Libraries: Research, Instruction, and Outreach Committee : Minutes May 12, 2008

05/12/2008
Minutes May 12, 2008

Five College Libraries
Research, Instruction and Outreach Committee (RIO)
Minutes of the May 12, 2008 Meeting
Present: Bryan Goodwin (chair), Susan Kimball (minutes), Barbara Polowy, Bonnie Vigeland

Summer Meeting Dates
Although Hampshire is a difficult location for Barbara, we will continue to meet there for the summer and then perhaps consider switching to another meeting place. All meetings are on Monday at 9:00am.
June 2, July 14, August 11

ALEPH Alerts

Terminology and field preferences were finalized. Barbara will update and send out the final recommendations.

Omit Initial Articles Solution for Title Begins With Searches

Recommend that the Notre Dame solution be adopted, entering the search tip into the search box itself as well as move it to a permanent position above the search box. The specific language for both places will be “Omit initial articles (the, an, a, les, das, etc.)” When a user clicks in the search box, the search tip disappears. Also would like to add the following parenthetical phrase to the end of the “Invisible Man” search example (Not The Invisible Man), including italicizing the word The.

Proposed Change to Default Search

Amherst proposed changing the default search from Keywords Anywhere to Title Begins With since the Keywords Anywhere search results are not relevancy ranked. Consensus was that Keywords Anywhere is ubiquitous as a search default and we were reluctant to make the change.

Institution-specific DVD/Film/Video Logical Bases

Amherst would like to create a logical base of an AC only DVDs/Videos/Films collection to be used in a quick search box on their redesigned website. After some discussion about ways to increase the prominence of film searching more broadly, there was support for the idea of creating new DVDs/Videos/Films logical bases for each institution. Although possible to create institution-specific bases for different formats, only DVDs/Videos/Films seemed to be the only one that warranted a separate logical base.

WorldCat.org Accessibility

Susan reported that OCLC states that WorldCat.org meets 508 compliance standards for accessibility. There hasn’t been testing on whether or not the deeper levels of the ALEPH interface are accessible. This would be necessary if WorldCat.org is a viable alternative for those using screen readers. WorldCat.org relies on the native interface for call number and availability information as well as all of the request features. Given the pending Next Gen catalog discussion, we decided to table further testing until the timeline was more clear.

Modify Search Options on Results Page

Prior to the meeting, Barbara had sent out examples of how other institutions had achieved variations on this theme. She noted that when the OPAC group discussed this possibility it was determined that the modify search option was very programming-intensive while starting a new blank search was relatively easy. Ideally we could create something similar to the modify search (with search box pre-populated with search terms) that appears when a multi-term keyword search fails. The resulting page provides a modify box with the search terms included. It provides an option to change the keyword search field as well (with the same options as are available in Advanced Search). Everyone agreed that as long as the box took up a minimum amount of vertical space it should be placed at the top of the results page. Again, we decided to wait until it we had a clearer timeline on the Next Gen catalog project.

Title Keyword Index Fields

This topic was brought up as something we need to discuss soon although we didn’t have time at this meeting. Bonnie will create a list of all the fields that are currently included in the title keyword index and distribute it.


	05/12/2008 Minutes May 12, 2008 Five College Libraries Research, Instruction and Outreach Committee (RIO) Minutes of the May 12, 2008 Meeting Present: Bryan Goodwin (chair), Susan Kimball (minutes), Barbara Polowy, Bonnie Vigeland Summer Meeting Dates Although Hampshire is a difficult location for Barbara, we will continue to meet there for the summer and then perhaps consider switching to another meeting place. All meetings are on Monday at 9:00am. June 2, July 14, August 11 ALEPH Alerts Terminology and field preferences were finalized. Barbara will update and send out the final recommendations. Omit Initial Articles Solution for Title Begins With Searches Recommend that the Notre Dame solution be adopted, entering the search tip into the search box itself as well as move it to a permanent position above the search box. The specific language for both places will be “Omit initial articles (the, an, a, les, das, etc.)” When a user clicks in the search box, the search tip disappears. Also would like to add the following parenthetical phrase to the end of the “Invisible Man” search example (Not The Invisible Man), including italicizing the word The. Proposed Change to Default Search Amherst proposed changing the default search from Keywords Anywhere to Title Begins With since the Keywords Anywhere search results are not relevancy ranked. Consensus was that Keywords Anywhere is ubiquitous as a search default and we were reluctant to make the change. Institution-specific DVD/Film/Video Logical Bases Amherst would like to create a logical base of an AC only DVDs/Videos/Films collection to be used in a quick search box on their redesigned website. After some discussion about ways to increase the prominence of film searching more broadly, there was support for the idea of creating new DVDs/Videos/Films logical bases for each institution. Although possible to create institution-specific bases for different formats, only DVDs/Videos/Films seemed to be the only one that warranted a separate logical base. WorldCat.org Accessibility Susan reported that OCLC states that WorldCat.org meets 508 compliance standards for accessibility. There hasn’t been testing on whether or not the deeper levels of the ALEPH interface are accessible. This would be necessary if WorldCat.org is a viable alternative for those using screen readers. WorldCat.org relies on the native interface for call number and availability information as well as all of the request features. Given the pending Next Gen catalog discussion, we decided to table further testing until the timeline was more clear. Modify Search Options on Results Page Prior to the meeting, Barbara had sent out examples of how other institutions had achieved variations on this theme. She noted that when the OPAC group discussed this possibility it was determined that the modify search option was very programming-intensive while starting a new blank search was relatively easy. Ideally we could create something similar to the modify search (with search box pre-populated with search terms) that appears when a multi-term keyword search fails. The resulting page provides a modify box with the search terms included. It provides an option to change the keyword search field as well (with the same options as are available in Advanced Search). Everyone agreed that as long as the box took up a minimum amount of vertical space it should be placed at the top of the results page. Again, we decided to wait until it we had a clearer timeline on the Next Gen catalog project. Title Keyword Index Fields This topic was brought up as something we need to discuss soon although we didn’t have time at this meeting. Bonnie will create a list of all the fields that are currently included in the title keyword index and distribute it.