Creating Usable User Interfaces with Voyager, Encompass, and SFX

1
Creating Usable User Interfaces(with Voyager,
Encompass, and SFX)

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

2
Agenda

• Usable interfaces
• Voyager and Illiad interfaces
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles (Federated Search)
• Interfaces in the users context
• Course Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID
• OpenURL Knowledge Bases (SFX, LinkFinder, etc)

3
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
• Voyager and Illiad interfaces
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles (Federated Search)
• Interfaces in the users context
• Course Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID
• OpenURL Knowledge Bases (SFX, LinkFinder, etc)

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Voyager and Illiad interfaces

• Why?
• Need for a consistent, usable interface
• Multiple library technology products with
  different interfaces
• Library web pages
• Voyager
• Illiad

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Voyager and Illiad interfaces

• What?
• Consistent user interface
• Follow site style guidelines
• Instancing
• Trial and error
• Voyager Demo
• Hidden Reset button
• Graphic buttons replaced with text links
• Illiad Demo

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Voyager and Illiad interfaces
How?
Library website user interface
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DVDs and Videos

• Why?
• Common queries were for specific titles, genres
  and directors
• Voyager (WebVoyage) just didnt cut it
• Not browse-able
• Cumbersome limits page to work through
• Integration with website
• UC Berkeley example

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DVDs and Videos

• What?
• Web interface for searching and browsing DVD and
  Videos collection
• Fully automated system
• Maintain data in Voyager
• Allow users to search by keyword, and browse by
  title, genre, language, and director
• Customized metadata display on results screen
• Demo

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DVDs and Videos
How?
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)

• Why?
• Need to provide availability information on
  result selection screen
• Copied data not up-to-the minute

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DVDs and Videos (Phase 2)

• What?
• Live circulation status on results screen
• Demo

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DVDs and Videos (Phase 2)
How?
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

19
Find Articles (Federated Search)

• Why?
• Meet expectations
• Difficulty selecting databases and subjects
• Support a no knowledge needed pathway

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Find Articles (Federated Search)

• What?
• Encompass for resource access (ERA)
• Customized interface
• Simplified screens
• Eliminated choices
• pre-selected databases
• Skipped screens
• Intermediate Results
• Object
• Metadata (database vendor site)
• 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

22
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

23
Find Articles (Federated Search)
Find Articles UI

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

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

• Usable interfaces
• Voyager and Illiad interfaces
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles (Federated Search)
• Interfaces in the users context
• Course Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID
• OpenURL Knowledge Bases (SFX, LinkFinder, etc)

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Course Pages

• Why?
• Cumbersome Voyager course reserves user interface
• Difficulty finding reserves
• Subject guides not effective

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Course Pages

• What?
• Connect to students at course level
• Syllabi w/ links to reserves
• Related library resources
• Disassociated with Voyager
• Demo

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

• Why?
• Need for a find articles capability that both
  requires no database knowledge, and uses
  appropriate, targeted databases
• Course pages working
• Top 10 webpage on library site
• Undergraduates identify their librarian
• Used by undergraduates as subject guide
  replacements

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Find Articles For Your Course

• What?
• Integrated the Encompass search box onto a Course
  Recourses and Reserves page
• Pre-configured to search the best databases for
  that class, as chosen by librarians
• Based on Find Articles interface
• Demo

31
Find Articles For Your Course
How?
Library website user interface
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Agenda

• Usable interfaces
• Voyager and Illiad interfaces
• DVDs and Videos
• Find Articles (Federated Search)
• Interfaces in the users context
• Course Pages
• Find Articles For Your Course
• Research and Development
• SARA
• CUIPID
• OpenURL Knowledge Bases (SFX, LinkFinder, etc)

33
SARA

• Why?
• Overcome limitations of commercial metasearch
  application
• Influenced by grouped-search-results page at
  Amazon.Com
• Experiment
• ColdFusion as a platform for metasearch
• Multiple concurrent Voyager searches

34
SARA

• What?
• ColdFusion application
• Concurrent Voyager searches
• Demo

35
SARA

• How?
• Cold Fusion executing Verity searches
• Cold Fusion executing SQL queries to CDs, DVDs,
  and eJournal database (copy of Voyager content)
• Cold Fusion executing multiple, concurrent http
  calls to Voyager, parsing and screen scraping for
  results number

36
CUIPID

• Why?
• Usability issues with WebVoyage
• User expectations shaped by popular sites
• Goals
• Forgiving interface
• No knowledge needed
• FRBR-like interface
• Record enrichment (user reviews, etc)
• Hundreds of things we wanted to do

37
CUIPID

• What?
• Platform for User-Centered-Design of catalog user
  interfaces
• XML copy of library catalog records
• Did you mean spell checking
• Grouping of search results
• Maps to stack locations
• FRBR future
• Unlimited possibilities
• Demo

38
CUIPID
How?
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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OpenURL K.B.

