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Improving the Catalogue Interface using Endeca

Learn how NCSU Libraries utilized Endeca to enhance the user experience of their library catalogue, through improved search features, relevance ranking, faceted browsing, and more.

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Improving the Catalogue Interface using Endeca

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  1. Improving the Catalogue Interface using Endeca Tito SierraNCSU Libraries

  2. Outline • Motivation • Demo • Technical Overview • Implementation • Stats and Usability • Future Plans

  3. Motivation • Improve the quality of the library catalogue user experience • Exploit our existing authority infrastructure (aka make MARC data work harder)

  4. What is Endeca? • Software company based in Cambridge, MA • Search and information access technology provider for several major commercial websites • Developers of the Endeca Information Access Platform

  5. Why Endeca? • Relevance ranking of results • Browse • Improved subject access • Performance / speed

  6. Demo

  7. Key Features • Relevance ranking • Faceted browse • True browse • Search comforts • Spell correction • “Did you mean…” • Stemming • Sort options

  8. Relevance Ranking Based on an ordering of modules: • Original query match • Phrase match • Field match (tiered) • Number of fields matched • Weighted frequency (TF/IDF) • Publication date descending • Circulation stats descending

  9. Faceted Browse • Search and browse in single interface • Layered facet refinement • Filter results across multiple dimensions • Facet deselection

  10. Availability Author Library Format Language New LC Classification Subject: Topic Subject: Genre Subject: Region Subject: Era Facet Refinements

  11. True Browse • Entrypoint into the catalog based on Library of Congress Classification

  12. Search Comforts • Spell correction • “Did you mean…” • Stemming • Sort options (e.g. publication date, most popular, call number)

  13. Big Wins • Relevance ranking • Speed / performance • Locally managed presentation interface • Persistent parameter based entrypoints

  14. Features Not Supported • Work level aggregations / roll-up • Customization / personalization • Folksonomies / user contributed content • Recommender functionality • Shopping cart functionality

  15. Technical Overview • Endeca co-exists with SirsiDynix Unicorn ILS and Web2 online catalog • Endeca handles keyword search • Web2 handles authority search and detail page display • Endeca indexes MARC records exported nightly from Unicorn • Endeca = discovery portion of the ILS

  16. Technical Overview Information Access Platform NCSU exports and reformats Data Foundry MDEX Engine Parse text files Raw MARC data Indices Flat text files HTTP HTTP NCSU Web Application

  17. Technical Overview Offline - Nightly NCSU exports and reformats Data Foundry MDEX Engine Parse text files Raw MARC data Indices Flat text files HTTP HTTP NCSU Web Application

  18. Technical Overview Always Online NCSU exports and reformats Data Foundry MDEX Engine Parse text files Raw MARC data Indices Flat text files HTTP HTTP NCSU Web Application

  19. Implementation Team • Seven member team • 5 IT staff, 1 cataloging librarian, 1 reference librarian • Timeline • License / negotiation: Spring 2005 • Software acquisition: Summer 2005 • Implementation: Aug 2005 to Jan 2006

  20. Implementation Challenges • Deciding which facets to surface as navigation refinements • Designing the user interface • Optimizing the relevance ranking algorithm • Optimizing the faceted navigation display

  21. Usage Statistics

  22. Usage Statistics

  23. Usage Statistics

  24. Usability Testing • 10 undergraduate students • 5 with new Endeca-based interface • 5 with old catalog interface • Data collected • Task difficulty/failure • Task duration

  25. Usability Testing

  26. Usability Testing

  27. Usability Testing

  28. Post Launch Enhancements • Relevance ranking tweaks • Facet organization and labeling improvements • Backend data cleanup (e.g. global subfield assignment changes)

  29. Future Plans • Aggregated work display (“roll-up”) • More browsing options • Interface improvements and continued usability testing • Web Services interfaces • Search results in RSS/OpenSearch format • Catalog Availability Web Service

  30. Reflections • Right tool for right job • Benefit of small teams • Local iterative development • Catalog interface only part of the puzzle

  31. More Information • “Magnifying the ILS with Endeca,” The Serials Librarian, 51(3/4), 2006. • “Toward a 21st Century Library Catalog,” Information Technologies and Libraries, 23(3), 2006.

  32. Thanks http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca Tito Sierra Digital Technologies Development Librarian tito_sierra@ncsu.edu

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