formal and informal vocabularies. This also helps invest the community directly in the collection.

September 2009

59 Encore libraries are using ratings
395,410 ratings so far – approximately 5,900 per library
30 libraries with 1,000+ ratings

22 Encore libraries using reviews
12,342 reviews so far – approximately 411 per library
6 libraries with 500+ reviews

109 libraries using tags
73,855 tags so far – approximately 486 per library
16 libraries with 1,000+ tags

January 2010

65 Encore libraries are using ratings
540,368 ratings so far – approximately 7,243 per library
37 libraries with 1,000+ ratings

22 Encore libraries using reviews
12,734 reviews so far – approximately 411 per library
6 libraries with 500+ reviews

113 libraries using tags
101,399 tags so far – approximately 646 per library
20 libraries with 1,000+ tags

In just a few months there were significant increases in the number of ratings and reviews in Encore libraries.

Coming in Encore 4.0 – User Comments

This idea grew out of the historical photograph collections where users can add value and context by telling a story about a record. This isn’t really a rating, review, or tag. It’s a true comment.

Encore 4.0 will also have a passthrough search to WorldCat. This can be customized according to local preferences.

Google Books integration will added in Encore 4.0 allowing patrons to search within the content of Google books.

A Meebo chat widget will be available in Encore.

In Encore 4.0, selected staff can promote specific titles to get higher rankings in search results. For example, a title search for Chemistry which retrieves 1950s textbooks shouldn’t necessarily put all of those at the top of the list. Librarians can promote certain titles so that they can receive higher rankings.

These widgets (Meebo, Google books, etc.) will not automatically be added to the webpac because libraries can already do this for themselves. As a result, these are not targeted for webpac integration.

Implementing Research Pro
Richard Guajardo
University of Houston, Texas

Research Pro was rolled out in conjunction with the Encore release at University of Houston.

When returning search results, Research Pro starts with the first resource to finish.

Users can create custom lists of databases within their patron accounts.

Libraries can choose five databases to be pulled into Encore search results.

Digitization Projects on a Shoestring
Aimee Fifarek

Scottsdale Public Library, Arizona

Scottsdale will use a photo of the week to solicit user comments to help further develop the metadata on their images.

A lot of their digital library work has been funded by grant money. Much of the work has been done by volunteers.

Scottsdale is using Content Pro as their digital library platform.

OLE: The Open Library Environment Project

The Open Library Environment Project: Building an ILS for Service Oriented Architecture Integration
McCormick Place West, Room: W-196a

Beth Forrest-Warner, University of Kansas
John Little, Duke University
Robert H. McDonald – Indiana University
Carlen Ruschoff – University of Maryland

What is the OLE Project?

Community source alternative to current ILS

International participation from libraries and consortia
100+ institutions, 350+ individuals

Planning phase: September 2008 – July 2009

The goal is to have a reference implementation model available in 2011

Why OLE?

"Our current library business technologies cost too much and deliver too little. We need to rethink our services and workflows, and to use technology that enables innovation rather than locking us into the status quo."

There is a growing need for library systems to integrate with other enterprise systems: Financial, identity management, course management, content management

Library technology systems have not kept pace with changing users and a changing information environment.

OLE Campus

Manages locations
Manages resource subscriptions
Integrated into: course/learning management system, accounting, student/HR, consortia
Flexibility
Community Ownership
Service oriented architecture
Enterprise-level integration
Efficiency
Sustainability

Audience poll: What do you think is most critical to the future of your library? (From above list)
Respondents ranked Flexibility as being much more important than Sustainability.

Why OLE now?

Current ILS products are inadequate
Growing need for library systems to interact with other enterprise systems
Vendor consolidation

Community Source Projects

A group of institutions sign an agreement to contribute specific resources. Under this model there is an established level of buy-in as opposed to open source in which a community may or may not develop. The Community Source participants have an ongoing commitment to participation and support.

Have sustainability over the course of the product development
Invest in the community of practice for long-term support and development
Fosters innovation and shared knowledge
Coordinates institutional goals rather than individual goals

Looking at better integration and interoperability with campus enterprise systems – not just "tacking on". Why are we looking at our own patron databases? Those are campuswide functions. This will ultimately result in more efficient processes and better use of campus investments.