• Why?
• Love the OpenURL resolver service
• Hate the user interface

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OpenURL K.B.

• What?
• Access the knowledge base embedded in an OpenURL
  resolver product (like SFX, or LinkFinder)
• Use this information to move from a selected
  result to the best choice for the user, without
  asking the user.
• Demo

41
OpenURL K.B.

• How?
• SFX has a web service
• SFX has an embedded mySQL database
• LinkFinder has an embedded database

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OpenURL K.B.
Pass the following URL to the SFX
API   http//chico.lib.rochester.edu8080/SFX_API
/sfx_local?XMLlt?xml version"1.0"
?gtltopen-urlgtltobject_descriptiongtltobject_metadata_z
onegtltissngt00084360lt/issngtltvolumegtlt/volumegtltissuegt1
81lt/issuegtltspagegt149lt/spagegtlttitlegtCanadian
Literaturelt/titlegtltatitlegtAglimpseofsomethinglt/
atitlegtltdategt2004lt/dategtltaulastgtBeauregardlt/aulast
gtltaufirstgtGuylt/aufirstgtlt__service_typegtgetFullTxtlt
/__service_typegtlt/object_metadata_zonegtlt/object_de
scriptiongtlt/open-urlgt
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OpenURL K.B.
http//chico.lib.rochester.edu8080/SFX_API/sfx_lo
cal?XML lt?xml version"1.0" ?gt ltopen
urlgt ltobject_descriptiongt
ltobject_metadata_zonegt ltissngt00084360lt/issngt lt
volumegtlt/volumegt ltissuegt181lt/issuegt ltspagegt149
lt/spagegt lttitlegtCanadian Literaturelt/titlegt
ltatitlegtAglimpseofsomethinglt/atitlegt ltda
tegt2004lt/dategt ltaulastgtBeauregardlt/aulastgt ltau
firstgtGuylt/aufirstgt lt__service_typegtgetFullT
xtlt/__service_typegt lt/object_metadata_zon
egt lt/object_descriptiongt lt/open-urlgt
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OpenURL K.B.
Returns this XML file
lt?xml version"1.0"?gt ltopenurl_resultgt ltrecordgt
ltaulastgtBeauregardlt/aulastgt ltdategt2004lt/dategt
ltatitlegtA glimpse of somethinglt/atitlegt ltspagegt
149lt/spagegt ltissngt00084360lt/issngt lt__service_t
ypegtgetFullTxtlt/__service_typegt ltissuegt181lt/issu
egt lttitlegtCanadian Literaturelt/titlegt ltaufirst
gtGuylt/aufirstgt lt/recordgt lttargetgt lturlgthttp
//gateway.proquest.com/openurl?ctx_verZ39.88-2003
ampres_idxripqdamprft_val_fmtorifmtkevmt
xjournalampgenrearticleampissn0008-4360amp
date2004ampatitleAglimpseofsomethingampr
eq_datxripqilpq_clntid17941lt/urlgt lttarget_na
megtavailable via ProQuest Research
Librarylt/target_namegt ltservicegtgetFullTxtlt/servi
cegt lt/targetgt lt/openurl_resultgt
45
OpenURL K.B.
lttargetgt lturlgthttp//gateway.proquest.com/openurl
?ctx_verZ39.88-2003ampres_idxripqdamprft_va
l_fmtorifmtkevmtxjournalampgenrearticleam
pissn0008-4360ampdate2004ampatitleAglimps
eofsomethingampreq_datxripqilpq_clntid1794
1lt/urlgt lttarget_namegtavailable via ProQuest
Research Librarylt/target_namegt ltservicegtgetFullTx
tlt/servicegt lt/targetgt
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Creating Usable User Interfaces(with Voyager,
Encompass, and SFX)

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