{ striking a balance in your library catalog: tmi vs. tli karen selden metadata services librarian...
TRANSCRIPT
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Striking a Balance in Your Library Catalog: TMI vs. TLI
Karen Selden Metadata Services LibrarianUniversity of Colorado Law Library
PURPOSE (WHY?):
to understand how librarians perceive the
effectiveness of the PRIMARY PUBLIC
INTERFACE of their library catalogs
HOW? 10 question Qualtrics survey Quantitative and Qualitative
responses
WHERE? AALL lists: ALL-SIS; OBS-SIS; Open
Forum; PLLIP-SIS; TS-SIS Regional lists: CoALL; SWALL; WestPac
Facebook: OBS page and TSLAWCHATS
WHEN? April 1-15, 2015
WHAT? 128 responses
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Other: All areas (9 responses); Administration (6 responses); Director (5 responses); Reference/Research (3 responses);
Solo librarian (2 responses); Special collections; both TS & PS; etc.
In what area of the library do you work?
AVERAGE: Add ratings, then divide by total number of ratings
MEDIAN: the middle number in a sorted list of
numbers2 2 4 5 6 6 8
QUESTION 1:
When you perform a KEYWORDsearch, do you receive too few or
too many responses?
111 responses
78 comments
8=Median
● Keyword Searching is Too Broad and Sloppy● Discovery Layer Searches Return Too Many Results ● Experienced Searchers Fare Better Than
Novice Searchers● Keyword Searches Can Produce Both
TMI and TLI● Government Documents, Especially
Hearings, Can Obscure Results
QUESTION 1 COMMENTS:
QUESTION 2:
Overall, how satisfied are you with the search results from
your primary search box?
128 responses
71 comments
6=Median
● Discovery Layer Searches Return Too Many Results ● Poor Discovery Layer Relevancy Ranking ● Experienced Searchers Fare Better Than
Novice Searchers● Frustrating Known Item and Precision
Searching ● Frustrating Display of Results
QUESTION 2 COMMENTS:
QUESTION 3:
How USER-FRIENDLY is your library catalog from the PATRON perspective?
113 responses
78 comments
4=Median
● Offputting; Quirky
● Experienced Searchers Fare Better Than
Novice Searchers
● Lack of Precision in Result Lists
● Patrons Expect Google or Google-likeSearching
QUESTION 3 COMMENTS:
● Simplified is Not Necessarily Better
● Improve User Experience with:More Relevant Metadata;Better Relevancy Ranking;Better Display Options and Design
● Difficult to Get Patrons to Use the Catalog
QUESTION 3 COMMENTS (continued):
QUESTION 4:
Do search results give a BALANCE of print and electronic resources?
106 responses
78 comments
7=Median
● Depends Upon Library’s Collection
● Depends Upon Library’s Holdings in the Catalog
● Result Lists Skewed Toward Electronic Resources
● Lack of Access to Electronic Resources in Shared Catalogs
QUESTION 4 COMMENTS:
● Facets Help Sort Results
● Improve Relevance Ranking and Display Options
QUESTION 4 COMMENTS (continued):
QUESTION 5:
To what extent would you like your catalog to perform like
Google?
112 responses
84 comments
6= Median
● Like Google’s Format and Features:Clean, Simple Look;Images;Google Relevancy Ranking;Suggestions;Did You Mean…?
● Prefer More Precise and Granular Searches
“Google is always TMI!”
QUESTION 5 COMMENTS:
QUESTION 6:
What do you like best about the primary public interface of your
catalog?
98 responses
● Simple, Clean Look and Design
● Intuitive and Easy to Use
● Faceting and Filters to Edit and Refine Searches
QUESTION 6 COMMENTS:
● One Search Box
● Good Advanced Search Features
● Clearly Shows Resource Location and Availability
QUESTION 6 COMMENTS (continued):
● Customizable Displays
● “It Provides Me With Job Security”
● Very Little or NOTHING!
QUESTION 6 COMMENTS (continued):
QUESTION 7:
What improvements would you like to see in the primary public
interface of your catalog?
89 responses
● Better Limiting, Filtering and Faceting Options
● Better Known Item and Precision Searching Features
● Better or Customizable Relevancy Ranking
QUESTION 7 COMMENTS:
● Cleaner and Better Display of Results
● Cleaner and More Intuitive Look and Design
● More, and More Advanced, Search Options
QUESTION 7 COMMENTS (continued):
● (More) Customization Options for Display and Design
● Spell-check or “Did You Mean…” Typo Feature
● None
QUESTION 7 COMMENTS (continued):
Which ILS do you use?
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Other: EOS (6 answers); Locally created (2 answers); Inmagic Genie; Serials Solutions; Sirsi Symphony; both Summon & VuFind; etc.
Which discovery platform do you use?
Does your catalog include MARC records for databases?
{
97 respondents
For which of the following databases does your catalog contain MARC
records?
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Striking a Balance in Your Library Catalog: TMI vs. TLI
Jane ThompsonAssociate Director for Faculty Services and Research, University of Colorado Law Library
Getting your customers to use it!
The Biggest Challenge with a Library Catalog or Discovery Layer:
It depends on the audience….
Novice/Infrequent Users
Expert/Repeat Users
What Is TLI or TMI in a Library Catalog
Information buried in the text of books
Information in conference proceedings and institutional repositories
Information in Law databases: WestlawNext, LexisAdvance, Bloomberg Law, HeinOnline, etc.
TLI: I can’t find what I need….
Government Documents (e.g., ProQuest Congressional)
Microform Formats Newspaper Articles Dissertations and Theses Journal Articles and Book Reviews Digital Archives Course Reserves and Exams Research Guides
TMI: Are These Frustrating or Helpful in a Library Catalog or Discovery Layer?
KW: water rights
Results: Reference book, journal article, Senate hearing, Lexis e-book, CRS report, microform bill
Library Catalogs/Discovery Layers Keyword vs. Controlled
Vocabulary Searching Relevance vs. Date Sorting Faceted Navigation
Other Databases to Know Google Books, Google Scholar,
HeinOnline, JSTOR, and SSRN
Student Research Assistant Instruction
Search query issues
Result display issues
Highly frustrating for expert/repeat users!!
TMI in Known-Item Searches = one-half of ALL queries
Results: 102 entries (3 are titled Water Rights)
TI: water rights
Record-per-format @ Yale Law (per Scott Matheson)
MORRIS
Books
Reprint
Micro
19th c. legal
treatises
Hein
MOML
LLMC digital
n~ 15,000
ONE Record to Rule Them ALL!: print, WL, Checkpoint
Balance: Staff Time vs. User Needs
Search vs. Research: Can Your Catalog Be All Things to All People?
According to a 2009 study by Whirlpool, 80 percent of dishwasher owners predominantly select the normal cycle.
The Secret Life of Your Dishwasher (Real Simple.com)
How do we force the most relevant results to the top?
KW: “adverse possession” Books and Encyclopedias
KW: “national security” Government Documents
KW: “renewable energy” Journal Articles
“Auto Wash” mode for Catalogs/Discovery?
Consistent format coding so facets work
Suppress/eliminate duplicate microform
Consider a “scope” for congressional information
Suppress duplicate records in a merged catalog but don’t delete them
“Did You Mean?”, VPN reminders, etc.
Continual feedback loop: experiment, adapt, move on
A Few Best Practices for Catalogs/Discovery layers
Early beta of Wise Law Library discovery layer
Encyclopedia backgrounder
Recommended database
Scope for gov’t documents
TMI: Don’t forget catalog design principles!Aaron Schmidt – “Catalog by Design,” Library Journal, Feb. 6, 2013