The document details the implementation of Aquabrowser at Oklahoma State University Libraries, highlighting the need for a more intuitive interface compared to traditional OPACs. It outlines the evaluation, technical requirements, and customization efforts leading to the launch in August 2007. Additionally, it discusses challenges with existing search systems and future enhancements planned for the Aquabrowser interface.

1. AquaBrowser Implementation at Oklahoma State University presented by Anne Prestamo Associate Dean for Collection and Technology Services Oklahoma State University Libraries Five College Librarians' Council Next Generation Library Catalogs November 7, 2007

2. Why an alternative interface? Intuitive Interactive No training required Expose hidden treasures Enriched content beyond MARC data OPACs Suck 1 ; Lipstick on a Pig 2 1 “How OPACs Suck” – Three part series of blog postings by Karen Schneider Part 1- http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/03/how-opacs-suck-part-1-relevance-rank-or-the-lack-of-it.html Part 2- http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/04/how-opacs-suck-part-2-the-checklist-of-shame.html Part 3- http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/05/how-opacs-suck-part-3-the-big-picture.html 2 Roy Tennant — April 15, 2005 http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA516027.html?display=Digital+LibrariesNews&industry=Digital+Libraries& industryid=3760&verticalid=151

3. Why an alternative interface? “ Recently I viewed a library catalog redesign before it went public. This was the first major change in many years, and it turned out to be quite an improvement to the look and feel of the system. But despite this, it still sucks. Badly.” 2 Roy Tennant — April 15, 2005 http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA516027.html?display=Digital+LibrariesNews&industry=Digital+Libraries& industryid=3760&verticalid=151

4. Why an alternative interface? “ So what can most of us do? We need to focus more energy on important, systemic changes rather than cosmetic ones. If your system is more difficult to search and less effective than Amazon.com (and whose isn't?), then you have work to do. Stop asking for minor tweaks from vendors. After all, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still very much a pig.” 2 Roy Tennant — April 15, 2005 http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA516027.html?display=Digital+LibrariesNews&industry=Digital+Libraries& industryid=3760&verticalid=151

5. “ And my favorite quote from Robin's [Murray] talk was in his comment on something Pat Sommers, the CEO of SirsiDynix, said in a presentation--about the ILS-- to delegates on Sunday evening. Pat was responding, if I recall correctly, to a question from the floor about why ILS vendors don't innovate more quickly. Pat remarked that his company spends $10 million a year tweaking their systems to respond to requests from customers, and that left scant time and resources to make big changes. Robin rephrased this to describe all that activity as ‘ building twiddly bits .’” http://scanblog.blogspot.com/search?q=twiddly Why an alternative interface?

6. Why an alternative interface?

8. 756 hits

10. And then . . . . January 12, 2006

14. http://product-view.epnet.com/webauth/login.asp?user=demo&password=password&profile=ehost

15. Evaluation & Implementation July 2006 – internal decision to implement new OPAC interface to be live August 2007 Aug 2006 - began discussions with Endeca Nov 2006 - began discussions with TLC re: AquaBrowser Mar 2007 - terminated discussions with Endeca

16. Evaluation & Implementation Mar 22 - Loaded bib/holdings records to Medialab test server real-time circ status retrieved by deep link to WebVoyage Opens WebVoyage Brief Record in new window Mar 30 - Signed letter of intent for AquaBrowser (during ACRL)

17. Evaluation & Implementation Apr-June - Continued customization and modification work on test Server Serials holdings displays Relevancy algorithm Refine elements Voyager data structure (item type ≠ format) Language issues (Check out) June – signed agreement with Syndetics

18. Evaluation & Implementation June 12 - Syndetics ICE content loaded to test server July 26 - AquaBrowser software installed on local server Aug 14 - Real-time circ status pulling from Voyager for full record Aug 15 FTP for daily Voyager exports to local AquaBroswer server

19. Evaluation & Implementation Aug 17-19 - Final frenzy of fixes and tweaks Aug 20 - Link to BOSS on Library Homepage Aug 21 - BOSS Search box added to Homepage

21. Where did that come from?

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24. Technical Information Server Requirements: Ghz+ Intel-based CPU (recommend: dual CPU) Windows 2003 server Internet Information Services (IIS) v6 100MB Network Interface Card (recommended: 1GB)

