widgets: what, why, where and which? kathy sadler, systems librarian eds conference, june 2015...

Widgets: what, why, where and which?

Kathy Sadler, Systems Librarian

EDS conference, June 2015

@tatielane

Alas, not that kind of widget.

• What– is an EDS widget?

• Why– would we want to bother with widgets?

• Where– can we put widgets?– can we get them from?

• Which– widgets were chosen or rejected at Cranfield

• Whither– some thoughts on the future

• Wishlist

They are called “apps” now

A bit about Cranfield

• Two campuses, Cranfield (near MK) and Shrivenham (near Swindon)

• Postgraduate only: Masters taught courses and Doctoral researchers

• We have our own airport

• We crash-test F1 racing cars

• We operate our own sewage farm and have invented a waterless toilet

• We are designing driverless vehicles for on-campus

SearchPoint at Cranfield

• Recent review whether we need discovery at all. Decided we did.

• Four EDS profiles for our discrete bodies of customers :

– Main campus (Kings Norton Library, Cranfield campus)

– School of Management (MIRC, Cranfield campus)

– Defence and Security (Barrington Library, Shrivenham campus)

– Alumni profile - specially negotiated resource packages; in development, working closely with EBSCO

• Widgets tailored to each profile

What is a widget?

• An bit of extra coding plugged into EDS via EBSCOadmin

• EBSCO call them “apps” now but they are still “widgets” in EBSCOadmin

But I am no programmer.

• I don’t know much html and I don’t know any javascript

• Plus I don’t have much time to devote to EDS

• Yet I have managed to come up with a fair number of widgets simply by copying templates and tweaking.

• Demo session on “how to” later today

• Or subscribe to EBSCO Apps & Cloud Services for free apps hosting and maintenance

Why should we bother?

• We want EDS to be the first stop

• But EDS doesn’t have all the content we subscribe to

• Nor does it reach all of everything else.

• Widgets can augment EDS to

– reach non-EDS content

– promote interaction with the library

– anticipate customer needs to provide timely information.

Where can we put widgets?

• Down the side of the results list

Where can we put widgets?

• At the bottom of a detailed record

Where can we put widgets?

• As a placard (“item matcher”) in response to a specific search

Where can we get them from?- #1 let EBSCO do the heavy lifting

• EBSCO Apps & Cloud Services

To access this page:

https://orbit.ebsco.com/apps

EBSCO Apps & Cloud Services

• Over 100 apps to choose from

• Annual subscription includesany non-premium app you want

• Tailored to your needs and maintained by EBSCO

• Only non-premium app so far is Curriculum builder

• Or request the code for free To access this page:

https://orbit.ebsco.com/apps

Where can we get them from?#2 Install the code yourself

• EDS wiki (known as “apps”)

• Each other

• Invent your ownTo access the wiki:

http://edswiki.ebscohost.com/EBSCO_Discovery_Service_Wiki

Wiki: detailed record widgets*

To access this page:http://edswiki.ebscohost.com/Category:Detail_Record_Apps

*as at May 2015

Wiki: result list widgets*

*as at May 2015

To access this page:http://edswiki.ebscohost.com/Category:Result_List_Apps

Which widgets did we choose?

• At first implementation: concern that customers need access to content that EDS lacks

• Originally EBSCO set up federated connectors to various destinations

• Unpopular (the dreaded yellow triangle!), EDS foundered for a bit

• Cranfield initiated a cross campus project to optimise and review EDS

• EBSCO developed widgets to replace the federated connectors

• Looking at what EBSCO had done, I realised that I could make my own

Which widgets did we choose?

• Started trial and error – Looked at wiki, listserv, webinars– What’s bright and shiny?– What can I actually do?!

• Used EDS test profile to experiment

• Showcased to information literacy librarians and asked their opinion

• Implemented those chosen for the various EDS profiles

Which widgets for the Results list?- Reaching non-EDS content

• We want customers to be able to get anywhere from EDS rather than starting at Google

• This widget from the Wiki picks up EDS search term and sends it to Google Scholar etc

• We extended the idea of carrying search over and applied it to key resources Scopus, NASA, ZETOC

• Design was deemed too easy to miss alternative destinations

• Widgets now separated out into individual destinations

Image changes with selection

Carrying search term to external destination

Click to search Scopus for search term (“water pollution”)

Pitfalls

• Widget isn’t very compact so scrolling needed to see them all

• Widget carries across the search term as used in EDS, coding and all.

So if you do a complex or combination search (eg author/title), that syntax may not be recognised in the destination

• Widget is based on premise that destination will allow a URL as an entry point to do a search

Some resources eg Factiva can’t accept openurls and just dump you at a search screen

Which widgets for the Results list?- library interaction

• Last in the list is our Twitter feed

Could also include a chat widget to “Ask a librarian”

Which widgets for the Results list?- library interaction

Ones that got away!