From Theory to Reality

Approximately 30 months build time.
The project will build on existing pieces.
RICE – Enterprise level middleware

Kuali Nervous System
Kuali System Bus
Kuali Enterpise Workflow
Kuali Enterprice Notification
Kuali Identity Management

Use Existing systems
Existing data feeds
Open ERM data
Shared database feeds

Two Year Timeline

Year 1 Deliverables (will focus on one of these)
Management of Electronic Resources Services
Leased and owned eContent
Peer Resource Sharing Services
Sharing content – peer to peer
Sharing workflow – consortial
Acquisitions
CRM

Year 2 Deliverables

Integrations
Orchestrations
Functional Scope

Risks of Participation

No CS project has yet failed, but . . .
Achieve consensus
Acquire sufficient resources
Deliver software of adequate functionality
Problems could arise with contract software
Adoption
Build sufficiently large vendor services community

Benefits of Participation

Cost savings
Access to emerging technologies
Use monetary resources in a productive and directly influential fashion
Leverage ROI on campus for enterprise systems

Build partners are agreeing to put some portion of OLE into production. At the end of the 30-month build cycle, it will be possible to close out at least one module from the legacy ILS in favor of an OLE module.

Cash Contributions Needed

$5.2 million total partner contribution
7 partners – $185k per year
6 partners – $216k per year
5 partners – $260k per year

IUG 2009 – Release 2009 Development Update

Betsy Graham

Innovative Interfaces

 

DISCLAIMER: This is not a comprehensive list. These are the things that caught my attention as Betsy moved through the session.

 

Release 2009a out is in testing now and will be out in early June.

Release 2009b is expected in fall 2009.

 

Preliminary Enhancements Lists for both releases are now up on CS Direct.

 

Architectural changes to full system to enhance stability and data protection.

Over 250 maintenance updates.

Some product features.

 

Q. from audience – will there be a new client download?

A. Yes.

 

You do not have to go to release 2009a. You can wait until 2009b in the fall.

 

Notes for Release 2009a  - Product Features

 

Program registration

No conflict room booking

E-mail reminders

New calendar look

Announcements

Program images

 

Research Pro

Integrated sign-on with WebPAC Pro and Encore

2.0 Connectors

 

Express Lane 2009a Product Features

Patron message display

Alternate ID

Zip code suppression

Fast renew

User interface upgrade

 

Millennium circulation

Can now show the last four patrons instead of just the last one.

 

AirPAC for iPhone

Looks very good. iPhone native look.

 

My Account Web Services API

Position library account in a portal

Checked out items

Holds

Fines

Bookings

Read-only access to patron data

 

API will require library-side programming.

 

Notes for Release 2009b

 

Acquisitions

Add monographic claims to print templates

15 character fund codes

 

Cataloging

Allow removing a record from a review file without having to leave Global Update

 

Circulation

Add circulation notices to print templates

Allowed checked out materials to be added to course reserve lists

Batch extensions of due dates for missed bookmobile stops

Check for conflicts when using repeated bookings

Check-in an item without triggering a local hold (derived from "check in damaged" request)

Circa can do shelflist comparison.

Working on adding a component for RFID and non-RFID sites.

Process PC Transactions is moving into Millennium.

 

Electronic Resource Management

Link license reocrd to multiple resource records

Cost per use for manually imported counter-compliant data

 

General/Systems

Patron records can have mandatory fields

Patron records can use validity checking (can’t save e-mail address without @ symbol, can’t save telephone number unless it is 10 digits long, etc.)

 

Logins can be copied (big applause from audience)

Numbers can be used in "initials"

There will be a manager controlled option to reorder/modes on left-hand navigation

 

Serials

Additional templates for card creation to cover irregular but frequently used patterns.

 

WebPAC Pro

PayPal is supported as an e-commerce option.

Working on a better workflow in My Lists function.

Every webPAC page will have a printer-friendly link.

