Nicholas Schiller

Systems and Application Librarian Interview Presentation

Why did the SEO expert cross the street, road, avenue, boulevard, thoroughfare, highway, crosswalk, stoplight, crossing guard...

It's funny because: metadata

Metadata on the web and in discovery systems is messy. The mess makes the magic work, but the mess can be frustrating for our users.

Today's Example

My example today will show how I improved student access to library holdings by successfully combining a number of technologies and tools.

It Starts with Students.

Our Worldcat Local discovery layer presented barriers to students searching for eBooks.

Useful results were buried under a mess of non-eBook documents.

tl:dr eBooks were underutilized. Students who wanted eBooks couldn't find them, resources spent on eBooks were being wasted.

Who had the answer?

The Reference Librarians had the answer.

kw:NASA +mt:ebk -mt:gnp -mt:cpb -mt:deg

What we really need is a way to automatically search our holdings for ebooks without typing in a ridiculous string each time.

What we really need is to use the Worldcat Search API to automate our specific search query and return useful results formatted in a way convenient for our users.

To make use of the Worldcat API you need:

• an API key. (Keys denote permission to access the service.)
• a query using either Opensearch or SRU standards.
• to specify how you want the data returned to you.

Scripting

In this case I used (just enough) PHP to get the query and delivery information from the user, format it appropriately, and submitted it to Worldcat using the API.

Formatting the final project:

Because we anticipated users would likely to use a tablet or smaller screen to access ebooks, I used the jQuery mobile library to format the search interface.

Implementation and Outcomes

Implementation

• I proposed the web app as a solution.
• I demonstrated that the concept worked.
• Tested the beta web app with librarians and limited students in controlled environment.

Outcomes

• Test results were generally positive.
• Concerns were raised about training reference staff and students to use an external app to use the catalog.
• When ALMA / PRIMO were announced by the Alliance, the decision was made to shelve the web app and focus on the shared ILS implementation.

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