Leveraging the Online Catalog: Exhibits and Demonstrations

The purpose of this project is to explore ways of extending the functionality of the online catalog at a time when many question its existence. In today's networked environment many feel that information discovery and retrieval can be adequately handled by the popular Internet search engines. However, more discerning users are beginning to appreciate the functionality and strength of structured search systems, which enable desired items to be retrieved more efficiently. This suggests that the online library catalog has potential in a networked environment for functions which have yet to be developed or explored. This project is intended to be a step in that direction.

The project was inspired by a presentation that Erik Jul and Thom Hickey of OCLC made at Iowa State University (ISU) Library in the spring of 1997. They encouraged the staff to think about leveraging the online catalog in order to provide more information about electronic resources and to reduce the maintenance of static HTML documents on the library's Web server. The crucial point they made was that, if the catalog is used as a tool for recording information about electronic resources and is kept up-to-date, then products derived from it would also be up-to-date, thereby keeping maintenance at a minimum and reducing the problems inherent in updating information that is used in more than one context. This suggested the value of generating multiple products or uses from a single information source.

During 1997 the ISU library systems staff experimented with developing various products from a small database of OPAC records using real time searches of the online catalog. One of the underlying premises of these experiments was that the library's Web gateway had to be capable of allowing searches to be specified in a URL. Another premise was that was that the display filters in the Web gateway should be modifiable so that the various derivative products would have their own look and feel. A third premise was that, in order to provide precision in retrieval, the database would be manipulated. Specifically, codes or subject headings were added to records so that they would be identified as electronic resources. The method chosen was dependent upon the capabilities of the search system.

The original exhibit at Iowa State University consisted of several examples of products that could be derived from real time searches of the demonstration database. The display filters had been modified, so that the brief record output appeared more like traditional Web pages and less like output from a catalog. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to maintain the demonstration database, which would be useful to compare with that of production systems that are not specifically tailored to enhance the retrieval of electronic resources.

The following exhibits illustrate not only ways of extending the functionality of the catalog, but also introduce a new way of thinking about the catalog as a whole. In what might be called the age of the Web the catalog needs to be integrated seamlessly with other tools for information discovery and retrieval. It cannot stand alone as a discrete entity. It is well known that users want content, and today's information environment is increasingly making it possible for content to be delivered in real time to the user's desktop. If the catalog facilitates access to content and makes that access as transparent as possible, it will continue to play a viable role in the information systems of the future.

Fundamental to introducing new functionality into the catalog and to producing derivative products from it is the ability to use a URL to specify preformed searches in the web interface. While all catalogs can perform basic searches, web interfaces vary in the degree to which they can accommodate special types of searches.

Preformed subject searches for library materials

An obvious application of this is to use preformed searches in course materials or in library guides to show users how to find materials in specific subject areas.

• A library guide on economics developed at the University of Northern Iowa.

Course Reserves

Links to library reserves may be placed in course specific materials. Several library automation systems have course reserve modules, which vary in functionality from simple lists to complex document management systems.

• This exhibit consists of a link to an Anthropology course at the University of Northern Iowa. The link could be placed in any web-based course management materials to lead students directly to the reserve list for the course.
• This link takes one to a course where materials are stored online in the course reserves system.

Preformed searches for known items

Closely related to reserves is the ability to specify preformed searches in new book lists or the bibliographies that instructors put online to help manage their courses. Searches for individual items will retrieve catalog records which have hypertext links to the materials, if they are in electronic form, or return the circulation status of the items, if they are print materials.

• This exhibit contains a modified segment of a bibliography for an English course at Iowa State University where the most of the materials are in print form.

Integration tools

One of the important extensions of the facility of online catalogs in the 1990s was the ability to link dynamically to them from databases, so that users may be apprised of the print holdings of materials found in searches of those tools. Early implementations of this required that both databases be on the same machine, but with the implementation of Web and Z39.50 interfaces in the mid-90s, it became possible to link between databases on different servers, with different user interfaces. After the year 2000 tools that use linking standards such as OpenURLs and DOIs became more common.

• The exhibit shows an SFX services menu such as might have been called up by an OpenURL link in a database. Note the link that leads back to the online catalog for information about print holdings.

Another integration technique is to use the catalog to point to specific resources within the large assemblages of full text materials brought together by aggregators such as Lexis-Nexis and the Gale Group.

• This link to the University of Northern Iowa catalog brings up all the full text journals that are available to users of Academic OneFile.
• This exhibit shows an SFX services menu for an electronic journal such as might have been called up by an OpenURL link in a catalog.

One of the original exhibits at Iowa State University showed how preformed URLs could be used to generate lists of resources either by resource type or by subject. The information was stored in a test database derived from the NOTIS online catalog. Although special subject headings were constructed to limit the retrieval of items to electronic resources, the extra maintenance that such a process creates compromised the advantage of using the online catalog. The record displays were configured so that that the brief record output looked like traditional Web pages.

The Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa examples in the current exhibit use general keyword searches of their catalogs, which are limited by a location code for Internet resources. This has turned out to be more effective than limits by material type (computer file), which are available in some systems. For one thing Internet accessible resources are only a subset of "computer files." For another Internet accessible resources have often been piggy-backed on bibliographic records for paper resources. The material types in such records are, of course, for print materials.

Better yet is the approach taken by the Bryn Mawr Innopac catalog, where a subset of the catalog has been created and can be searched as a discrete entity. With electronic resources identified in this way one has a degree of precision that supersedes most other approaches.

Combining the subject approach with the resource type (indexes, periodicals) results in better precision than the subject approach alone. Some years ago Cornell University Library designed an experimental web interface that allowed users to select a predefined topic, such as Literary Studies or Mathematics, from a pulldown list of subjects, and a resource category, such as Electronic Journals, Indexes & Abstracts, or Reference Sources. The search was sent through the Web gateway to Cornell's Z39.50 NOTIS server. The results of the search were bibliographic records that include hyperlinks to the resources described. Alternatively, users could enter their own search terms. The interface was never released at a production level.

Another option is to build a database of electronic resources outside the catalog, but derived from information in it. Cornell University Library's former Gateway was an example of this. Through partly automated procedures records were extracted from the online catalog and loaded into an SQL database on a Unix server where processing was completed. Users selected from predefined subject categories or entered their own search terms. Result sets could be qualified by resource type.

Library guides and pathfinders

An exhibit originally developed at Iowa State University shows how a library pathfinder of electronic resources in politics could be built from records in the online catalog. In this example the various components of the pathfinder are built through individual searches of the catalog. A more sophisticated approach would be to write a script that executes all the searches behind the scenes and puts together the final product for presentation.

An alternative approach uses searches to supplement a library pathfinder on the assumption that the online guide is selective and that a search of the online catalog would provide supplementary entries.

Additional ideas and references to examples of extending the functionality of the online catalog are actively solicited and may be sent to the email address below.

Comments: Jerry V. Caswell
Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa
1227 W. 27th St., Cedar Falls, IA 50613-3675
http://sites.uni.edu/caswell/cat/index.shtml
Last updated: 30 Apr 2010