OPAC &The Bright Future

The Road Show

by John LittleILS Support Section HeadDuke University Libraries  

John.Little@Duke.eduNovember, 2007

   

Only Librarians like to Search, Everyone else likes to FIND

--Roy TennantOur online catalog is not very good at allowing users to find what they seek.

There are better options--Michael Norman (Content Mgt, UIUC)

A large and growing number of students and scholars routinely bypass library catalogs

in favor of other discovery tools

The catalog is in decline...--Karen Calhoun in a report the the LOC

March, 2006

Libraries are not visible to many users on the Web

Search Engines

89%

From Chip Nilges presentation 2007 about OCLC: Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005)

Library Web Sites(Catalog

+ other library web)

2%

A Sea Change in Thinking, Knowing, ...

Learning, and Teaching -- ECAR Research Study 2007Information Technologies provide a much wider range of capabilities for communicationHow does use of devices provide insights on cognition and learning?How does this sea change inform our designs?The Academy should rethink how we view the creation, sharing, and mastery of knowledge

Technology has changed education and made the old OPAC unusable in the changing educational environment                                         -- Luba Zakharov

Marshall Breeding's Trends    

Separation of front-end from back-endOPAC not necessarily best library interface Many efforts already underway to offer alternatives Too many of the resources that belong in the interface are out of the ILS scope Technology cycles faster for front-end than for back-end processes

Enterprise InteroperabilityInteroperate with non-library applications

Course Management Software Accounting  External Services

Shared Catalogs and Mass Digitization

To the Surrogates and Beyond!

WorldCatGoogle Book SearchGoogle ScholarMicrosoft LiveAmazon.comInternet Archive and the Open Content AllianceMetaSearch ("Wrong solution, right problem!" -- Calhoun Report)

Karen Schneider's To Do List

Do this FirstSpell Check (10% of errors)Ranking / RelevanceFacetingAvailability (on the main page)

"Fluffy Bunnies"  -- Do this tooBook JacketsWord CloudsTagging Rate/ReviewRSS

Chip Nilges' To Do List

1. Undock the search box from the portal2. Then get a better catalog

Discovery all in one placedigitized collectionsspecial collections physical collectionse-bookse-journalsand possibly content on the open web (Open Content Alliance), Google Books Search etc.

Three Basic Services

1. Discover - resources, services, expertise2. Deliver3. Share & Collaborate

Features of a Discovery Environment

DiscoverySearch system that produces better results for simple keyword searches (relevance)Faceted BrowsingSpelling correction - "Did you mean?"Visual Display - book jackets, etcQuick Search Response, fast SearchingIntegrated unified user interface that searches across digital and non-digital resources simultaneously (e-books, books, journals, electronic full text, other digital formats (audio, video).  Scope includes surrogates and full-text objects with meaningful results.

Features of a Discovery Environment

DiscoverySuggestions/Recommendations for further titles instead of only linking to subject headings (Amazon, LibraryThing) Quick ResultsFlexible ways to view search results, including relevance, popularity, or availability FRBR display (modern approach to editions)

Features of a Discovery Environment

Deliver and ShareEasy delivery of digital object or easily facilitate delivery/location of physical object Works seamlessly with share systems or citation holders.  e.g. citeulike, del.icio.us, connotea, zotero, Ref Works, End Note, RSS feedsTools to support the finding, gathering, use and reuse of scholarly content (e.g., RSS feeds, blogs, tagging, user reviews)Integrate with other applications, e.g. courseware (CMS), Amazon, Google Book Search, Worldcat, Metasearch, etc.