25. Technical Information Server Requirements: Inbound access on port 80 Outbound access on port 80 20GB free HD space (recommended: 50GB) 2GB RAM (recommended: 3GB or more)

26. Technical Information Daily Incremental Data Transfer Voyager  AquaBrowser Bib & MFHD Data MARCExport runs as cronjob with resulting file FTP’d to AquaBrowser Item Data PERL script runs as cronjob with resulting file FTP’d to AquaBrowser Data is indexed nightly on AquaBrowser server

27. Technical Information AquaBrowser queries Syndetics server for ISBN matches on new records Matching jacket images, TOCs, summaries, and PW reviews are imported to AquaBrowser New TOCs and summaries are indexed nightly

28. Reproduced with permission from Karen Calhoun (10/29/07);

29. From the logfiles Oct 15 2007 684 WebVoyage searches 1178 BOSS searches Searches resulting in – 0 – hits ~38% in WebVoyage ~5% in BOSS

30. From the logfiles Query: explorations and surveys for a railroad route from the mississippi river to the pacific ocean WebVoyage Title search fails Keyword as phrase 1 hit Keyword all of these fails BOSS - 6 hits

31. From the logfiles Query: college students working while going to school WebVoyage Title search fails Keyword as phrase fails Keyword all of these fails BOSS - 5 hits

32. From the logfiles Query: mormon racism WebVoyage Title search fails Keyword as phrase fails Keyword all of these 1 hit BOSS - 3 hits at least one of these is a chapter title that comes from ICE content

33. From the logfiles Query: cultural property protection west (u.s.) WebVoyage Title search fails Keyword as phrase fails Keyword all of these fails BOSS - 13 hits

34. From the logfiles Query: pacific railroads explorations and surveys WebVoyage Title search fails Keyword as phrase fails Keyword all of these fails BOSS - 22 hits

35. From the logfiles Query: solutions of cyber terrorism WebVoyage Title search fails Keyword as phrase fails Keyword all of these fails BOSS - 4 hits

36. Failed Searches Some of these can be corrected through forced word associations Some could be resolved IF user clicked on “Author” tab Some are typos that were corrected with 2 nd search statement

37. Some Failed Searches uniersities andviolence Donald E. Parker, Value Engineering Theory (Dayton, Ohio: SAVE International, 1998. organosilicon chemsitry bok Punlic Tobacco use stretchy lesson plan

38. Most Used Refine Dimensions Dimension % Format 23.7 Topics 22.9 Publication Date 15.2 Availability 15.2 Author 6.8 Location 6.1 Circ status 4.1 Language 2.2 Geographical 2.1 Chronological 1.2

39. Sort Selection Sort Selection % Default (relevancy) 97.8 year 1.5 author 0.6 title 0.0

40. Made for Librarians Get snapshot reports about your library’s collection without writing a report query Search id:* Click on any “more” link in the Refine Elements

41. Made for Librarians

42. Made for Librarians

43. Made for Librarians

44. Made for Librarians

47. What’s Next? – Near Term LC Subject headings on “Subject” Tab Dewey classes/subclasses above results display Call number search and hyperlinked call number in Results and Full Record Display Canned search to WorldCat from results list screens RSS Feeds – New Books – past 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks OR custom based on keyword searches

48. What’s Next? – Jan 2008 & Beyond Load OSU-Tulsa, OSUCHS, OSU-OKC, OSU-OKM if they wish to do so Other eight libraries by Aug 2008 Record display with link to ILLIAD to request item from another campus Add Fed search capability using SerialsSolutions 360 Search with the AquaBrowser Interface Add MyDiscoveries

49. A funny thing happened on the way to implementation Cambridge Information Group bought Bowker - 2001 Bowker bought Syndetics - 2004 ProQuest bought Serials Solutions - 2004 CIG/CSA bought ProQuest - December 2006 Bowker bought MediaLab – June 2007 Ulrichs moves to Serials Solutions – Aug 2007

50. Questions??? Anne Prestamo Associate Dean for Collection and Technology Services Oklahoma State University Libraries (405) 744-9755 [email_address]