IL 2006: OPAC Tips and Tricks for Improving User Experiences

IL 2006: OPAC Tips and Tricks for Improving User Experiences
Glenn Peterson and Nanette Donohue

IL2006

Glenn is from Hennepin County Library (Oh yeeeeaaaaah!), where they do some fabulous things with their website and their catalog.  Glenn also founded EngagedPatrons.org, which provides web services for free for small libraries that may not have the staff to build them in-house.  In 2006, there have some OPAC developments.

• The ILS Customer Bill of Rights was written by John Blyberg
• Blyberg also created a new tool "patREST" (John's session on patREST is tomorrow)
• NCSU developed a catalog through Endeca, allowing users to match keywords to subject headings and other neat things
• There is a new listserv, NGC4Lib, to discuss : (NextGenCatalog4Libraries)

Catalog searching is (or at least has the potential to be) everywhere: in Amazon, Google, MySpace.  For example, if users are at Amazon.com and look at a book page, you can use LibX to see if the book is available a the library too.  Hennepin's has an Amazon script that does something similar that displays a clickable link that will take users into the library catalog, but the link also displays if the item is in the catalog already, on order, how many holds there are, etc.  Plus, the user is already logged in (so, when they get to the catalog, they can place the hold right away).  You can create a simple form for personalized Google pages that will allow users to search the catalog.  You can also create a library search box for a MySpace page, including a link that will let users download a script that allows them to put a library search box on their own MySpace page.

How can your library website and catalog work better together?  We want users to have a good experience and to save the user's time.  Glenn noted two approaches:
1) Vendors are offering portal products that bring library content into the catlaog interface.  This is useful for small libraries that may not have a substantial website yet.
2) You can integrate the catalog as one of the many web-based resources on your regular library webpage.

The Fort Collins Public Library, Ann Arbor District Library, and Phoenix Public Library are some good library catalogs to take a look at as examples of successful integrations.

There are four opportunities for synergy: linking to titles, linking to catalog searches, making your links smarter, and having a single log-in.
1) You can link to an individual title through an ISBN match, an accession number, or some similar identifying characteristics.  Title links can be used for booklists, newsletter lists, new book alerts via e-mail or RSS.
2) Linking to catalog searches: Create canned catalog searches for subjects to add to recommended resource guides, pathfinders, or readers' advisory as well (specific authors, genres, etc.).
3) Making your links smarter: Use ASP, PERL, PHP, ColdFusion, etc. which will let you keep your patrons logged in as they move around your site.  This sets a user profile based on the user's IP address, and keep the user logged in.  This passes the session credentials on and then redirects the user to the catalog.
4) Single Log-In lets the user's log-in information to be saved as a cookie, and clicking on My Account takes you right in--not asking you to log in one more time.  Information from the ILS can be extracted and displayed on the website so that the user doesn't have to leave the library's website, to go into the catalog, to view their account information.  The session information is stored in the URL, so the user can navigate throughout the site and still be logged in. 

**********************

Nanette is a librarian at the Champaign Public Library (my college hometown public library).  She is also a rock-hard dynamic speaker--I highly recommend you take the time to see her speak if you ever have the chance.  Nanette's presentation was entitled "Perfuming a Skunk, or, There's More Than One Way to Skin an Online Catalog."  (tee hee!)  She discussed the CPL experience with working on improving their library's website and catalog.  In their user survey they asked what features on the website they were using, what types of enhancements they wanted, and what they thought of the current site in terms of usability.  Most patrons reported that they came to the website to use the online catalog (sometimes ONLY to do that).  Many said they found the catlaog ugly and difficult to use.  They set some goals for their redesign:
1) seamlessly integrating the online catalog into the website
2) focusing on ease of use,
3) adopting features from online retail sites to make the catalog more exciting

During their planning process, they studied what other libraries were doing and to learn from their mistakes and successes and to troll for new feature ideas.  They had to coordinate with the administrators of their consortial library.  They took a look at AquaBrowser and Endeca as options as well.  They took public services staff opinions into consideration heavily, since they have the front line contact with the users and the questions and problems they have with the catalog.  They held a no-holds barred brainstorming session.  They prioritized features into "must have" and "can wait for phase two" lists. 

They encountered a few roadblocks.  The ILS was planning a major upgrade, so any changes they would make may be broken at that point.  The vendor was unwilling to provide the API for the catalog.  The consortium was concerned about maintaining the look and feel of the catalog across all libraries.  Time was also a constraint (as always).   

Where do we go from here?

• Libraries can hire programmers.  Libraries need to support vendors who are willing to release the API for their software and support third-party enhancements--or even better, go open source.  Libraries need to insist on catalog features that the library's "power users" want--because what they want now is what all users will want two years from now.
• ILS Vendors can start anticipating users needs and developing innovative products.  They should look at what libraries are doing with their products, and make some of these innovations standard in their next version.  They also need to understand that no company can do everything well, and that opening up their software to third party enhancements will benefit them in the long run.
• Catalogers can realize that they are competing with commercial sites, but it can inspire us to modernize our antiquated practices.  Catalogers need to understand that user tagging is not mutually exclusive with a controlled vocabulary.  User tagging helps provide access at a natural language level, and can help regular users access our materials on a subject-level without speaking cataloger language.  Catalogers need to provide adequate subject access for all types of materials in all formats--paperbacks, hardbacks, DVDs, everything. 

Her ending thought was that until we change the way materials are cataloged, any enhancements to an online catalog are tantamount to spraying perfume on a skunk.  Changing cataloging practices is the necessary first step to improving access to our materials.