Subject Headings are (Usually) Plural

When you search for subject headings in our catalog, always assume that the subject heading is plural.

I just ran across a case where someone, I have no idea who, did a general keyword search for "bildungsroman." If this was a library borrower rather than a staff person, I'm very impressed. When I first started working at the library, I had to look up the term.

Unfortunately, a general keyword search for bildungsroman only returns 5 results. A subject keyword search is even worse, returning no results. Why? It's because our subject headings use the plural form, bildungsromans. All it would have taken for this searcher to retrieve 1,974 results was to add a little s at the end of the word.

Unfortunately, this is a pretty common problem. I've seen quite a few searches fail, including some of my own, because the search query was in the singular form. At some point, we might get a discovery layer* which hopefully will be smart enough to return results for many of these cases. Until then, if you're not using the Advanced Search page, you can try the Subject Alphabetical index which, depending on the term, may provide a hint on whether you should search for the singular or plural form of a word. If you are still intent on using the keyword searches, please, unless you know otherwise, try the plural form first.

* A discovery layer is an interface that sits on top of our catalog and searches the way our catalog should in the first place. This usually includes things such as spell check, relevancy ranking, basic stemming and more. It also often has the ability to integrate, at least to a limited extent, with our databases and other online resources.

Catalog URL Structure

Last month we added a permanent link feature for our catalog. I've used this quite a bit since adding it. Hopefully, it's useful to more people than just me :) In any case, while I find the permanent link helpful, it doesn't always do everything I want. Below is a rundown of the URL structure in the catalog as well as some tips about how to get different results.

There are a couple of different types of links you can create in our catalog.

• Search Links
• Title Links

Search Links

Here's an example of what a typical search link looks like:
http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1WH618765K260.78924&menu=search&aspect=subtab240&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=weld&ri=&index=.TS&term=home+staging&x=0&y=0&aspect=subtab240

Much of this information can be deleted. However, there are six elements that a basic search link should contain:

Description	Code	Example
Base URL	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?
The library code that should be used	&profile=	&profile=weld
Which search menu is used	&menu=	&menu=search
Which search subtab you're using	&aspect=	&aspect=subtab240
The search index	&index=	&index=.ts
The search term (no spaces, use + instead)	&term=	&term=home+staging

If you do an advanced search, such as this one there are some additional elements that are required:

Description	Code	Example
Which search subtab you're using (different than basic search)	&aspect=	&aspect=subtab242
Boolean operators if multiple indexes are used	&oper=	&oper=AND
Which limit box and limits are used	&limitbox_2	&limitbox_3=CO01+%3D+wld_en+or+CO01+%3D+wld_jn
How to sort the results	&sort=	&sort=310014

In addition, there are a couple of ways you can change the URL and make it act differently:

Description	Code	Example
Determine how many results show*	&npp=	&npp=100
Show an XML-like display (need to manually add at the end of the URL)	&GetXML=	&GetXML=true

* I've gotten reports that this option may not work for everyone so let me know if it doesn't work for you.

Title Links
In most cases, the Permanent Link option in the catalog will meet your needs. However, it is also possible to manually create direct title links. Direct title links are most often created using ISBN/ISSN, UPC Exact Match, Bib Number, or Bib Control Number - Exact Match. To create these types of links, many of the same elements appear as in the search URL.

Description	Code	Example
Base URL	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?
The library code that should be used (optional)	&profile=	&profile=weld
The search index	&index=	&index=ISBNEX
The number	&term=	&term=0783274068

If you choose to include a library code, it will show the items for that library first if the item is currently checked in.

When creating a direct link, first decide which index you want to use. Then, find the identifying number to use. The index is put in the &index= element and the number is put after the &term element.

Description	Code	Example
ISBN/ISSN	&index=ISBNEX	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=ISBNEX&term=0783274068
UPC	&index=UPCEX	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=UPCEX&term=678149013122
Bib Number	&index=BIB	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=BIB&term=965252
Bib Control Number	&index=CNTRLEX	http://catalog.mylibrary.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=CNTRLEX&term=ocm50841487

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.

Sorry, could not find anything matching

I was reading posts on my romance listserv this morning and someone mentioned that Carola Dunn wrote a mystery series set in the 1960s. The poster had read the second book in the series, A Colourful Death, and thought it was interesting. I've enjoyed Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series so thought I'd look this one up and give it a try.

I started with an Author - Alphabetical search but quickly wimped out when I saw there were 43 titles by Dunn. Then, I decided it would be faster to do a title search for "A Colorful Death" and then use the series info on the left side of the page to figure out the first book.

When I did a Title Keyword search for a colorful death, I got no results. At first, I was worried we might not have it. Then, I decided adding the article a to the phrase was a mistake since catalogs often ignore articles if it's the first word of a title. I changed my search to just "colorful death" and was taken to the correct record!

I was excited and decided I needed to write a post warning everyone about including initial articles when doing a phrase search. Except . . . that wasn't the reason my search worked. The real reason my first title keyword search hadn't returned anything was because I had used the US spelling for "colorful" instead of the UK spelling of "colourful." If I had searched for "A Colourful Death", I would have seen that we actually had two editions of that book. The only reason my second title keyword search returned anything was because "colorful death" was listed as an Additional Title in the MARC record for that specific edition.

The moral of the story is to always double check your spelling when the catalog doesn't return the results you want. Even though we now have a Did You Mean feature, it's not going to catch every error that I make.

Several years ago I ran across a fantastic article about The Seven Deadly Nyms. It lists several other ways to accidentally mess up your search results. While search engines and catalogs continue to evolve, they still tend to return the results we asked for, not the results we want.

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.

RSS Feeds (and Email Newsletter) of New Titles

Prior to our catalog upgrade last November our borrowers could subscribe to RSS feeds in order to see a list of new titles. Unfortunately, with our upgrade this feature was broken. Instead of choosing to write custom code that might possibly break again the next time we upgraded, we have decided to subscribe to a service from Wowbrary. In addition to providing RSS feeds of new items, Wowbrary also allows our borrowers to subscribe to a weekly email newsletter.

What does Wowbrary look like?
To see an example of what the newsletter looks like, click here. As you can see, it first lists the "top choices," based on its Amazon ranking, and then provides links on the left to find titles within a specific subject area. If you wish to subscribe to the weekly email newsletter, click here, click the radio button to choose High Plains Library district, and then enter your email twice. The newsletter and RSS feeds are updated weekly on Wednesday mornings.

You can also subscribe to specific subject areas via RSS. Click here to see the RSS categories (it may take a minute or two to completely load).

What's the Difference between Wowbrary and NextReads
High Plains Library District also subscribes to a newsletter/rss service called NextReads. At first glance, it may seem similar to Wowbrary but it has a different focus. Wowbrary's only purpose is to provide patrons with a list of titles we have ordered in the last week. The upside is every single title that Wowbrary lists is already in our catalog. NextReads doesn't limit itself to only items we own. However, one of the advantages NextReads has over Wowbrary is the bottom section of the newsletter features good older books that may not be getting the attention they deserve.

What's the implementation timeline?
This month we're focusing on introducing Wowbrary to staff as well as testing to make sure it works the way we expect. However, please feel free to pass this information on to anyone you think would find it interesting. At the moment, we're planning an official launch of Wowbrary to the public sometime in August.

I've had a lot of fun looking through the new items this morning and have already placed several requests for new books. If you decide to try out the email newsletter or RSS links, send me an email or post a comment letting me know what you think about it.

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.