Adding to "New at the Library"

I've made a couple of changes to our New at the Library catalog page.

• Added a "New Spanish" section
• Renamed "New DVD" to "New Movie & TV" and added links to new Blu-ray and TV Series
• Added YA Non-fiction and Audiobook links to the "New YA" section
• Reordered everything to make the expanded options fit better in two columns

I've also made a minor change to the Advanced search page. There is no longer an "All" category for locations, formats, audience, and new items. It was getting too hard to keep the collection codes straight. Instead, if you wish to deselect a limit after you've already clicked on it, hold down the ctrl key on your keyboard and click on the limit you wish to remove.

More Changes

Wow, it's been busy this summer. This Sunday I made a couple of different changes to the catalog.

Permanent Link
I've added a "permanent link" option to the catalog. This link is in the full bib view for a title and is located on the bottom left side right above the "MARC Display" link.

Why do you care? Currently, the link that appears in the address bar is very long and unwieldy. For example, this is the original URL for Jennifer Crusie's book Faking It:
http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=131R91I5819K0.9033&profile=weld&source=~!horizon&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!921724~!6&ri=1&aspect=subtab240&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=faking+it&index=.TS&uindex=&aspect=subtab240&menu=search&ri=1
As you can see, it's horrible. This is the shortened permanent link for the title: http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=ISBNEX&term=0312284683.

This feature is still in testing so there are a couple of caveats. First, when possible, I have the catalog connect using the title's ISBN. This is a slightly more stable number than the bib number. If the ISBN doesn't exist, it next looks for a UPC (many movies and music CDs don't have ISBNs). However, it turns out that multiple products could have the same UPC. See this link for an example. I'm still debating with myself if I'll keep the UPC search as an option. If it doesn't have either an ISBN or a UPC it will use the "search URI" link. I'll probably continue tinkering with this over the next couple of weeks to refine it but the general concept should work.

Please let me know what you think of it and if you run into any problems trying to use it.

New collection code for Overdrive eBooks
Tech services has added a new collection code for Overdrive eBooks. This means that you can now search for eBooks separate from Audio eBooks. To limit to Audio eBooks, go to the Advanced search page and then under the Format box highlight Books - Audio eBooks. To search for just eBooks, follow the same steps except highlight Books - eBooks.

Note: we have eBooks from a variety of different vendors including Overdrive, Safari, and Netlibrary. Books from Safari tend to be technology related while Overdrive books tend to be newer than the Netlibrary books. So, if you just want books from a particular vendor, you can enter "overdrive" or "safari" as a General Keyword search and use it in combination with the eBook limit.

New Electronic Resource Images
We found that some borrowers were confused by the records for electronic books showing up in the catalog. To try to make it clearer, we've added images that say, "Get Audio eBook Now", "Connect Now", or "Get eBook Now" along with the direct link to access these resources. You can see examples here:

• Audio eBook - A Hat Full of Sky
• Safari eBook - Using iPhone
• Overdrive eBook - The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

As always, let me know if you have any questions about any of these.

Search for Subtitles and Captions

Recently, I was forwarded a question from one of our borrowers asking how to search for subtitled and captioned DVDs in English. This is a good question but one I had never thought of before. After a little bit of searching, I discovered that there is a Library of Congress subject heading labeled Video Recordings for the Hearing Impaired. While this isn't a complete list of all appropriate videos, it is a good start.

However, if you click on the Video Recordings for the Hearing Impaired subject heading, you see that this retrieves both DVD and VHS formats. To get only DVD results, we can use the catalog's Advanced Search page.

• Once on the Advanced Search page, click the drop down arrow by Title Keyword and change it to Subject Keyword
• Type "hearing impaired" in the box next to it. Make sure to include quotes because we want this exact phrase
• Scroll down under the Format limit box and select Video Recording - DVD (Hint: select multiple format options by holding down the ctrl key while you click all the desired formats)
• Click the Red Arrow to start your search

Unfortunately, this is a large enough result set that the catalog cannot sort it. In this case, the best option is probably to narrow the search further by entering additional title, author, or subject keywords or by using additional limits. For instance, we could refine our search by selecting New DVDs using the New limit box.

At the moment, I'm exploring if there's another way to make this information available. Those of you who have taken cataloging may remember that 041 $j is suppose to contain subtitle and caption information. However, there are a couple of problems that need to be addressed if/when we decide to go this route. For now, the subject keyword search is our best option.

