1. The New Generation of Library Interfaces
Meeting the needs of today’s library users
Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technologies and Research
Vanderbilt University
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries
Denver, CO
March 14, 2008

2. Abstract
One of the major trends in library automation over the last few years involves the development of a new generation of interfaces to provide access to library collections and services through a more contemporary Web environment.  These products share a number of broad characteristics and features, aiming to be more in tune with the way that library patrons approach the Web today.  Marshall Breeding will give an overview of the new generation library interface arena, providing some points of perspective and comparison.  

3. Crowded Landscape of Information Providers on the Web
Lots of non-library Web destinations deliver content to library patrons
Google Scholar
Amazon
Wikipedia
Ask.com
Do Library Web sites and catalogs meet the information needs of our users?
Do they attract their interest?

4. Troubling statistic
Where do you typically begin your search for information on a particular topic?
College Students Response:
89% Search engines (Google 62%)
2% Library Web Site (total respondents -> 1%)
2% Online Database 1%
1% Online News
1% Online bookstores
0% Instant Messaging / Online Chat
OCLC. Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources
(2005) p

5. The best Library OPAC?

7. Demand for compelling library interfaces
Urgent need for libraries to offer interfaces their users will like to use
Move out of the 1990’s
Powerful search capabilities in tune with how the Web works today
User expectations set by other Web destination
Eg: iLink / iBistro introduced in 2000

8. Inadequacy of ILS OPACs
Online Catalog modules provided with an ILS subject to broad criticism as failing to meet expectations of growing segments of library patrons.
Not great at delivering electronic content
Complex text-based interfaces
Relatively weak keyword search engines
Lack of good relevancy sorting
Narrow scope of content

9. Typical Library Web site components
Books: Library OPAC (ILS module)
Articles: Aggregated content products, e-journal collections
OpenURL linking services
E-journal finding aids (Often managed by link resolver)
Local digital collections
ETDs, photos, rich media collections
Metasearch engines
All searched separately

10. Change underway
Widespread dissatisfaction with most of the current OPACs. Many efforts toward next-generation catalogs and interfaces.
Movement among libraries to break out of the current mold of library catalogs and offer new interfaces better suited to the expectations of library users.
Decoupling of the front-end interface from the back-end library automation system.

11. Working toward a new generation of library interfaces
Redefinition of the “library catalog”
Traditional notions of the library catalog are being questioned
Better information delivery tools
More powerful search capabilities
More elegant presentation

12. Redefinition of library catalogs
More comprehensive information discovery environments
It’s no longer enough to provide a catalog limited to print resources
Digital resources cannot be an afterthought
Forcing users to use different interfaces depending on type of content becoming less tenable
Libraries working toward consolidated search environments that give equal footing to digital and print resources

13. Comprehensive Search Service
More like OAI
Open Archives Initiative
Consolidated search services based on metadata and data gathered in advance
Problems of scale diminished
Problems of cooperation persist
Eg: Royal Library of Denmark

14. Web 2.0 Flavorings A more social and collaborative approach
Web Tools and technology that foster collaboration
Blogs, wiki, blogs, tagging, social bookmarking, user rating, user reviews

15. Web 2.0 supporting technologies
Web services
XML APIs
AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML)

16. The holy grail of New Gen Library Interfaces
A single point of entry into all the content and services offered by the library
Print + Electronic
Local + Remote
Locally created Content

17. Interface expectations
Millennial generation library users are well acclimated to the Web
Used to relevancy ranking
The “good stuff” should be listed first
Users tend not to delve deep into a result list
Good relevancy requires a sophisticated approach, including objective matching criteria supplemented by popularity and relatedness factors.
“Did you mean?” and other features to avoid “No results found”
More like this

18. Interface expectations (cont…)
Very rapid response. Users have a low tolerance for slow systems
Rich visual information: book jacket images, rating scores, etc.
Let users drill down through the result set incrementally narrowing the field
Faceted Browsing
Drill-down vs up-front Boolean or “Advanced Search”
gives the users clues about the number of hits in each sub topic
Ability to explore collections without a priori knowledge
Navigational Bread crumbs

19. Appropriate organizational structures
LCSH vs FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology)
Full MARC vs Dublin Core or MODS
Discipline-specific thesauri or ontologies
“tags”

20. Deep search Increasing opportunities to search the full contents
Google Library Print, Google Publisher, Open Content Alliance, Microsoft Live Book Search, etc.
High-quality metadata will improve search precision
Commercial search providers already offer “search inside the book”
No comprehensive full text search for books quite yet
Not currently available through library search environments

21. Beyond Discovery Fulfillment oriented Search -> select -> view
Delivery/Fulfillment much harder than discovery
Back-end complexity should be as seamless as possible to the user

22. Library-specific Features
Appropriate relevance factors
Objective keyword ranking + Library weightings
Circulation frequency, OCLC holdings, scholarly content
Results grouping (FRBR)
Collection focused (vs sales-driven)

23. Enterprise Integration
Ability to deliver content and services through non-library applications
Campus portal solutions
Courseware
Social networking environments
Search portals / Feed aggregators

24. Smart and Sophisticated
Much more difficult than old gen OPACS
Not a dumbed-down approach
Wed library specific requirements and expectations with e-commerce technologies

25. Architecture and Standards
Need to have an standard approach for connecting new generation interfaces with ILS and other repositories
Proprietary and ad hoc methods currently prevail
Digital Library Federation
ILS-Discovery Interface Group

26. New-Gen Library Interfaces
Current Commercial and Open Source Products

27. Common characteristics
Decoupled interface
Mass export of catalog data
Alternative search engine
Alternative interface
Hooks back into the ILS for holdings and patron services

28. Endeca Guided Navigation
North Carolina State University
McMaster University
Phoenix Public Library
Florida Center for Library Automation

29. AquaBrowser Library Queens Borough Public Library
Oklahoma State University
University of Chicago

30. Ex Libris Primo Discovery and Delivery platform for academic libraries
Vanderbilt University
University of Minnesota
University of Iowa

31. Encore from Innovative Interfaces
Designed for academic, public and special libraries
Nashville Public Library
Scottsdale Public Library
Yale University Lillian Goldman Law Library

32. OCLC Worldcat Local OCLC Worldcat customized for local library catalog
Relies on hooks into ILS for local services
Tied to library holdings set in WorldCat
University of Washington Libraries
University of California Melvyl Catalog

33. SirsiDynix No faceted search product currently available:
Enterprise Portal Solution
Rooms / SchoolRooms
iLink / iBistro (legacy)
Product based on FAST announced in March 2006 – withdrawn
Product based on Brainware Globalbrain announced in Nov 2007
Prototype Expected by April 2008

34. The Library Corporation
Indigo
Library Positioning Software

35. VUFind – Villanova University
Based on Apache Solr search toolkit

36. Library-developed solutions
eXtensible Catalog
University of Rochester – River Campus Libraries
Financial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

37. For more information
Next Generation Library Catalogs by Marshall Breeding
Library Technology Reports June/July 2007
ALA TechSource

38. Questions and Discussion