Elephants – Description and travel

(Producing a new OPAC using existing MARC data)

http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/

Lloyd SokvitneSenior Manager (Digital Strategies), State Library of Tasmania

What is a new OPAC?

• Easy, powerful, client focused

• Expanded content, (capacity for interactivity)

• Single search box

• Easy browsing and refinement capabilities - FACETS

Our Project: TALISPlus

• To replace legacy OPAC called TALIS– purchased Verity K2 mid-2006– designed and implemented 2006/2007

• Alpha launch, client/staff feedback – April 07• Beta launch, open use, client feedback

– June 07

• Full scale promotion – September 07

New demands on underlying data

• Facets – to be effective they had to be:• consistent and correct• fit for purpose, clear understandable concepts

• Single box searching

• Ranking and sorting

Facets for search term “chess”• Fiction/Non-fiction

– Non-fiction (135)– Fiction (14)

• Format– Audio (6)– DVD and video(14)– Images (2)– Software (5)– Text (135)

• Genre– Crime (1)

• Audience– Adults (116)– Children (33)– Youth (1)

• Series– McKay chess library (2)– -- for Dummies (2)

• Availability– Lending (103)– Reference (47)– Online (2)

• Topic– History (14)– Chess (98)– Chess players (13)– Chess problems (7)

• Tasmanian– About Tasmania (7)– By a Tasmanian (6)– Published in Tasmania (6)

Format

• Had to create an effective browsable hierarchy• e.g. subtitled video as a subset of video• MARC record doesn’t provide a hierarchy

– conversion scripts create our hierarchy after ILMS export

• Used a local tag (590$a)• leader not used (didn’t handle mixed media items, multiple formats,

didn’t fit hierarchy)

• Issues• clean up (146 down to 40 terms)• changed/corrected terms, added terms• e.g. cd- rom, cd-rom, cd-rom compact disc, cd-rom dvd, cd-rom no

isbn, cd-rom serial, compact disc, compact disk cd-rom, compact disc cd-rom dvd, compact disc, computer disc, cd-rom

Genre

• There were 14 genre terms in use• fairly easy to produce – used LCSH • only available for Fiction/Adult books• but we were lucky, we had started adding in 2000• demand for more/new genre terms – ‘chick lit’

• Issues– not used for non-print (e.g. audio, DVDs)– not used for Junior and Youth Fiction

Fiction/Non-fiction

• Added local tag (592$a) based on a statistical categories in holdings record

– non-fiction are items without 592 fiction tag– music/realia went to non-fiction– bulk change

• Issues– Literature items in Reference Non-fiction –

current project to clean up ( to add 592 tag)

Audience – Adult/Youth/Children

• Used a local tag (591$a)– Records assumed to be Adult unless other rules apply

• Youth – new term– created via statistical categories in holdings record

• Issues– Some items need multiple audiences (e.g. music CDs)– MARC fixed fields no use

• often absent, terms too granular, only one code could be applied (not repeatable)

Series

• Variable data– corrections required– missing data

• being added over time

• Issues– when you offer clients a facet, the implication

is that you have all the data

Availability

• Complex concept– on shelf, or lending/reference, or online

• On shelf– done via real time query at full record display

• Lending/reference– from holdings, summarized on results display, updated

daily• Online

– complex translation of 856 (which otherwise yielded false positives for TOCs, etc) to 007 ‘cr’ – added in bulk

Subjects: topic/region/era

• Deconstructed LCSH– topic (6XX $a $x $v)

• topic and subfields became independent facets

– region worked well (6XX$z, 651$a)• worked well but still needed to clean up data

– era data (6XX $y)• chronological data available but not user friendly• 17,000 unique date ranges found, reduced to 1600 instances• no easy way to control into future

Subjects: topic/region/era

• Issues– subfields as topics allows sensible/non-sensible facet

choices– components that start out as a hierarchy now don’t always

make sense when offered as recombine-able facets

– e. g: India – Description and Travel and Elephants – India for same book allow a browse path Elephants ; Description and Travel

– looked at Dewey but 082$a tag too inconsistent• only ca 50% of non-fiction had Dewey number present

Tasmania – About, By, Published In

• Completely new access point– difficult and complex, still in progress

• Published in– searched for strings in 260 field, then added tma to

008/15-17• About Tasmania

– used Tasmaniana holdings to add 043 $a u-at-tm• By Tasmanian

– ‘Tasmanian’ authors list generated from Tasmaniana holdings, reviewed

Other data issues

• Searching (the single box)– e.g. serials became ‘Magazines and journals’ as a facet,

retained ‘serials’ in bib record, both places searched

• Sorting– e.g. date had to be modified to produce sensible sorts

• 10% missing or incorrect in 008/07-10; we used 260$c to fill in and correct 008

• Ranking– e.g. popularity algorithm

• based on circulation/holds ratio, had to get from circulation and holdings data

Summary - issues

• The MARC record is exposed like never before – what is missing or inconsistent really hurts

• The ‘new generation catalogue’ access points – aren’t simple outputs from your MARC catalogue

• Your catalogue is not the only source of data

Conclusions

• There are significant costs– to develop and maintain data

• There are real benefits– our users like it– an engaged cataloguing staff

• what they do really matters

• New catalogues, facets, etc are an evolving science (art)

Thank you for your attention

Please try it, learn from it (don’t make our mistakes), send us your comments, etc

http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/

Lloyd SokvitneManager (Digital Strategies)State Library of Tasmania

lloyd.sokvitne@education.tas.gov.au