Beyond the OPAC: Creating different interfaces for specialized collections in an ILS system

1
ALCTS Catalog Norms Interest Group Meeting, ALA
Annual 2009
Beyond the OPAC
Creating Different Interfaces for Specialized
Collections in an ILS System
Sai Deng, Metadata Catalog Librarian Wichita
State University Libraries
2
Some Context

• DSpace Manakin
• XML user interface using SAX the Cocoon
  framework in DSpace
• Enable different themes (look and feel) for a
  single page, a collection and a community.
• OPAC Skins
• In Voyager 7, its OPAC is also called Tomcat
  WebVoyage
• Built on XML, XSLT, CSS, and a new directory
  structure.

3
Some Context

• Limitations of the OPAC skins
• What exactly can be displayed differently
• Header, footer, record display, page messages
• Separate display for serials
• Embedded Googlebook search, embedded cover
  images
• Content and skin need to be inside the ILS
• Very limited in styling different sets of data.
• Our question What if we would like to have
  separate interfaces for featured collections,
  featured authors and special occasions?

4
Some Context

• Why do we create websites featuring collections?
• Greater exposure of library materials
• Refined access and easier discovery
• More varied and appealing interfaces
• Increase publicity of a subject area or an
  author
• Supplemental to library programs and library
  instructions
• Data ready in Voyager, only needs some massage
• We have done local notes for years for donor
  notes and collection information in Voyager.
  (Nancy Deyoe)

5
Beyond the OPAC Creating Different Interfaces
for Specialized Collections

• Faculty author website (for Shocker Scholar
  Festival)
• Leisure reading collection
• Featured authors (tied to public programming)
• Featured subject area (tied to library
  instruction)
• Special formats video resources, e-books
• Specialized collections (e.g. Wichita Art Museum
  titles)

6
How to Draw Data from the Library Catalog
Database

• Systems
• Ex Libris Voyager 7.0.4 ILS
• Sun Solaris 10 server
• Oracle 10g database
• Two options
• Using an ODBC (Open Database Connectivity)
  connection
• Using Voyager Analyzer

7
ODBC vs. Voyager Analyzer

• ODBC connection
• An interface to access data from diverse database
  management systems (DBMSs)
• Microsoft Access connects to Voyager DB through
  ODBC driver
• ODBC query results can be saved as text, html
  (plain table looking), xml (showing fields from
  the query results table, not in MarcXML format).
• We chose ODBC simply because we just recently
  purchased Voyager Analyzer.
• Voyager Analyzer
• Intuitive Cognos web portal, connected to Voyager
  database
• Output reports in HTML, PDF, Excel, Delimited
  Text (CSV) and XML
• Exported HTML is in plain table looking, and XML
  in the form of data row value (not
  MarcXML).

8
Blob Query to Identify Faculty Books

• SELECT DISTINCTROW RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.BIB_ID,
  RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.AUTHOR, RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.TITLE,
  RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.EDITION, RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.ISBN
  , RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.PUBLISHER_DATE,
  RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.IMPRINT, RO_WSUDB_BIB_LOCATION.L
  OCATION_ID, GetFieldAll(GetBibBlob(RO_WSUDB_BIB_T
  EXT.BIB_ID),"590") AS Expr1, GetFieldAll(GetBibBl
  ob(RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.BIB_ID),"700") AS Expr2
  INTO query590view
• FROM RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT INNER JOIN
  RO_WSUDB_BIB_LOCATION ON RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.BIB_ID
  RO_WSUDB_BIB_LOCATION.BIB_ID
• WHERE ((GetFieldAll(GetBibBlob(RO_WSUDB_BIB_TEXT.
  BIB_ID),"590")) Like "WSU Faculty")

9
Web Delivery and Dataflow
Syndetic Cover Images
Web
If available
RSS Feed
If not available
ISBN
Display
ASP/ XHTML/ CSS
BibID
Local Cover Images
Search
Access (Query Results)
ODBC Blob Query
Voyager Oracle Database
10
Project 1 Faculty Author Books

• Browse by
• Name
• Title
• Date
• Retrieve data
• SELECT Fields From Table ORDER by
• Page division in ASP

Site http//library.wichita.edu/techserv/WSU_facu
lty/
11
Faculty Author Books Search

• KeywordSearch (Written in ASP)

12
Adding Syndetic Cover and Local Cover Images

• Added some local covers for books without
  Syndetic covers
• If local covers are available, use local images
  
• If local covers not available
• Use Syndetic covers based on ISBNs (Either show
  covers or blank)
• If no ISBN, use a generic local cover.

