lloyd sokvitne senior manager (digital strategies), state library of tasmania
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Elephants – Description and travel (Producing a new OPAC using existing MARC data) http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/. Lloyd Sokvitne Senior Manager (Digital Strategies), State Library of Tasmania. What is a new OPAC?. Easy, powerful, client focused - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Elephants – Description and travel
(Producing a new OPAC using existing MARC data)
http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/
Lloyd SokvitneSenior Manager (Digital Strategies), State Library of Tasmania
What is a new OPAC?
• Easy, powerful, client focused
• Expanded content, (capacity for interactivity)
• Single search box
• Easy browsing and refinement capabilities - FACETS
Our Project: TALISPlus
• To replace legacy OPAC called TALIS– purchased Verity K2 mid-2006– designed and implemented 2006/2007
• Alpha launch, client/staff feedback – April 07• Beta launch, open use, client feedback
– June 07
• Full scale promotion – September 07
New demands on underlying data
• Facets – to be effective they had to be:• consistent and correct• fit for purpose, clear understandable concepts
• Single box searching
• Ranking and sorting
Facets for search term “chess”• Fiction/Non-fiction
– Non-fiction (135)– Fiction (14)
• Format– Audio (6)– DVD and video(14)– Images (2)– Software (5)– Text (135)
• Genre– Crime (1)
• Audience– Adults (116)– Children (33)– Youth (1)
• Series– McKay chess library (2)– -- for Dummies (2)
• Availability– Lending (103)– Reference (47)– Online (2)
• Topic– History (14)– Chess (98)– Chess players (13)– Chess problems (7)
• Tasmanian– About Tasmania (7)– By a Tasmanian (6)– Published in Tasmania (6)
Format
• Had to create an effective browsable hierarchy• e.g. subtitled video as a subset of video• MARC record doesn’t provide a hierarchy
– conversion scripts create our hierarchy after ILMS export
• Used a local tag (590$a)• leader not used (didn’t handle mixed media items, multiple formats,
didn’t fit hierarchy)
• Issues• clean up (146 down to 40 terms)• changed/corrected terms, added terms• e.g. cd- rom, cd-rom, cd-rom compact disc, cd-rom dvd, cd-rom no
isbn, cd-rom serial, compact disc, compact disk cd-rom, compact disc cd-rom dvd, compact disc, computer disc, cd-rom
Genre
• There were 14 genre terms in use• fairly easy to produce – used LCSH • only available for Fiction/Adult books• but we were lucky, we had started adding in 2000• demand for more/new genre terms – ‘chick lit’
• Issues– not used for non-print (e.g. audio, DVDs)– not used for Junior and Youth Fiction
Fiction/Non-fiction
• Added local tag (592$a) based on a statistical categories in holdings record
– non-fiction are items without 592 fiction tag– music/realia went to non-fiction– bulk change
• Issues– Literature items in Reference Non-fiction –
current project to clean up ( to add 592 tag)
Audience – Adult/Youth/Children
• Used a local tag (591$a)– Records assumed to be Adult unless other rules apply
• Youth – new term– created via statistical categories in holdings record
• Issues– Some items need multiple audiences (e.g. music CDs)– MARC fixed fields no use
• often absent, terms too granular, only one code could be applied (not repeatable)
Series
• Variable data– corrections required– missing data
• being added over time
• Issues– when you offer clients a facet, the implication
is that you have all the data
Availability
• Complex concept– on shelf, or lending/reference, or online
• On shelf– done via real time query at full record display
• Lending/reference– from holdings, summarized on results display, updated
daily• Online
– complex translation of 856 (which otherwise yielded false positives for TOCs, etc) to 007 ‘cr’ – added in bulk
Subjects: topic/region/era
• Deconstructed LCSH– topic (6XX $a $x $v)
• topic and subfields became independent facets
– region worked well (6XX$z, 651$a)• worked well but still needed to clean up data
– era data (6XX $y)• chronological data available but not user friendly• 17,000 unique date ranges found, reduced to 1600 instances• no easy way to control into future
Subjects: topic/region/era
• Issues– subfields as topics allows sensible/non-sensible facet
choices– components that start out as a hierarchy now don’t always
make sense when offered as recombine-able facets
– e. g: India – Description and Travel and Elephants – India for same book allow a browse path Elephants ; Description and Travel
– looked at Dewey but 082$a tag too inconsistent• only ca 50% of non-fiction had Dewey number present
Tasmania – About, By, Published In
• Completely new access point– difficult and complex, still in progress
• Published in– searched for strings in 260 field, then added tma to
008/15-17• About Tasmania
– used Tasmaniana holdings to add 043 $a u-at-tm• By Tasmanian
– ‘Tasmanian’ authors list generated from Tasmaniana holdings, reviewed
Other data issues
• Searching (the single box)– e.g. serials became ‘Magazines and journals’ as a facet,
retained ‘serials’ in bib record, both places searched
• Sorting– e.g. date had to be modified to produce sensible sorts
• 10% missing or incorrect in 008/07-10; we used 260$c to fill in and correct 008
• Ranking– e.g. popularity algorithm
• based on circulation/holds ratio, had to get from circulation and holdings data
Summary - issues
• The MARC record is exposed like never before – what is missing or inconsistent really hurts
• The ‘new generation catalogue’ access points – aren’t simple outputs from your MARC catalogue
• Your catalogue is not the only source of data
Conclusions
• There are significant costs– to develop and maintain data
• There are real benefits– our users like it– an engaged cataloguing staff
• what they do really matters
• New catalogues, facets, etc are an evolving science (art)
Thank you for your attention
Please try it, learn from it (don’t make our mistakes), send us your comments, etc
http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/
Lloyd SokvitneManager (Digital Strategies)State Library of Tasmania