OPAC Search & Navigation

“OPAC Complainers” “There is certainly no dearth of OPAC complainers. You have Andrew Pace (OPACs suck), and Roy Tennant (You Can’t Put Lipstick on a Pig) writing and presenting about the need for change (more simplicity) in the OPAC world. I can appreciate their arguments for a simpler OPAC (not to mention the rest of the system) but other then present their arguments, neither has much in the way of suggestions nor have they sparked a movement among librarians or the automation vendors to do anything about the situation.” -ACRL Blog entry

NextGen OPAC The Next Generation OPAC is more than just a facelift Vivisimo clustered search (demo)demo Aquabrowser visual context (demo)demo RLG FRBR combined holdings (demo)demo Endeca faceted search (demo1 | demo2)demo1 demo2 More products on the horizon Innovative Interfaces “OPAC Pro” SirsiDynix Enterprise Portal System Ex Libris, Talis, et al  Web Services OCLC Custom Worldcat

Pursuit of Features Endeca, et al Relevance Ranking Faceted Browsing True Browsing (LC) Speed Spell-checking Automatic stemming “Did you mean…” Unicorn / Web2 Last-in / First-out Authority index links Query required As if… No

Background: The Libraries acquired Endeca ProFind software in May In anticipation of this acquisition, a Systems Department fellows project was assigned to Emily Lynema for to work on Endeca implementation and integration with our Sirsi Unicorn catalog. Charge: The implementation group is charged to: Review the documentation, software, and consult with Endeca implementation consultants to determine the range of issues associated with implementing Endeca ProFind Work with Endeca QuickStart team on facilitating site visit to determine functional requirements to prepare their Technical Specifications document Advise on integration and interface issues with Sirsi Unicorn Facilitate librarywide review of interfaces; conduct usability testing Endeca Implementation Team

Endeca Implementation Team Members Andrew Pace, Systems, Chair Cindy Levine, Research and Information Services Charley Pennell, Cataloging Shirley Rodgers, Systems Tito Sierra, Digital Library Initiatives Erik Moore, Systems, ex officio Emily Lynema, Systems, ex officio

Basic Architecture Endeca Data Foundry Endeca Data Foundry Endeca Navigation Engine Endeca Navigation Engine Endeca Presentation Server Endeca Presentation Server Raw Data Sources Endeca Studio Navigation Engine Indices Client Browser HTTP Offline ProcessOnline System Data Foundry Configuration XML

Tasks Endeca Quickstart: Functional Requirements and Technical Specification Deciding on the “Dimensions” Sirsi Extract User Interface

Topical subject Geographical subject Genre subject Chronological subject Call Number Classification Language Item Material Type Library Availability / Status Author New Books Dimensions Search/Sort Properties: Pub Year, Document status (e.g. GovDocs), Circulation Total (sort by most popular) Properties: Title, added authors, publisher, format, item information, etc.

Challenges Using LCSH like it’s never been used before Using LC Classification for collection browsing Integration with Web2 and authority searching Creeping Featuritis FRBR (“Record Rollup”) Authority File  Endeca Thesaurus Uncharted territory