Browse Books via Lexile Measures

On Sunday I turned on a new feature, provided by LibraryThing, in our online catalog that allows our borrowers to browse books via Lexile Measures.

Lexile measures are one way to estimate how easy a book is to read. It is important to note that this measure is only intended to indicate how complicated the book is to read, not whether or not the subject matter is appropriate or interesting for a certain age group. Lexile measures do not correspond directly to specific grade levels. However, Lexile.com does provide a chart of "typical Lexile ranges" for each grade level.

To see an example of a Lexile measure, search for Zen Ties by Jon J Muth. If it exists, the reading level appears in the left column under series info or the professional review links. In this case, the Lexile measure is 460L. To see other books with the same Lexile level, click on the 460L link. A small window will pop up with other books that fall into this category. You can then click on the links for those books to get more information.

In addition to browsing books that exactly match your current book, you can also browse a range of Lexile measures. To do this, click on the 460L link as before. When the window pops open, you'll see sliders at the top that indicate the minimum and maximum measures that you wish to display. Click on the sliders, move them to your desired level range, and then click the Search button. Note: It may take several seconds for large search ranges to return results.

It is not necessary to first look up a book before browsing the Lexile measures. I've also added a link to this feature on our Advanced Search page. Below the text boxes and above the limits there is a link that says, "Click for Lexile Reading Level Search." If you click on this, a window will pop up similar to what happens when you click a reading measure link within a book's record. Like above, click on the sliders to move them to your desired range and then click the Search button. Note: There is a slight problem with how I implemented this box so if the first time you click the link the window doesn't pop up, wait a couple of seconds and try it again. I'll be researching ways to resolve this nagging problem.

Unfortunately, at this time there isn't a way to combine the Lexile browse with any other search criteria. Also, I have heard reports that some of our catalog-only computers within the library are having trouble with the sliding feature. I'm working on figuring out what the problem is and seeing if there is a solution.

You can read LibraryThing's official announcement here or read about their initial implementation in their personal catalog product.

What do you think of this new feature? Do you think the Lexlie Reading Level Search" link would be better on some other page than the advanced search?

My Search for DVDs

I pride myself as an expert searcher. So, it really drives me insane when I get tripped up by how our catalog searches.

My family and I will be flying for Christmas and I decided one of the easiest ways to keep my son quiet on the flight would be to bring some videos along for him to watch. Up till this point, my son has only watched a few videos I've checked out from the library. However, we're going to be gone for 3 weeks which is longer than one can check out videos, even if I renew it once. I decided I would check out a couple of Elmo videos from the library to preview them and then buy one or two to take with us on our trip.

Since I just wanted videos, not books or music, I went to our catalog's Advanced Page. Next to Title Keyword I entered Elmo. Under Format I chose Video Recording - DVD and then clicked the red arrow to start my search. I retrieved around 17 videos. This was great except I remembered there was an Elmo video about pets that my son really liked that wasn't included in this list. If it wasn't included, what other videos might I be missing?

After a moment or two of thinking, I realized that the video I previously checked out was an "Elmo's World" video. Our catalog wasn't smart enough to realize that Elmo's and Elmo are essentially the same words. This is because our catalog doesn't have stemming capabilities. Once I figured out the problem, the solution was simple. I added an asterisk after Elmo so my search now looks like this. Since the asterisk works as a wildcard character in our catalog, it will find all DVDs with the words Elmo and Elmo's.

New Catalog is Up!

Yesterday we started the upgrade for our integrated library system (ILS) which includes the catalog. While we are still working on upgrading some parts of the ILS, the catalog has been updated and most of the bugs squashed. To use it, visit http://catalog.mylibrary.us/.

New Features:

• Did You Mean
• Series Information is now located in the left column of the full bib record. See The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for an example.
• We also have some additional content that shows below the item information on the page. We are still playing with the formatting of both this content and the series content so this may change in the future.
• Searching using boolean operators has changed. See Eileen's Video Tutorial for more information
• Advanced Limits can now be removed without re-submitting a search. See Eileen's Video Tutorial for more information
• Staff and patrons can now email search results (before staff email addresses didn't work). After retrieving search results, scroll down to the very bottom of the page and enter a subject and your email address.
• More DVD images
• The Holds page now has a "Suspend Until" column. This lets you see which holds you have suspended and when they will reactivate.
• There is now a difference in notation between holds deleted in the public versus staff catalog interfaces.

For those of you that subscribed to HIP RSS feeds, that functionality isn't available yet but I expect it will be fixed in the next couple of days.

