OHSU Library’s Homegrown Knowledgebase

1. OHSU Library’s Homegrown Knowledgebase Laura Zeigen, Library Web Manager Friday Valentine, Digital Resources Librarian and Cataloger

2. What is a knowledgebase? • knowledgebase: a searchable database of frequently asked questions and answers. • Like an FAQ but different. • An FAQ is just a file, but a knowledgebase is a database that is searchable.

3. Screenshot of our final top page

4. History of resource • Library personnel of all levels staff the Reference Desk. • Need all the tidbits of knowledge one might need at the Reference Desk in one central resource. • 1991/2 - "Book of Wisdom” • Reference librarian wrote up and printed out these “pieces of wisdom” and kept notebook at the Reference Desk.

5. History of resource • 1997 • First attempt to bring “Book of Wisdom” online. • FileMakerPro database • 2003 • FileMaker Pro database under-utilized • A researcher conducted user-needs assessment talking with all of the Reference Desk staff and obtained input on what they would desire of such a resource.

6. Needs assessment findings • 2004: Cross-departmental team took this user needs assessment and created a Knowledgebase using Microsoft SQL and Macromedia ColdFusion.

7. Development team • User needs assessment person • Reference person • Database developer • Web person • Cataloger

8. Additional systems requirements • Not duplicate the main library web site • Provide browse and search capabilities • Have a clear and concise interface • Have print capability • Be cheap and easy, preferably free software solution

9. Additional systems requirements • Content owners responsible for currency of information • Mechanism for anyone to request updates, but content owners maintain control. • Allow us to have an audit trail of items

10. Exploring the possibilities • Third-party software • Partnership possibilities with OHSU’s IT Department • ActiveKB, myKB and others • Blogs • None met the desired criteria of cheap/free, ability to have immediate control, or audit trail.

11. Solution best suited to our needs • Develop a database-driven Web resource • Macromedia ColdFusion (front-end) • Microsoft SQL (back-end) • Already available to university: free • Development team already familiar with technology

12. Basics of what we developed • Browse • Search • Reporting mechanism • Updates for existing records • Additions for records that were not already in the system

25. Order & organizing content • Weed database of out-dated content • Compile list of categories • Create subject category structure • Address other search issues

26. Categories

27. Front page view Front page view

28. Searching and the Impact of ColdFusion/SQL • Searching different from perceived expectations (Google) • Literal string searching • No Boolean search capability

29. String searching #1 • Words & parts of words, example: “neuro” will return neurotic, neurology, neurocytology “ovid” hits on ovid and provide

30. String searching #2 • Hyphen/spacing important, example: “non-ohsu” is one string “non ohsu” is two strings. • Phrase searching is adjacency search

31. String searching #3 • No Boolean searching makes combining concepts difficult, example: “public” + “ovid” (Google) String search would see “public ovid” as two word search string.

32. Notes on searching • Created detailed searching notes for users • Created "controlled vocabulary" list for both searchers and content creators to minimize the impact of the platform's sensitivity.

33. Controlled vocab

34. Screenshot – just VA

35. Screenshot – VAMC

36. Staff training • Staff training sessions to help familiarize staff with the Knowledgebase, how to work with it and its controlled vocabulary, etc. • Feedback provided from training sessions helped in making final adjustments to the interface and system.

37. ColdFusion and SQL coding • Screenshots • Coding examples • Just the basics here • More in-depth handout can be emailed to you. • Will just show basics of SQL back-end and ColdFusion front-end.

39. Issues of coding for lists “by category” • Each record entered into system had to be assigned to at least one category to show up. • Example: Where is the WebBridge link in PubMed? • Coded for both WebBridge and PubMed categories.

40. Coding issue

41. Coding issue

42. Coding issue

43. The Fix • Start with a solid database structure first. • Fix resided in the ColdFusion query • The SQL database design was set up correctly.

44. majorcat.cfm page (category listings) <h2>List of knowledgebase issues by category</h2> <cfoutput query="fred" group="catName”> <h3>#catName#</h3> <dl><dt> <cfoutput> <dd><li><a href="majorcatdetailfromcat.cfm?token=#kbaseID#">#question#</a>

45. majorcatdetailfromcat.cfm • Already passing through token from majorcat.cfm URL: <cfquery datasource="LibSupport" name="fred"> select DISTINCT * from kbase K INNER JOIN kbasecats B ON K.kbaseID=B.kbaseID INNER JOIN cat C ON B.catID=C.catID where K.kbaseID = '#token#' order by question </cfquery>

46. majorcatdetailfromcat.cfm <cfoutput query="fred" group="question"> <strong> <font color="##cc0000" size="4"">#question#</font></strong><p> #answer# etc.

47. Conclusions/Lessons Learned • Get input from users on their needs regarding the proposed resource. • Use templates (ColdFusion) for your coding. • Provide a mechanism to provide feedback on the resource so it can be updated and grow over time. • This also helps all staff feel more like stakeholders in the project.

48. Questions? • Presentation • http://www.ohsu.edu/library/staff/ zeigenl/onlinenw05/ • Emails • zeigenl@ohsu.edu • valentif@ohsu.edu