opening the door: using endeca for a faceted catalog emily lynema ncsu libraries mlc: discovery...
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Opening the Door:using Endeca for a faceted catalog
Emily LynemaNCSU LibrariesMLC: Discovery & AccessMarch 2, 2007
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Why faceted navigation?
Information Foraging (Pirolli and Card) People seek maximum benefit for minimal
effort when searching for information People look for clues to determine if they are
on the right path Faceted results provide clues Help users help themselves
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
A question
“How is the new generation of library catalog being developed?” informed and enhanced by search
technologies developed outside of the library based on how our users know how to search,
not on how we want them to search What does search look like for our users?
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Existing OPACs are hard to use
Lots of topical searches and poor subject access keyword gives too many or too few results –
leads to general distrust among users authority searching is under-utilized and
misunderstood Relevance = system sort order Unforgiving on spelling errors, stemming Response time doesn’t meet
expectations of web-savvy users
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Valuable metadata is buried
Subject headings are not leveraged in keyword searching they should be browsed or linked from, not
searched Data from the item record is not
leveraged should be able to easily filter based on user’s
changing requirements using item type, location, circulation status, popularity
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
What’s the big picture?
Improve the quality of the library catalog user experience.
Exploit our existing metadata infrastructure (make MARC work harder).
Build a more flexible catalog tool that can be integrated with discovery tools of the future.
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
What is Endeca?
Software company based in Cambridge, MA
Search and information access technology provider for a number of major e-commerce websites
Developers of the Endeca Information Access Platform
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Why Endeca?
Customized relevance ranking of results Better subject access by leveraging
available metadata through facets Improved response time Enhanced natural language searching
through spell correction, etc. Browse
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Demo
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Relevance ranking
Based on a locally managed and customizable algorithm
Factors Query as entered most relevant Field match weighting (title > notes field) Number of fields matched
Lots of other levers and dials to tweak
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Faceted navigation
1. Availability2. LC Classification3. Subject: Topic4. Subject: Genre5. Format
11. Browse tab: New
6. Library7. Subject: Region8. Subject: Era9. Language10. Author
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
True browse
Regain ability to browse catalog without entering any search terms
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Added search tools
Automatic spell correction
“Did you mean…” suggestions
Automatic stemming Bookmark-ability
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
The nitty gritty
Endeca co-exists with SirsiDynix Unicorn ILS and Web2 online catalog Endeca handles keyword search Web2 handles authority search and detail
page display Endeca indexes MARC records exported
nightly from Unicorn Endeca = discovery portion of the ILS
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usage statistics
Requests by Search TypeJuly 06 - January 07
Search 67%
Navigation 8%
Search + Navigation
21%
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usage statistics
Navigation by Facet: July 06 - Jan 07
LC Classification21%
Format10%
Subject: Genre6%
New10%
Library10%
Subject: Topic26%
Other (< 5%)11%
Author6%
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usage statisticsNavigation by Facet: July 06 - Jan 07
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000
Author
Language
Subject: Era
Subject: Region
Library
Format
Subject: Genre
Subject: Topic
LC Classification
Availability
Requests
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usage statisticsDimension Value Requests
New NEW 56,286
Format Book 16,188
LC Classification Q - Science 12,462
Library Textiles 11,160
Library D.H. Hill 11,060
Availability Available 9,276
Library Online Resources 8,164
LC Classification T – Technology 8,052
Subject: Topic History 7,915
Format Online 7,858
LC Classification P - Language and literature 7,005
LC Classification H - Social Sciences 6,953
Language English 6,854
Subject: Region United States 6,298
Format Journal, Magazine, or Serial 4,621
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usability testing
10 undergraduate students 5 with new Endeca-based interface 5 with old catalog interface Identical searching tasks
Data collected Task difficulty/failure Task duration
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usability testing
Task Difficulty: Old Catalog
Easy43%
Medium12%
Hard22%
Failed23%
Task Difficulty: New Catalog
Easy59%
Medium12%
Hard7%
Failed22%
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usability testing
Average Task Duration:Old vs New Catalog
00:00.0 00:43.2 01:26.4 02:09.6 02:52.8 03:36.0
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Task 5
Task 6
Task 7
Task 8
Task 9
Task 10
Old Catalog
New Catalog
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Usability testing
For students, relevance ranking is key. July 06 – Jan 07: ~19% continued to page 2
Faceted navigation is intuitive, even for students who don’t use it.
Beware of library jargon “keyword anywhere”, “keyword in subject”
User behavior is influenced by previous experience.
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Freedom to build
Don’t underestimate the power to build… ‘CatalogWS’ -> web services
RSS QuickSearch integration Mobile phone search interface And more…
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
OpenSearch
Auto-discovery from HTML catalog search page.
Like a browser plugin, but easier to get.
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
More open doors
Within our institution Enrich results with external data Experiment with a work display model Bring additional digital collections into the
catalog’s search interface
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
More open doors
Outside our institution Momentum for change Ngc4lib Primo and other offerings from vendors Solr from the open source community
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
So what? It’s still just a catalog
1. Dismantle the old
2. Rebuild / exchange individual parts
3. Rebuild into something new
4. Repeat as necessary
MLC: The Library RebootedDiscovery and Access: the OPAC and Beyond
Thanks
NCSU project site (including slides): http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca
Emily Lynema Systems Librarian for Digital Projects [email protected]