Creating Usable User Interfaces With Voyager, ENCompass and Open URL Resolvers

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Creating Usable User InterfacesWith Voyager,
ENCompass and Open URL Resolvers

• David Lindahl
• Director of Digital Library Initiatives
• dlindahl_at_library.rochester.edu
• Jeff Suszczynski
• Senior Web Developer
• jeffs_at_library.rochester.edu

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Agenda

• Usable interfaces
• Catalog and Interlibrary Loan
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles
• Interfaces in the users context
• Courses Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID

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Usable interfaces

• Digital Initiatives Unit
• Web design process
• Technology
• Content Management System
• Cold Fusion Server
• Microsoft SQL
• Voyager (html)
• Illiad (html, variables)
• Encompass (XSLT)
• SFX (web service, SQL)

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Three Groups
Content group
Usability group
Design group
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Skills and Experience
Content group

• Library science
• Content
• Content providers
• User interfaces
• Users

Usability group
Design group

• Usability testing
• methods

• User interface design
• Visual design
• Web standards
• Technology

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Roles Responsibilities
Content group

• Define key tasks
• Raise issues
• Manage project

Usability group
Design group

• Select appropriate
• tests to perform
• Perform tests
• Report results
• Manage key-task
• process

• Create design iterations
• and prototypes
• Respond to issues and
• test results
• Manage issue-response
• process

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Agenda

• Usable interfaces
• Catalog and Interlibrary Loan
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles
• Interfaces in the users context
• Courses Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID

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Catalog and Interlibrary Loan

• Hide the technology
• Catalog (Voyager)
• Interlibrary Loan (Illiad)
• Library web pages
• Site style guidelines
• Technology
• Instancing
• Trial and error

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Catalog and Interlibrary Loan
Library website user interface
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DVDs and Videos

• Voyager (WebVoyage) just didnt cut it
• Not browse-able
• Cumbersome limits page to work through
• UC Berkeley
• Created a separate interface
• Search by keyword
• Browse by title, genre, language, and director
• Customized metadata display on results screen
• Automated system with data maintained in Voyager

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DVDs and Videos
Library website user interface
Cold Fusion UI queries SQL

• Scheduled PERL script
• Parse the blob
• Conditional logic
• Regular expression cleanup
• Save flat-text file

• Scheduled ColdFusion script
• Import flat-text file
• Populate SQL database

Record cleanup in Voyager
Voyager
WebVoyage
Oracle
PERL
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DVDs and Videos (Phase 2)

• Need to provide availability information on
  result selection screen
• Copied data not up-to-the minute
• Live circulation status on results screen

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DVDs and Videos (Phase 2)
Library website user interface

• SQL query to local database
• We have BIB and MFHD IDs
• SQL query to Voyager

Voyager
WebVoyage
Circulation Status
Oracle
PERL
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DVDs and Videos (etc)

• Based on DVDs and Videos, we built another
  system called CDs and Sound Recordings
• Highlights
• Staff only access to physical CDs
• Record manipulation
• Data extraction was similar to DVDs and Videos

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DVDs and Videos (etc)

• DVDs and Videos is related to FRBR
• Primary language expression level attribute
• Genre work-level attribute
• User needs for metadata
• Unknowingly implemented aspects of FRBR

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Find Articles (Federated Search)

• Serials Failure
• Difficulty selecting databases and subjects
• Wanted a no-knowledge-needed pathway
• Customized Encompass for Resource Access
• Simplified screens
• Eliminated choices
• Full text in two clicks

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Find Articles (Federated Search)
Encompass UI

• Enter keywords and select databases
• Select databases or SHOW ALL
• Select a result
• View metadata
• Select a full text source
• View full text online

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Find Articles (Federated Search)
Encompass UI

• Enter keywords and select databases
• Select databases or SHOW ALL
• Select a result
• View metadata
• Select a full text source
• View full text online

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Find Articles (Federated Search)
Find Articles UI

• Enter keywords
• Select a result
• View full text online

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Find Articles (Federated Search)
Library website user interface
View full text
Select article
Search
(Gather)
User
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Agenda

• Usable interfaces
• Catalog and Interlibrary Loan
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles
• Interfaces in the users context
• Courses Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID

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Course Pages

• Usability Issues
• Cumbersome Voyager course reserves user interface
• Difficulty finding reserves
• Subject guides not effective
• Connect to students at course level
• Syllabi w/ links to reserves
• Related library resources
• Disassociated with Voyager

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Course Pages
Library website user interface
Streaming
Web Server
Voyager
ColdFusion
WebVoyage
MS SQL
Oracle
PERL
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Find Articles For Your Course

• Need for a find articles capability that
• Uses appropriate, targeted databases
• No knowledge needed
• Course pages successful
• Top 10 webpage on library site
• Undergraduates identify their librarian
• Used by undergraduates as subject guide
  replacements
• Integrated article search box on Course pages

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Find Articles For Your Course
How?
Library website user interface
(gather)
User
HTML JavaScript
HTML JavaScript
XSLT
XSLT
XML
XML
Subscription Database
ERA Server
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Agenda

• Usable interfaces
• Catalog and Interlibrary Loan
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles
• Interfaces in the users context
• Courses Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID
• GUF

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SARA

• SARA Search And Retrieval Application
• ColdFusion as a metasearch platform
• Multiple concurrent Voyager searches
• Grouped-search-results page at Amazon.Com

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CUIPID

• CUIPID Catalog User Interface Platform for
  Iterative Development
• XML catalog
• User interface platform
• User Centered Design
• No knowledge needed
• Comprehensive and precise
• Advanced features

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CUIPID
Library website user interface
Google.Com
D.Y.M. Web Service
spell check
Voyager
Web Server
WebVoyage
ColdFusion
XML Parser
Oracle
MS SQL
Verity Index
PERL
XML files
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GUF

• GUF Get Users to Full-text
• Usability issue with OpenURL linking menus
• Computationally select the best resource
• Prioritizing targets
• Error handling
• Following redirects

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GUF
Library website user interface
Search
ILL login w/ request
GUF Server
Full text
Map to journal
Library Web Server
Subscription Database
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Creating Usable User InterfacesWith Voyager,
ENCompass and Open URL Resolvers

• David Lindahl
• Director of Digital Library Initiatives
• dlindahl_at_library.rochester.edu
• Jeff Suszczynski
• Senior Web Developer
• jeffs_at_library.rochester.edu