Sort reading history

Display loan period for course reserves

 

WebPAC Pro Feed Builder

Users can subscribe to a feed based on a search query

It will be possibly to manually start a feed.

If a feed includes a link to an external source, the proxy will be able to rewrite it.

 

New Products for 2009b

SMS alerts for US users

Volume holds

Content Pro

Encore Reporter

 

Q. from audience. Will Encore Reporter require another server?

A. Yes. It will. Encore uses a different set of technologies. Tried to design the service so that the main OPAC server wouldn’t take a performance hit.

IUG 2009 – Some Secrets of Successful Scripting and Statistics

Harvey Hahn

Arlington Heights Memorial Library

 

Another really good session. Lot’s of detailed work here. Grab Harvey’s presentation materials.

 

Script imitates what a person would perform. The script performs a series of Windows actions that often involve entering, modifying, or deleting data.

 

Dumb scripting cannot respond to what appears on the screen.

Smart scripting can read the data on the screen and can react to screen behavior "intelligently".

 

Scripting considerations

A script can send keystrokes faster than Windows can process them

Programmers need to insert delays after Send commands to permit Windows to catch up

The delay value should be at least 2/10ths of a second

 

Millennium scripting tip

If there is a keyboard shortcut available, USE IT before trying mouse clicks. Keyboard shortcuts are the easiest and most reliable.

 

A script must wait until a given window is ready for action.

It might also need to check for the possible appearance of an optional window.

Watch out for surprise windows with error messages.

 

If you can highlight it you can read it. If you can’t highlight it, you cannot.

 

The standard way of getting data off the screen is by highlighting it and copying it.

It’s standard practice to clear the clipboard before copying any data to it.

IUG 2009 – Circulation Development Updates

Eric Leckbee

Innovative Interfaces

 

Release 2009 will be released in two segments: r2009a and r2009b

r2009a will be available soon, r2009b will be available in the fall

 

It looks like there will be a lot of circulation updates in the next release. Here are some of my faves.

 

When an item is renewed in the webpac, it is renewed under the statistics group of that particular webpac login. With the enhancement, the renewal will take place under the statistics group of the original circulating terminal.

 

All patron message fields will be displayed in a single popup.

Batch checkin will be available in millcirc.

The ability to process offline files will be added to millcirc.

 

All items associated with a Locations Served will be placed on a single circ notice.

 

All notice types can be customized under the new release.

Separate formats will be allowed for e-mail and print notices.

 

Mandatory fields!

There will be an option to require the existence of a particular variable field. WOOT! Here ya go, Robbie!

 

There will also be an option to require a variable field to pass a validity check, for example checking an e-mail address field for the character.

 

Circa

III’s wireless circulation tool. This will work on any device that has a web browser.

It provides: inventory control, check-out/check-in, count internal use, rapid update, shelflist

Display will only show the modules for which a user is authorized.

From the description it sounds like Circa’s power is really unleashed if you have RFID. Under this model, a user can scan the beginning item in a range, scan the ending item in a range, then run an RFID wand along the selected range. No pulling of books off the shelf! No scanning of barcodes!

 

SMS alerts

Hold pickup alerts via SMS

Alerts are sent at library specified intervals

Library specific text

Library specified time sent intervals

This service is hosted by III – the library subscribes with III.

This is a patron opt-in service.

 

Eric Leckbee

Innovative Interfaces

 

Release 2009 will be released in two segments: r2009a and r2009b

r2009a will be available soon, r2009b will be available in the fall

 

It looks like there will be a lot of circulation updates in the next release. Here are some of my faves.

 

When an item is renewed in the webpac, it is renewed under the statistics group of that particular webpac login. With the enhancement, the renewal will take place under the statistics group of the original circulating terminal.

 

All patron message fields will be displayed in a single popup.

Batch checkin will be available in millcirc.

The ability to process offline files will be added to millcirc.

 

All items associated with a Locations Served will be placed on a single circ notice.

 

All notice types can be customized under the new release.

Separate formats will be allowed for e-mail and print notices.

 

Mandatory fields!

There will be an option to require the existence of a particular variable field. WOOT! Here ya go, Robbie!