13
Adding Local and Syndetic Cover Images (In Case
You Would Like to Refer to the Code)

• Code from browse.asp
• lttd class"image" rowspan"6"gt
• lt If ((Recordset1.Fields.Item("localCove
  r").Value ltgt "") AND (Recordset1.Fields.Item("loca
  lCover").Value ltgt " ")) Then gt
• lta href"localcover\lt(Recordset1.Fields
  .Item("localCover").Value)gtL.jpg"
  target"_blank"gt
• ltimg border0 src"localcover\lt(Reco
  rdset1.Fields.Item("localCover").Value)gt.jpg"
  /gtlt/agt
• lt Else gt
• lt If ((Recordset1.Fields.Item("ISBN").Va
  lue ltgt "") AND (Recordset1.Fields.Item("ISBN").Val
  ue ltgt " ")) Then gt
• lta href"http//syndetics.com/hw7.pl?isb
  nlt(Recordset1.Fields.Item("ISBN").Value)gt/lc.j
  pgclientwichitasu" target"_blank"gt
• ltimg border0 src"http//syndetics.com/
  hw7.pl?isbnlt(Recordset1.Fields.Item("ISBN").Val
  ue)gt/sc.gifclientwichitasu" /gtlt/agt
• lt Else gt
• ltimg alt"book cover" srclocalCover/cov
  er.jpg" /gt
• lt End If gt
• lt End If gt
• lt/tdgt

Add specific large and small local covers
Image link to add Syndetic covers
Add local generic cover
14
Adding RSS Feed
RSS feed icon
15
Adding RSS Feed (You can do this)

• lt?xml version"1.0" encoding"UTF-8"?gt
• ltrss version"2.0"gt
• ltchannelgt 
• lttitlegtWSU Libraries Faculty Author Published
  Books Updatelt/titlegt
• ltlinkgthttp//library.wichita.edu/techserv/WSU_Fa
  culty/index.asplt/linkgt
• ltdescriptiongtUpdate on published books of
  Faculty Author available at WSU
  Librarieslt/descriptiongt
• ltlanguagegten-uslt/languagegt
• ltpubDategtFri, 6 Mar 2009 040000 GMTlt/pubDategt
• ltlastBuildDategtFri, 6 Mar 2009 040000
  GMTlt/lastBuildDategt
• ltdocsgthttp//library.wichita.edu/RSSlt/docsgt
• ltmanagingEditorgt_at_wichita.edult/managingEditorgt
• ltwebMastergt_at_wichita.edult/webMastergt
• ltitemgt
• lttitlegtIt grows in winter and other poems /
  Chinyere Okafor. lt/titlegt
  ltlinkgthttp//library.wichita.edu/techserv/WSU_facu
  lty/browse.asp?browse_typePUBLISHER_DATElt/linkgt
• ltdescriptiongtGet more information on this
  book and other WSU faculty publications at
  Faculty Research Showcase Website.lt/descriptiongt
• ltpubDategtThu, 5 Mar 2009 040000
  GMTlt/pubDategt
• lt/itemgt
• lt/Channelgt

pubupdate.rss
Required Channel elements title, link,
description
added to the webpage header
ltlink rel"alternate" type"application/rssxml"
title"Faculty Author - Recent Books RSS"
href"http//library.wichita.edu/techserv/WSU_facu
lty/pubupdate.rss"gt
16
Linking Back to OPAC

• Use Permanent links

e.g. http//libcat.wichita.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.c
gi?BBID1359301
17
Identify Other Specialized Collections at WSU

• Leisure Reading books based on location
  (LOCATION_ID99)
• Wichita Art Museum items based on location
  (LOCATION_ID122)
• New Books based on date
• Goldbarth poems based on uniform title
• (730 Albert Goldbarth Collection.)
• Women Studies Video Resources based on local
  notes (590)

18
Project 2 Womens Studies Video Resources Website
19
Womens Studies Video Resources Website

• Data selected by Women's Studies Library
  Liaison
• Used local notes field to identify these
  resources in Voyager
• Created a separate interface for the resources
• Based on the same model for Faculty Author
  Website
• Data drawn from ODBC blob query
• Applied a different CSS style sheet
• Browse and keyword search written in ASP
• Added RSS feed, local and Syndetic covers
• Every record linked back to OPAC
• Considered compliance to web standards (e.g.
  CSS, xhtml and Section 508)
• Collection description and help documentation
  available.
• Website created as a supplemental tool for women
  studies source guide and library instruction.