New Language Limits

I've just made a change to our catalog's advanced search page that allows better limits by language.

Originally, our language limits were based on collection codes. Collection codes are designed to let you know where a particular item is located. For instance, you would expect an item with a "Large Print Fiction" collection code to be shelved in the large print area. However, the only language that has its own collection code is Spanish. While Spanish is currently the dominent non-English language within our district, other languages are also becoming more common. As a result, we decided it was time to look at a better way to search by language.

The new language limits I have just implemented are based on MARC, the underlying data for every bib record. This allows us to limit based on a much wider range of languages. For the sake of simplicity, I have decided to only provide limits for languages where we have at least 20 works in that language. Currently, this list includes:

• Arabic
• Chinese
• Danish
• English
• French
• German
• Hebrew
• Hindi
• Italian
• Japanese
• Latin
• Persian
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Somali
• Spanish
• Swedish

Let me know if you feel any specific language should be added to this list and I'll research it.

An Example:
With the old language limits based on collection codes, you couldn't search for Spanish music. While we have collection codes for many Spanish items, we don't have one specifically for music. However, using the new language limits, this search is now possible.

1. Go to our catalog, http://catalog.mylibrary.us/
2. Click on the Advanced search page
3. Type an * next to Title Keyword
4. Under Format, choose Music
5. Under Language choose Spanish
6. Click the red arrow to start your search

You should now see a list of all music in Spanish within the district.

Quirk Alert:
While limiting by MARC tags instead of collection codes is generally more precise, there is a bug in HIP that does prevent all matching records from being displayed. For those that remember their cataloging lessons, it searches the 008 field but only the first 041 $a subfield. What this means is that the limit should return results for all records in the original language but it may miss some titles that are either multilingual works or the language is available as a subtitle for a movie.

For example, look at the movie Walk on Water. This movie's original language is Hebrew which is reflected by appearing in the 008 tag. However, it is also available to watch in English or German. Because English is listed as the first language in the 041 field, if I limit by English, the movie will appear. However, since German is the third language listed, it will not appear when I limit by German.

Thanks go to Clara M for suggesting the original idea of using MARC language codes instead of collection codes and Eric P for later testing and patiently explaining the intricacies of the MARC codes to me.

Comparison of Boolean Searching in the Old vs. New Catalog

Basic Overview of Boolean Searching in our Catalog
One of the nice features of our catalog is its ability to use Boolean Operators such as AND, OR and NOT. By default, our catalog's keyword searches combine all the words you enter with AND. So, if you choose a Subject Keyword search and type Washington state, the catalog looks for subjects that contain the word Washington and the word state. However, let's say we were searching for books about cake or candy. An easy way to do this is to click on Advanced. Then, in the first drop down box, choose Subject Keyword and enter the word cake. Change the right drop down box from AND to OR. On the second line, choose another Subject Keyword search and this time enter the word candy. Click the red arrow to submit the search. You can see the results here.

Since we're using the same search index for both words, we can also do this search on the Basic Search page. Click on Basic and choose the Subject Keyword index. Then, in the text box, type cake OR candy¹ and click the red arrow. This gives us exactly the same results as the Advanced Search did.

Unfortunately, the catalog doesn't have an order of precedence for its operators (AND, OR, NOT). So, when searching with multiple words, it's best to enclose each group of words with parenthesis². For example, if I were looking for books by Dan Brown or James Patterson, I would choose an Author Keyword search and then type (Dan Brown) OR (James Patterson) and click the red arrow.

Using the Advanced Search, let's try a Title Keyword search for "Trophy Wife". Leave the Boolean Operator as AND. Next to Author Keyword, type (Diana Diamond) – make sure to include the parenthesis – and click the red arrow to search. This search will return all records that have the phrase Trophy Wife in the title where the author's name contains the words Diana Diamond. Click the Refine Search link to go back. This time, instead of AND, change the operator on the first line to OR and click the red arrow to search. This will return all titles that include the phrase Trophy Wife (regardless of author) and all books that Diana Diamond has written. Refine the search again and this time choose NOT. This will return all books that have the title phrase Trophy Wife that are not written by Diana Diamond. Here are the results. The last Boolean choice is the XOR. This is a funny one. When you search with the XOR it will return all books that include the title phrase Trophy Wife and all books that are written by Diana Diamond except for the books with the title Trophy Wife written by Diana Diamond (see the results).

