[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Evergreen issues and suggestions

[Brandon W. Uhlman]

Hi, Bryan.

Your observations are very extensive and make a lot of good points.  
Thanks for sharing them with the list. I'm sure the developers will be  
poring over them in due course, but I'll comment quickly on a few of  
your OPAC usability points which interested me.

[snip]

> The Staff Client offers the ability to search for a TCN and have the  
>  record come up immediately. It might be helpful if such an option   
> were also available in the OPAC search (for example if the user   
> searches via the Quick Search for a TCN). This would save time in   
> having to wait for the results list display, then the OPAC record   
> display, and then MARC display (if MARC display were the preferred   
> display for the user--if this is an option for those who are logged   
> in).

My initial instinct was that quick searching in the OPAC *did*  
immediately return to a record, and not a results display. I did a  
quick test with item barcode, and in fact, it does return immediately  
to the record. Then I checked with TCN and it doesn't. Interesting.

The database schema does not *force* bib records to have unique TCNs,  
though the system assigns them if creating new records, and fails on  
importing duplicates through the interface. I think you can import  
bibs directly into the database with duplicate TCNs, so maybe this is  
the case they're trying to avoid. Similarly, the same ISBN can (oops!)  
be found sometimes on two completely different items.

Maybe the decision to return a result set was made to ensure that the  
return behaviour would always be what the user expected (even if it's  
not the most convenient). Perhaps someone from Equinox could comment  
on the  motivation behind this decision.

[snip]

> It would also be nice if there were a way to easily do Quick   
> searches (ISBN, TCN, etc.) via the HTML-only interface.
>
> It would be nice if there were an option to see the MARC display in   
> the HTML-only version of the OPAC. Even better would be the option   
> to have multiple records appear at once in MARC view, for example,   
> as one can see using the Tagged option of the Advanced Search of   
> LC's Z39.50 server   
> (http://www.loc.gov/cgi-bin/zgstart?ACTION=INIT&FORM_HOST_PORT=/prod/www/data/z3950/locils.html,z3950.loc.gov,7090).

I suspect some of these decisions, particularly the in-the-background  
nature of the MARC data is motivated by the fact that the OPAC is  
primarily a tool for end user discovery, and users don't really care  
that much (generally) about MARC records. Users generally don't engage  
in that much known item searching either; perhaps this is why the  
quick search fields are less prominent.

>
> Thank you for your assistance,
>
> Bryan Baldus
> Cataloger
> Quality Books Inc.
> The Best of America's Independent Presses
> 1-800-323-4241x402
> bryan.baldus at quality-books.com

I look forward to hearing some thoughts from others on your suggestions.

Brandon

======================================
Brandon W. Uhlman, Systems Consultant
Public Library Services Branch
Ministry of Education
Government of British Columbia
605 Robson Street, 5th Floor
Vancouver, BC  V6B 5J3

Phone: (604) 660-2972
E-mail: brandon.uhlman at gov.bc.ca
         brandon.uhlman at bclibrary.ca