20
Alternative Approaches to Create Interfaces for
Datasets

• Approach 1 (ODBC query results, or other
  datasets), XML file, XQuery interface
• Approach 2 (ODBC query results, or other
  datasets), XML file, implement WebLucene
• Lucene search engine XML interface
• SAX based indexing, XML output
• Use ASP/JSP/PHP/XSLT to display data.
• One more big step make data OAI-PMH compliant
  and become a data provider.
• Transform data to OAI_DC formats
• Data can be transformed to OAI qualified DC (if
  definitely necessary)
• Is it necessary to make sets of data from
  traditional library catalog database harvestable
  in OAI_DC? Maybe for some cases. E.g. local
  e-books, ETDs
• Implement an OAI interface (e.g. U of Michigans
  OAI Toolkit or use a system with a built-in OAI
  interface).

21
Test 1 Marc to DC Mapping

• MARC (in Voyager table) to DC mapping
• Marc field
  Simple DC Qualified DC
• 001 BIB_ID not
  mapped
• 020 ISBN
  Identifier
• 100 AUTHOR
  Contributor
• 245 TITLE
  Title
• 250 EDITION
  Description
• 260ab IMPRINT Publisher
• 260c PUBLISHER_DATE Date
  Date.issued
• 852b LOCATION Relation
  Relation.isPartOf (housing at)
• 590 notes (Expr1 in query) Description
• 700 other author (Expr 2 in query) Contributor
  
• Additional fields added
• Link to OPAC/library catalog Source
  
• Cover image link
  Relation Relation.hasPart (contained
  item)

22
Test 1 Notes

• 700 (other authors) is combined with 100 (author)
  in the database. It is for better display in
  Browse by author since many 100 fields are
  blank and many local authors are in 700 (e.g.
  editor)
• localCover field is added to the database (use
  Bib_ID to link it) and converted to
  Relation.haspart
• OPAC records permanent link (based on Bib_ID)
  added
• Cleaned data in Access table, e.g. deleted half
  bracket in publisher date field
• Used ASP.net to transform query results (saved as
  xml, but it is not in MarcXML format) to DCXML
• Dealt with special reserved character (e.g. ,
  ) in XML transformation.

23
Test 1 OAI Qualified DC XML Record Sample

• lt?xml version"1.0" encoding"UTF-8"?gt
• ltqualifieddc
• xmlnsdcterms"http//purl.org/dc/terms/"
  
• xmlnsdc"http//purl.org/dc/elements/1.1
  /"
• xmlnsxsi"http//www.w3.org/2001/XMLSche
  ma-instance" xsinoNamespaceSchemaLocation"http
  //www.dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/qdc/2008/02/11/
  qualifieddc.xsd"gt
• ltdcidentifiergt9780805856224lt/dcidentifi
  ergt
• ltdccontributorgtColeman, Hardin L. K.
  Yeh, Christine J.lt/dccontributorgt
• ltdctitlegtHandbook of school counseling
  / edited by Hardin L.K.
• Coleman, Christine Yeh.lt/dctitlegt
• ltdcdescription/gt
• ltdcpublishergtLondon Routledge,
  c2008.lt/dcpublishergt
• ltdctermsissuedgt2008.lt/dctermsissuedgt
• ltdctermsisPartOfgtWSU
  Stacks.lt/dctermsisPartOfgt
• ltdcdescriptiongtWSU faculty
  author.lt/dcdescriptiongt
• ltdcsourcegthttp//libcat.wichita.edu/cgi
  -bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID1344456lt/dcsourcegt
• ltdctermshasPart/gt
• lt/qualifieddcgt

• Record sample reviewed by Timothy Cole at UIUC.
• Records transformed from query results saved in
  xml.

24
Test 2 OAI_DC XML Record Sample

• lt?xml version"1.0" encoding"UTF-8"?gt
• ltoai_dcdc
• xmlnsoai_dc"http//www.openarchives.org
  /OAI/2.0/oai_dc/"
• xmlnsdc"http//purl.org/dc/elements/1.1
  /"
• xmlnsxsi"http//www.w3.org/2001/XMLSche
  ma-instance"
• xsischemaLocation"http//www.openarchiv
  es.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/
• http//www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai
  _dc.xsd"gt
• ltdcidentifiergt9780805856224lt/dcidentifi
  ergt
• ltdccontributorgtColeman, Hardin L. K.
  Yeh, Christine J.lt/dccontributorgt
• ltdctitlegtHandbook of school counseling
  / edited by Hardin L.K.
• Coleman, Christine Yeh.lt/dctitlegt
• ltdcdescription/gt
• ltdcpublishergtLondon Routledge,
  c2008.lt/dcpublishergt
• ltdcdategt2008.lt/dcdategt
• ltdcrelationgtWSU Stacks.lt/dcrelationgt
• ltdcdescriptiongtWSU faculty
  author.lt/dcdescriptiongt
• ltdcsourcegthttp//libcat.wichita.edu/cgi-
  bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID1344456lt/dcsourcegt
• ltdcrelation/gt
• lt/oai_dcdcgt

