[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Proposed changes to browse indexes

Fri Aug 29 12:26:16 EDT 2014

Hi, Don,

Although this is a separate issue from the current proposed changes, 
it's an interesting question and one I know you have raised before. 
It's a question we've just begun to discuss here, and I feel like we 
need more experience with browse to decide exactly how it should work.

The fact that headings in records work so differently than the headings 
in the browse display is why we chose to use a different separator in 
browse.  We had some trouble when we first moved to Evergreen 
understanding how subject headings in records worked until we changed 
the separator to the greater than sign, which helped people see these as 
breadcrumbs.  The headings in the browse display are treated as one long 
string, and we thought the dash conveyed that better.

When a user is looking at a record like this one:
http://evergreen.noblenet.org/eg/opac/record/1458151?locg=1

They will see some very specific headings like this:
Children > United States > History > 18th century > Activity programs

The user can currently decide to click on only part of the heading to do 
a less specific search -- for example, if they click on "18th century" 
they will find a lot of books on children in that era that aren't 
activity programs, which can be useful.

I can think of a few ways the heading links from records could work:

1.  The same way they do now
2.  Take you to the browse index page in the neighborhood of that 
heading: http://bit.ly/browseoption1
3. Take you to the directly to the records using the heading (the 
equivalent of clicking on the heading in the browse list in #2.)  In 
this case, there is only one record with this heading so you'd be 
jumping back to the record.  Perhaps with this option, the headings in 
the record would need to show the number of records, like the browse 
page does.
4. A hybrid model that lets the user choose just a partial heading (for 
example, Children > United States > History) and it's treated one of the 
options in #3.

We've only had browse up for a couple of weeks and have not really given 
this issue enough thought to know how we'd like the headings in records 
to work, and that may be true of others as well.  But this is definitely 
an issue that I think the community will want to discuss, and to make 
sure that we get as much input as possible from public service librarians.

Elizabeth

On 8/29/2014 10:45 AM, Kathy Lussier wrote:
> Hi Donald,
>
> This proposal wouldn't make any changes to the subject links on the bib
> record. It would only affect the display of subjects in the browse list.
>
> Thanks for the feedback!
>
> Kathy
>
> Kathy Lussier
> Project Coordinator
> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
> (508) 343-0128
> klussier at masslnc.org
> Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
> #evergreen IRC: kmlussier
>
> On 8/29/2014 10:42 AM, Donald Butterworth wrote:
>> Both these proposals sound like a great improvement to me. One
>> question, will the hot links for the dashed subject entries on the
>> bibliographic screen point to the subject browse result screen or the
>> subject keyword result screen?
>>
>> Personally I would like to see all hot links on the bib screen point
>> to browse result screens. e.g. author/editor/contributor, series,
>> subject, title, and call number.
>>
>> How does that sound everyone?
>>
>> Don
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 4:32 PM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org
>> <mailto:klussier at masslnc.org>> wrote:
>>
>>     Hi all,
>>
>>     Recently, NOBLE made some local customizations to
>>     config.metabib_field to improve browse search on their local
>>     system. They would like to contribute a branch to make these
>>     changes in Evergreen for 2.next, but I wanted to share their
>>     changes with the community first to see if can generate some
>>     community consensus around the changes.
>>
>>     1. We would like to submit a branch that enables browse search for
>>     the complete (All Subjects) field, and disables it for the all of
>>     the other fields that are included in the subject class. This
>>     branch would also add a -- joiner so that the fields properly
>>     display separators. Currently, Evergreen is indexing the
>>     individual subdivisions. By enabling browse for the complete
>>     field, we see the full heading in the subject browse. By disabling
>>     browse for all of the other subject indexes, we remove
>>     subdivisions like handbooks, manuals, etc. as something that is
>>     currently being displayed as a standalone heading (not very useful
>>     to the user.) This branch would address the bugs reported in
>>     https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1331506 and in
>>     https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1331524.
>>
>>     Based on previous discussions on this topic, I'm fairly sure most
>>     end users will prefer these defaults. However, I just want to make
>>     sure this is desired before we submit any changes.
>>
>>     The changes would be supplied in the seed data for new Evergreen
>>     installs, but, because we don't want to break any customizations
>>     that may have been made to existing index definitions, most likely
>>     won't be applied for upgrades. However, we could probably supply a
>>     SQL statement in the release notes that lets existing sites know
>>     how to make these changes if they want them.
>>
>>     2. The second change we would like to make affects the ease with
>>     which users can find titles starting with initial articles.
>>     Currently, most of the title indexes honor non-filing indicators,
>>     so that a title like "The Help" will ignore "the" and file "The
>>     Help" with the H's. If a patron inadvertently enters "the help,"
>>     there is a warning that can be enabled telling the patron they may
>>     want to try the search without "the." However, in investigating
>>     the bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1321780, we
>>     discovered that the 740 field is being handled a little
>>     differently because it is being indexed twice, once with the
>>     non-filing characters and once without . For example, in one
>>     catalog, "the heart sutra" is being indexed with the h's, but is
>>     also being indexed with the t's (for the).
>>
>>     We would like to propose that this approach be used for all title
>>     indexes. With this approach, the user will find a title whether or
>>     not they include the initial articles in their search. It reduces
>>     the amount of training that needs to be done to teach users how to
>>     use the catalog.
>>
>>     Of course, these additional indexes could remain a customization
>>     that is just handled locally, but, since it makes it easier for a
>>     patron or student to use browse, we think it's worthy of
>>     consideration for the default indexes.
>>
>>     Both of these changes have already been made to the NOBLE catalog.
>>     You can see these changes in action at
>>     http://evergreen.noblenet.org/eg/opac/browse.
>>
>>     Kathy
>>
>>     --
>>     Kathy Lussier
>>     Project Coordinator
>>     Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
>>     (508) 343-0128 <tel:%28508%29%20343-0128>
>>     klussier at masslnc.org <mailto:klussier at masslnc.org>
>>     Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
>>     #evergreen IRC: kmlussier
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Don Butterworth
>> Faculty Associate / Librarian III
>> B.L. Fisher Library
>> Asbury Theological Seminary
>> don.butterworth at asburyseminary.edu
>> <mailto:don.butterworth at asburyseminary.edu>
>> (859) 858-2227
>

-- 
Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
26 Cherry Hill Drive
Danvers MA 01923
E-mail: et at noblenet.org