 

There will also be an option to require a variable field to pass a validity check, for example checking an e-mail address field for the character.

 

Circa

III’s wireless circulation tool. This will work on any device that has a web browser.

It provides: inventory control, check-out/check-in, count internal use, rapid update, shelflist

Display will only show the modules for which a user is authorized.

From the description it sounds like Circa’s power is really unleashed if you have RFID. Under this model, a user can scan the beginning item in a range, scan the ending item in a range, then run an RFID wand along the selected range. No pulling of books off the shelf! No scanning of barcodes!

 

SMS alerts

Hold pickup alerts via SMS

Alerts are sent at library specified intervals

Library specific text

Library specified time sent intervals

This service is hosted by III – the library subscribes with III.

This is a patron opt-in service.

IUG 2009 – Robots-Crawlers-Spiders – Automated Searches and Your WebPAC

Mark Welge

Innovative Interfaces

 

Robots can cause increased load on the public catalog.

The crawer tries to follow every link embedded in catalog pages.

The creawlers send search requests at very high volume and speed.

 

Robots exclusion protocol – depend on voluntary cooperation on the part of search engine providers.

 

Robots.txt

Read from directory above "/screens"

Publicly viewable

Might be ignored by an ill-behaved crawler

 

This file is publicly viewable, but it is not directly controllable or configurable by the library.

 

Innovative’s Strategy with Robots.txt

Allow access to mainmenu.html

Give legitimate search engines a chance to index the main page of catalog

Update robots.txt file with software releases

Extend blocking to new command links

 

http://my.library.edu/robots.txt

 

Robots.txt allows Googlebot for google Scholar. This allows crawling of both / and /screens.

 

Recognizing a problem with crawlers

System slowness

Numerous searches submitted from an "outside" IP address

In a very short time span

In systematic patterns not typical of human users

 

Check "non-local access attempts allowed" through the character-based interface.

 

http://www/.hostip.info

 

If an IP lookup on an address returns something suspicious, add an entry to the http access table and set the access value to no.

 

Usage analysis in Release 2007

Apache server

Layer in front of WebPAC

Logging of search activity

Available a zip file 1 day later

Downloadable for analysis with 3rd-party tools

These logs are maintained fror 30 days

 

Retrieval of "robots.txt" by well-behaved crawlers will be posted to this log.

 

Searching for apache in the list of process

Restart terminal menu

Show all, Limit by httpd

IUG 2009 – Millennium and XML – Repurposing and Customizing Catalog Metadata

Dao Rong Gong

Lucas Mak

Michigan State University

 

As a quick note to self, this looks like it could be very useful for a pending project I have in mind. Can’t wait to get my hands on the conference presentation handout.

 

Innovative uses its own type of XML data. This can be retrieved through HTTP queries.

 

The data arrangement is based on MARC fields, but MARC fields and their subfield are siblings.

Two types of XML records that can be retrieved from Millennium: Brief records and full records

 

The Millennium System and XML

Encore has built-in functionality that allows it to harvest OAI-compliant services.

 

XSLT

Manipulation of XML documents by creating a new document based on

 

XSLT uses Xpath expressions to select/filter the data node

 

Sunday School books collection

Needed to batch load records into Content Pro. Original data source is based on MARC.

 

One option is to create a list of records as a review file. Records could then be converted to Qualified Dublin Core using MarcEdit.

 

Used an HTTP query to request the Innovative XML. Then turned that into Qualified Dublin Core with XSLT.

 

Issued with Converting Innovative XML Data

 

Data is structured differently from MARC21 XML

Availability of existing "Innovative XML to DC/QDC" XSLT?

 

Not optimized for data manipulation

Complications in data selection

Selection of data node by matching criteria against values in individual elements

A series of matching may be needed just to be able to select one node

IUG 2009 – Encore Implementation – One Academic Library’s Experience

Christopher Brown, Elizabeth Meagher, Sandra Macke

Penrose Library, University of Denver

 

This library didn’t do any advance publicity in advance of their Encore deployment. They just turned it on and let it run. There was only one complaint from a single faculty member.