25
Possible Next Steps

• Creating other featuring sites based on our
  current model (the easiest approach)
• Adding local covers to Voyager directly
• Transform datasets to xml and create XQuery
  interface
• Implement OAI interface for some very important
  datasets (e.g. special collections)? This is
  different from our current DSpace IR services.

26
Final Thoughts (Dis)Integration of Library Data
and Services

• Integration of library data and services
• Centralized interface (e.g. Federated search)
• Unified user experience (information discovery
  and delivery from a single place)
• Slower or less reliable?
• Overwhelming results?
• Disintegration of library data and services
• Supplemental discovery applications
• Transferring/migrating sets of data to other
  environment for better presentation, discovery
  and user interest
• Can be tailored by languages, user types or
  library types
• Can be multiple OPAC interfaces, or multiple
  specialized data representations
• Fragmental? Can be linked to other applications
  though.
• Lack of uniformality?

27
Final Thoughts Beyond the OPAC

• Beyond the OPAC
• New ways in data aggregation
• Specialized collections retrieval and
  representation
• WSU cases Faculty research showcase, Womens
  Studies Video Resources
• Data transformation, harvesting, FRBRizing
• Add new discovery layers
• AquaBrower, Endeca, Encore, Primo
• Optimize OPAC interaction and add miscellaneous
  services
• Syndetic and Amazon covers, spell checker,
  LibraryThing
• Another special case WSU dynamic 3D shelving
  maps
• More to think about DLF ILS Discovery Interface
  Recommendations
• Four levels of interoperability to provide
  discovery outside the ILS
• Basic discovery interfaces Elementary OPAC
  supplement Elementary OPAC alternative
  Robust/domain-aware discovery platform

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Contacts and Acknowledgements

• Sai Deng, Metadata Catalog Librarian, Wichita
  State University Libraries, Sai.Deng_at_wichita.edu
• Nancy Deyoe, Assistant Dean for Technical
  Services, Wichita State University Libraries,
  Nancy.Deyoe_at_wichita.edu
• Gemma Blackburn, Systems Developer, Wichita State
  University Libraries, Gemma.Blackburn_at_wichita.edu
• Susan Matveyeva, Catalog and Institutional
  Repository Librarian, Wichita State University
  Libraries, Susan.Matveyeva_at_wichita.edu
• Tse-Min Wang, Graduate Student in Computer
  Science, Wichita State University Libraries,
  txwang_at_wichita.edu
• Special thanks to Timothy W. Cole, Mathematics
  Librarian, Interim Head, Digital Services and
  Development, University of Illinois at
  Urbana-Champaign.

29
References

• DSpace Wiki. DSpace XMLUI Manakin Project.
  Available at http//wiki.dspace.org/index.php//Ma
  nakin
• Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Guidelines for
  implementing Dublin Core in XML. Available at
  http//dublincore.org/documents/dc-xml-guidelines/
  
• Ex Libris Group. Voyager 7.0 WebVoyáge
  Architecture Overview and Configuration Models.
  December 2008. SupportWeb. Available at
  https//support.endinfosys.com/
• ILS-DI Task Group Members. DLF ILS Discovery
  Interface Task Group (ILS-DI) Technical
  Recommendation An API for effective
  interoperation between integrated library systems
  and external discovery Applications. Revision
  1.1. December 8, 2008. Available at
  http//diglib.org/architectures/ilsdi/DLF_ILS_Disc
  overy_1.1.pdf
• Library of Congress. Development and MARC
  Standards Office. MARC to Dublin Core
  Crosswalk. Available at http//www.loc.gov/marc/
  marc2dc.html
• The OAI Executive and the OAI Technical
  Committee. The Open Archives Initiative Protocol
  for Metadata Harvesting. Available at
  http//www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotoc
  ol.html
• WSU Libraries. Faculty research showcase. 2009.
  Available at http//library.wichita.edu/techserv/
  WSU_faculty/
• WSU Libraries. Womens Studies Video Resources.
  2009. Available at http//library.wichita.edu/tec
  hserv/Women'sStudies/

30

• Thank you!
• Questions?