Public Interfaces Committee
November 12, 2003
Present: Julie Linden (chair), Dale Askey, Andy Shimp, Karen Reardon, Manon
Theroux (recorder), Rick Zwies.
Guests: Kimberly Parker, Susanne Roberts.
Absent: Kalee Sprague, Tao Yang, Tim Young.
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1. Announcements
-Committee members will soon be asked to test the latest Voyager patch, to
be installed on the Clark server (TrainOrbis).
-The archives of the Library's electronic discussion lists will be removed
from the Front Door search engine. We will look into whether the archives
can also be removed from the University's search engine. The archives will
still be searchable using the link on the Staff Front Door.
2. Cookie-Pushing for SFX (guest: Kimberly Parker)
Background: CrossRef was developed by an organization of publishers of online
resources. It uses DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) to create persistent links
to e-resources. Publishers register DOIs for all full-text articles in their
e-journals and agree to attach the DOIs to article citations. The Library can
access the CrossRef system for free. The only downside is that the DOI linking
takes you to a particular publisher's version, not to other versions of the
resource that we might license. SFX can take us directly to the versions that
we license. We are able to intercept CrossRef linking using the SFX menu but
only by putting a cookie on our users' desktops. Other libraries are already
doing this, often putting the cookie behind an image on the library's front
door. Both Yale and non-Yale users will receive the cookie. Is this acceptable?
Decision: Implement cookie-pushing using a server-side include in the Front
Door footer that can automatically identify the ISP domain of each user and
only give the cookie to users that are coming from a Yale domain. Test first.
The Medical Library can decide later whether to also implement.
3. Online Books (guests: Kimberly Parker, Susanne Roberts)
Background: There is significant overlap between the database of e-books available
via the Front Door Online Books web page and the many e-book records now getting
loaded into Orbis. Almost everything in the database is (or will soon be) available
in Orbis. The e-books database will continue to be maintained because the Medical
Library has developed its own subject-based interface to it and e-books are
more popular with Medical Library users. Shall we discontinue the Front Door
web page that serves as the interface to the database?
Decision: Retire the Online Books page over the winter break. Meanwhile, Julie
will add text to the page warning users that it will soon disappear and directing
them to Orbis. She will ask Matthew if he can suggest any search tips that ought
to be included on the transition page (e.g. genre heading searches or search
limits). Once the Online Books page is retired, we will have to redo the Front
Door menu and page headers.
4. Orbis Author Searches
Background: Julie solicited feedback via YULIB-L on the changes to the two
Orbis author searches proposed by PIC. The changes were: 1) renaming "Author
(Sorted by Name)" to "Author (Lastname Firstname)" and 2) moving
"Author (Sorted by Title)" to the bottom of the list. Feedback was
generally positive.
Decision: Implement the changes in production, together with changes to the
help pages as needed. Also, Manon will send Tao a better example of a corporate
name search for the help page, as 'Department of the Interior" is not a
valid heading and brings up no hits.
5. Medical Library Proxy Server Link on DBOW pages
Background: Daniel Dollar has proposed a revision to the remote access link
in DBOW to make the Medical Library Proxy Server more prominent. Currently,
one link is generated to the YUL Off-Campus Access page, with the Medical Library
Proxy Server somewhat hidden in the text and header. He proposes inserting two
links for remote access into each DBOW page, as follows:Access Restrictions:
Restricted by IP address to Yale Univ + YNHHOff-campus Access (Proxy Server/VPN):
Central Campus<http://www.library.yale.edu/pubstation/proxy/proxy_about.html>;
Medical Campus <http://www.med.yale.edu/library/proxy/>Decision: Implement,
with possible tweaks to wording and formatting (e.g. perhaps making the two
links be separate bullets).
6. Borrow Direct on "Place Requests" Page in Orbis
Background: Julie proposed adding a link to Borrow Direct on the "Place
Requests" page in Orbis. Borrow Direct is a good alternative to placing
a recall on an item already checked out.
Decision: Add the link as a separate bullet. Link should open the Borrow Direct
page as a new window. Also, tone down the boldness of the heading on the "Place
Requests" page if possible.
7. Local Subjects Index in Orbis
Background: At its previous meeting, PIC had recommended not implementing a
separate Local Subjects index in Orbis in favor of continuing to rely on keyword
indexing. Manon asked for a recap of the discussion that led to this decision,
as she was unable to attend that meeting. She noted that the ability to search
by local subjects was important for users of special collections materials.
Catalogers of Beinecke materials are required to add local subjects to nearly
every record they create in order to record such things as provenance evidence,
binding details, etc. Other Yale libraries with special collections use local
subjects as well. In our previous NOTIS system, local subjects were searchable;
adding a left-anchored index in Voyager for Local Subjects would restore that
functionality.
Decision: Further discussion of this issue might be needed. Julie will contact
various special collections units to get a sense of their use of local subject
headings. PIC might want to stick by its decision, however, given that users
of special collections materials represent only a small percentage of the Library's
overall users and that it is best to keep the Simple Search options to a manageable
number. There is also concern that the name "Local Subjects" would
be confusing to users. One idea to look into is whether we could have an "advanced"
OPAC interface on another server. That interface could have the more specialized
indexes that are important to various subsets of users but that not all library
users need (e.g. Local Subjects, SuDoc call number index, etc.). Julie will
explore this idea with the Library Systems Office.
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