The Future of OPAC Interfaces Jamshid Beheshti, Ph.D. Director Graduate School of Library & Information Studies McGill University

Timeline

The Current State Web-based OPACs Z39.50 client/server Linking Unintegrated systems

Source: W. Arant & L. Payne. The Common user interface in academic libraries: myth or reality? Library Hi Tech, 19(1), 2001: Unintegrated system

Trends Library Portals (Integrated system)  Ex Libris SFX Open URL Context sensitive linking Content management DOI Authentication & authorization Personalization Context-sensitive help facilities

Source: W. Arant & L. Payne. The Common user interface in academic libraries: myth or reality? Library Hi Tech, 19(1), 2001: Integrated system

Interfaces: Past Research Menu sequence where options are offered influence user selection Option for quick-searching needs of majority of users should be presented first Avoiding too many options Easy navigation among screens Arranging postings in a helpful order Displaying subject headings as the first element Reducing the amount of screen scanning to find subject headings Many users only read the center of the screen – avoiding too much information on the screen Avoiding jargon Providing browsing facilities through a familiar metaphor

Interface Design Understanding the user base  Users  Expectations  Expertise Understanding the information base  Entities  Attributes  Standards

DomainRetrieval Expert Novice Expert Novice Users

Interface Design Physical screen design  Density  Number of options  Colour  Navigability  Consistency  Tolerance  Ease of use

Interface Design Issues  Labels  Visible indexes  Completeness  Metaphors

Isys Information Architects Software must assist the user perform a task, not become a task in itself Software must not make the user feel stupid Software must not make the computer appear to be stupid

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

OPAC Messages A.B. Credaro©2002A.B. Credaro© Credaro,A.B.(2002). Computer Error Messages for Library OPACs. Warrior Librarian Weekly

Designing the User interface Ben Shneiderman. Designing the User Interface. Goals of User-Interface Design 1. Time to learn 2. Speed of performance 3. Rate of errors by users 4. Retention over time 5. Subjective satisfaction Accommodation of Human Diversity 1. Physical abilities 2. Cognitive and perceptual abilities 3. Personality differences 4. Cultural and international diversity

Rebecca Denning, Marie Shuttleworth and Phil Smith Information Retrieval Principle 1. Help the user develop an understanding of the operation of the interface and the search process. Principle 2. Provide information to help users judge the value of continuing a search path. Principle 3. Assist the user in refining the search query or search topic. Principle 4. Avoid complex navigation. Principle 5. Make the system actions explicit to the information seeker. Principle 6. Provide verbal labels suggestive of meaning.

Our Research Andy Large & Jamshid Beheshti Objective:  To investigate how children think an ideal educational web portal should be designed  What are the specific design criteria that the users themselves, rather than professional (and adult) designers, would elaborate? Methodology:  2 design teams 6 children from grade-three class 8 children from grade-six class  Over a period of 8 weeks  Teams produced designs based on an information architecture matrix

Future Directions (Sun Corporation)  The shift from text and image-based systems to audio and video will continue  Broadly accepted best practices will emerge for digitization, rights management, preservation, metadata encoding, and other key digital library processes  New technology services will enhance the scholarly communication process, including user-provided book reviews and evaluations, reputation management systems  Creation of cooperative solutions for long-term preservation.  Digital libraries and learning management systems will be routinely integrated “Digital Library Technology Trends," published by Sun Microsystems

VxInsight(TM), a tool for discovering relationships within large databases, may help analysts uncover strategically important connections and patterns.

PACE Jamshid Beheshti Custom software application Public Access Catalogue Extension  A graphical interface designed for browsing library catalogues  Uses descriptive data embedded in MARC records to simulate images of a books

PACE Tested in a college library in a field experiment against a second-generation OPAC Results show:  A simple browsable search mechanism worked as well as a sophisticated online system  More than 80% of students preferred the simulated images of books in PACE to the traditional OPAC

VPACE Virtual PACE extends PACE to include digital information by using MARC Tag 856 containing the URL Uses a simulated library with dynamic movement Subject Headings may be used for exploring further the local databases or the Web