These two are based on the same design – a panel with wording and a button that goes somewhere

• Button goes to SurveyMonkey

• Widget not in use at the moment

• Button goes to “my account” in ILS catalogue

• Widget now replaced by button in EDS top menu

Which widgets for detailed display?- Link resolver

• “Custom link viewer” (from wiki) to open our SFX link resolver

• Why have it? – Offers route to full text without having to click the SFX button (or even know what it is)

Pitfalls of the SFX widget

• You still need to click through to the detailed record!

• Display logic. - SFX button doesn’t appear on every record but the widget does

• Widget is displayed open by default (the whole point is to save clicks)

• Looks a bit silly when there’s nothing to display

POST CONFERENCE UPDATE: Now fixed!

Widget can be hidden by adding “hide me”

jQuery to the code

Which widgets for detailed display?- Altmetric

• “Altmetric.com” (from wiki but then I tweaked it)

Scroll down... Right-click and

Open in new tab

Altmetric widget: “view more details”

Click tabs to view the news stories, blogs etc

Pros and Cons of the Altmetric widget

Why have it? • Interesting extra dimension to content• Eyecatching• Popular

Pitfalls #1: Display logic again• Relies on presence of a DOI• So I customised the delivered code to accommodate alternatives

Customisations

If there’s no altmetric activity for that DOI it gives some explanatory text

If there’s no DOI at all it offers a permalink to another EDS articlethat does have a good altmetric score

POST CONFERENCE UPDATE: No longer necessary!

Widget code in the Wiki has been updated so the

widget will be hidden if there is no DOI

Pitfalls #2: Imperfect metadata and de-duplication

These records are for the same article from Nature, harvested from two different sources.

No altmetric at all!

Which placard widgets?

• Anticipating customer intent

• Search box on library home page: customers might try using it to search library web content

• Widget offers “looking for this?” panels triggered by specific search terms

Which placard widgets?

• Library information– Opening hours – different for each profile– Library to library links eg “MIRC” from the main profile

• Popular or hard-to-find content eg– Harvard Business Review; the Economist– AIAA; SAE– BSI

• Databases and reference sites eg– Scopus– Factiva– Mendeley

Where do our EDS profiles differ?- Management library (MIRC)

• Detail page widgets – The same (SFX and Altmetric)

• Result list widgets– Company Profiles appear at the top (not a widget)– Fewer widgets - subject focus (not Scopus; not NASA)– Google/Mendeley/Wikipedia link still combined in one widget– No Twitter feed (MIRC homepage includes it)

• Placard widgets– Specialist resources (Thomson One; Mintel; Global Insight; Keynote)– Harvard Business Review; The Economist

Where do our EDS profiles differ?- Management library (MIRC)

Where do our EDS profiles differ?- Defence & Security library (Barrington)

• Detailed record widgets– The same (SFX, Altmetric)– Altmetric closed by default – click to open it

• Result list widgets have biggest difference

• Original motivation: provide links to every non-EDS resource referred to in “resources by subject” guides

– Link-list widgets designed and installed– Clean look preferred; no colours

Where do our EDS profiles differ?- Defence & Security library (Barrington)

These don’t support openURL so the links go to a search page

These links carry the EDS searchterm across with them

Where do our EDS profiles differ?- Defence & Security library (Barrington)

• However: – Confusion: why two separate lists? Combine into one…?– Got rid of both lists and made placards for each instead– Added a link back to subject-based library pages

Where do our EDS profiles differ?- Defence & Security library (Barrington)

• Eventually removed third column altogether – Clean, simple– Focuses on EDS

Pitfalls of lots of placards

• Response time became really slow

• EDS results very fast; but up to 5secdelay before the widgets resolved

• Each widget fires up javascript and JQuery to test for specific terms

• EBSCO helped us amalgamate all tests into a fast single logic sequence

• One widget to rule them all

Whither widgets?

• Champions for each profile control what widgets they contain

• Continual review; standing item on EDS Dev Group– Usage may dictate changes– Better options become available (check in EBSCO Apps)– What’s actually important?!– Requirement may reduce as EDS content develops

(eg switched off Mintel widget when Mintel was added to EDS)

• Use search logs (eg top search “RefWorks” so made a placard for it)

• Development is two way– I can offer new ideas if I spot them in wiki, listservs, webinars– Information Specialists can make suggestions

Widget wishlist

4. Widgets within the records on the results list (eg altmetric icons)

3. A bigger window for viewing/editing the html text

2. Ability to refine logic for when a widget appears in detailed record (similar to refining when customlinks appear)

1. Usage stats

POST CONFERENCE UPDATE: You can drag the window wider in Firefox and Chrome

POST CONFERENCE UPDATE: jQuery can be used to auto-hide widgets (must default to open)

Widget wesources

• Webinar on EBSCO Apps & Cloud Serviceshttps://vimeo.com/124553422

• Instructions in the Wiki on how to add themhttp://support.ebsco.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=4713

EDS wiki

Kathy Sadler 3soteric

Thank you!

• Any questions?

• Kathy Sadler,Systems Librarian+44 1234 754444

• k.e.sadler@cranfield.ac.uk@tatielane