Features and Bug Fixes in the New Catalog

1) In our current catalog, it doesn't matter whether Boolean Operators are entered in upper or lowercase. However, this means that it can't tell when the word NOT is used as part of a title or as a search command. As a result, searching for the book Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot fails because it is looking for all titles that have the words Size 12 but NOT the word fat in the title. The new version of our catalog fixes this problem. In order for the catalog to recognize a word as a boolean operator, it must be in all uppercase. Thus, if you search in our new catalog for Size 12 is NOT Fat the search still fails because NOT is all in capitals and thus is used as a search command. However, searching for Size 12 is Not Fat works as a normal borrower might expect. Note: Because of this change, it is best not to type in all caps when searching the new catalog since this would mean you're telling the catalog to use NOT as an operator.

2) It use to be that the catalog did not automatically group words in the same search box together. When using the AND operator, it doesn't matter. However, if you use any of other three operators, OR, NOT or XOR, you way not retrieve the results you wanted. For example, let's say I would like to retrieve all books titled To the Last Man that were not writter by Zane Grey. I might be tempted to do a Title Keyword for "To the Last Man", choose NOT, and then an Author Keyword for Zane Grey. You can see that no results are retrieved. However, if do the exact same search by put parenthesis around Zane Grey's name, I can see that there is a book by Jeff Shaara that matches my search query. Happily, this has changed in the new catalog. Once we switch to the new catalog in most cases it won't matter whether or not you group words together using parenthesis. NOTE: If you are using Boolean Operators from the Basic search page, it is still best to use parenthesis to group words together.

3) The new catalog has another bug fix dealing with Boolean Operators. Let's say I wanted to refine a search that used the NOT operator. In our current catalog, when you click Refine Search it sets all the boolean operators back to AND even if your previous search was using something different. This annoyance has been fixed in our new catalog.

4) In our current catalog, the only way to indicate that you want to exclude words from a search result was to type NOT. However, now you can also use - to indicate the catalog should exclude some results. This is similar to how you exclude words when using Google. For example, let's say that I want to find the book It Happened One Autumn but I don't want the large print copy to show up. Performing a Title Keyword search for "It Happened One Autumn" -large will return my desired result. Note: There is no space between the dash and the word you wish to exclude.

Searching for a CD

A while back, I checked out a CD from Carbon Valley that I really enjoyed. In fact, I decided to return the CD and buy a copy for myself. However, I returned the CD before writing down the title of the artist. Over the weekend, I visited Carbon Valley with Calvin, my son, and decided I should try to hunt down the CD. I remembered that it was in the classical section so I started flipping through CDs. However, Calvin was getting impatient and I didn't feel like flipping through all of the CDs. Plus, I'd never find it if someone else had it checked out. I decided to try searching for it via our catalog.

Being the catalog sys admin, you'd think I would immediately have the perfect search strategy to find what I'm looking for. I remembered that one of the songs on the CD was "My Funny Valentine" which I'd also heard on Lullaby for my favorite insomniac by Ahn Trio. I knew that our catalogers usually include the individual songs on a CD in the "contents note" of the catalog record. So, I decided to try a Title Keyword search for "My Funny Valentine." I retrieved no relevant results, not even the CD by Ahn Trio. I decided that I must have remember the name of the song wrong so I went and looked up the Ahn Trio record. I had remembered the name of the song correctly. Suddenly, I realized that I had used the wrong search index. I felt kind of sheepish.

Originally, the Title Keyword for our public catalog would search the content notes of a record. However, searching this field can more than double the results for a simple keyword search. We decided that since most people are looking for the main title of a resource, it made sense to seperate out the content note from the main Title Keyword search index. We made this change several years ago. Now if people want to search the content note of a record, they need to use the Title and Content Keyword search. This search index will retrieve both title and content keyword matches. As a result, this is the index that I should have used.

Once I realized my mistake, I redid my search using the correct index. Even though I enclosed my search query in quotation marks, which forces it to search for the entire phrase, I still retrieved 36 results. I realized that if I used our adavanced search, I could narrow down this number significantly. Here's the steps I took:

• On the advanced search page, I clicked the drop down box and chose Title and Content Keyword.
• In the text box next to that index, I entered "My funny valentine", including the quotes.
• Under Location, I chose Carbon Valley Regional Library.
• Under Format, I selected "Music."
• I clicked the red arrow to start my search.

My search returned 9 results which was a much smaller number to scan. I scrolled down until I saw a title that sounded familar, Music from a farther room by Lucia Micarelli. Luckily, it was checked in so I quickly flipped through the "m" CDs in the classical music section and happily confirmed that this was the CD I had been searching for.