 

With this approach they felt that the system was intuitive enough that patrons would just "get it," and that has proven to be the case.

 

Professors can use community tagging as a way to create virtual reserves.

 

The library selected keyword searching as the starting point for several reasons.

More Google-like

Works quite well for known-item searching

Is much faster than regular catalog

Has no limits to result set (traditional opac maxes out at 32,000 results)

 

During the implementation, they found that serials appear at the top of the results sets. This library considers this an added bonus to Encore.

 

The library hope to make their catalog become the ultimate reference tool for their institution. Along with this, they have a goal to make the searching the OPAC at least as easy as browsing the reference shelves.

 

The library currently has about 250 tags created through the community tagging system.

 

The library rolled out what was a fairly canned implementation of Encore. After rolling out, they began revising the catalog based on input rolling in from students and reference librarians.

 

Encore also helped reveal things relevant to database maintenance. For example, when a feature film showed up with a 3-D object facet, this threw up a red flag that something was wrong. When you’re skimming through records and facets, you can look for the things where only one item appears. Surprisingly, this helps problems bubble to the surface so that they can be found and corrected.

 

An audience question led to a reiteration of the point that the Penrose Library just put this out there. They bought it, turned it on, and let the public have at it. From Christopher: "Customers today understand that. Google does this all the time. They put something out there, and if it breaks, it breaks. We did it that way, and I would do it again."

 

"The first day out of the box it’s pretty good. Then you just tweak it."

 

Encore cannot handle all of the JavaScript enhancements that are possible in the traditional catalog.

IUG 2009 – Finding Your InnerHTML – Using Dynamic HTML to Change the Unchangeable

David Kuhn

Monterey Public Library

 

Several random notes from the presentation. Track down David for his presentation materials. Lots of detailed examples.

 

 

Things to remember

JavaScript operates asynchronously – it doesn’t wait for something else to finish before going on to the next command.

You can’t change code until it’s rendered.

The code you see isn’t always what your browser sees.

And of course – Firefox and IE render differently.

 

Seeing what your browser sees:

Surround the section with <div> tags

Give it a unique ID.

Add script: <script>alert(document.getElementByID(assigned id).innerHTML);</script>

 

Add new content

Add <div id=“someid1”></div> to your code where the new content is to appear

 

End your javascript code with:

document.getElementbyID(‘someid1’).innerHTML=your new content

 

Modify existing content

The smaller the section you modify, the better.

 

Making changes to Content

Identify a unique marker in the text

Use search and replace to change the text

Regular Expressions highly recommended

 

What about System Generated pages?

Add <div id="someid"> to toplogo

Add </div> to botlogo

Put your script in botlogo

Identify unique markers on the page so your script can identify it.

This script will appear on every page of the catalog. You need to find a way to trigger or not trigger the script according to what you want to do.

 

Examples

Add new content – Dynamic RSS feed page, Printer friendly export book page

Modify existing content – View patron record, preferred searches

 

Final considerations

Do not hang too many lights on the tree!

Software upgrades:

May break your modifications

Your modifications may break the page

IUG 2009 – OAI Harvesting for Encore

DeeAnn Allison

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 

The goal is an integrated search that brings together the UNL catalog with all of the unique digital collections being created.

 

Search the catalog along with other resources.

Empowered account holders can add their own tags.

Send searches to ResearchPro to find articles

 

Library has a number of multimedia collections in CONTENTdm – still images, audio, video, and data.

Over 67 collections with over 189,000 items in the collection.

The CONTENTdm data is shared by many departments across campus, it can be difficult for the library to know when and how often content is updated. There may also be issues wit data quality since the library doesn’t handle all data entry duties.

Also needed to pull in EAD and TEI data.

 

Worked with OAI-PMH2 tool from Virginia Tech.

http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotocol.html

 

The library is more interested in being a data provider than in being a search engine developer.

 

Brought together data from various collections through Encore.

 

What should we catalog vs. what should we harvest? Ideally, they would prefer to harvest. Collection has many legacy records that were cataloged. However, there are many harvested TEI records that have to be cleaned up. Harvesting is the goal, but they are still working through some data issues.