The eXtensible Catalog’s Drupal Toolkit: a Discovery Interface to Address Users’ Needs
Jennifer BowenUniversity of Rochester, Rochester, NY
ALA LITA Drupal Interest Group, June 25, 2011New Orleans, LA
Problem:
• User research is of limited value if a library doesn’t have control over its discovery environment
• Our solution:– Develop our own software (eXtensible Catalog)– Offer a modular architecture (4 “toolkits”)– Make it as configurable as possible– Give it away (open source)
4
How XC Uses Drupal
5
MARCXMLDC
XC Software Components
User Interface for searching and browsing
Library Website (on Drupal)
Integrated Library System Repository
XC Drupal Toolkit
Tools for automated processing of large batches of metadata
XC Metadata Services Toolkit
Tools for connectivity between XC and an ILS
XC
Circ
. Sta
tus/
Req.
Auth
entic
ation
XC NCIP Toolkit
XC OAI Toolkit
6
User Interface for searching and browsing
Tools for automated processing of large batches of metadata
Tools for connectivity between XC and an ILS
Drupal Toolkit (User Interface)
Integrated Library System
MARCXMLDC
Library Website (on Drupal)
Repository
XC Drupal Toolkit
XC Metadata Services Toolkit
XC
Circ
. Sta
tus/
Req.
Auth
entic
ation
XC NCIP Toolkit
XC OAI Toolkit
Integrated Library System
MARCXMLDC
Repository
XC Metadata Services Toolkit
XC
Circ
. Sta
tus/
Req.
Auth
entic
ation
XC NCIP Toolkit
XC OAI Toolkit
7
Drupal Toolkit (User Interface)
Integrated Library System
MARCXMLDC
Library Website (on Drupal)
Repository
XC Drupal Toolkit
XC Metadata Services Toolkit
XC
Circ
. Sta
tus/
Req.
Auth
entic
ation
XC NCIP Toolkit
Features
XC OAI Toolkit
Integrated Library System
MARCXMLDC
Repository
XC Metadata Services Toolkit
XC
Circ
. Sta
tus/
Req.
Auth
entic
ation
XC NCIP Toolkit
XC OAI Toolkit
Single search interface across:Library catalogDigital repositoryWebsite resources
Faceted browsing of resultsFRBRized metadataIntegration with ILS circulation
systemExtensive customization
8
XC User Interface Customization
ThemesIndexesFacet definitionsResult ListsRecord DisplaysBrowse interfaces for specific users/purposes
9
XC Drupal Toolkit
• Built on Drupal 6 – upgrade to Drupal 7 is planned• 20+ new XC Drupal modules • Software available now on www.drupal.org • Demo site available soon!• Implements a FRBR-based data structure in Drupal• Each FRBR-based metadata record is treated as a
Drupal node
10
XC Drupal Toolkit modules
• OAI-PMH harvester module to harvest metadata from the XC Metadata Services Toolkit
• Separate modules support each metadata schema: XC Schema and Dublin Core included; others possible
• Storage modules manage both SOLR and mySQL for storing library metadata
• XC Drupal/SOLR module supports configuration of searching and faceting
11
More XC Drupal Toolkit modules
• NCIP - live circ status, circ requests• Link resolution• Ezproxy• Syndetic Solutions - thumbnails, etc.
12
User Research for the eXtensible Catalog
Cornell UniversityOhio State UniversityUniversity of RochesterYale University
XC User Research Partners
• What articles, books and other resources had researchers used most recently?– How did they know the items existed?– How did they obtain them?– How did they use them?
• How do they keep current in their fields?
XC User Research Approach
15
A Few User Research Findings
16
User Research Findings
• Users want to choose between versions of a resource, see relationships between resources
• XC approach:– Underlying XC metadata is based on FRBR model:
works, expressions, manifestations… – Eventually: aggregate/group FRBR entities in the
User Interface
17
User Research Findings
• Users have preferred material and format types, depending upon their projects– Show online materials only– Exclude microforms
• Users want to know why items appear on a search result list– Show keywords in context
18
XC User Interface Demo
Translating User Research Findings into XC Functionality
20
Next Steps for XC Software
• All XC toolkits available for download: www.extensiblecatalog.org
• Enabling record aggregation/FRBR groupings with grant from The Mellon Foundation via CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois)
• Robust, end-to-end discovery system: coming soon!
Thanks to Nancy Fried Foster and David Lindahl for the use of selected slides.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
“View XC Schema”
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Next Steps for XC Software
• All XC toolkits available for download: www.extensiblecatalog.org
• Enabling record aggregation/FRBR groupings with grant from The Mellon Foundation via CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois)
• Robust, end-to-end discovery system: coming soon!
Thanks to Nancy Fried Foster and David Lindahl for the use of selected slides.