Proposed Scout additions

The following additions to Scout are proposed:

1. “PDF Full Text” links will display an accompanying “Send PDF to my Cloud” link that gives the Scout user an option to send that PDF to cloud storage.

sendToCloud

Users will have the option of choosing from Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox. We are working on adding Box support.

saveToCloudPicture

2.   For catalog results, users will have the option of texting a call number to their phone by clicking the Text Call # link.

catalogResult

After clicking that link, users will be asked for their phone number and provider to facilitate the text.

ebscoWidgetTextCallNumber

3.  From the detailed record of a book result, users will have the choice to access what Google Books has available for that book.  If this book is not available for preview from Google Books, the user will be notified.

detailedWidgets

googleBooksPreview

4.  In the interest of encouraging more direct Scout feedback from users, the Scout search interface will include a more prominent feedback link labelled Report Scout issue.

ReportScoutIssue

Users will be presented with a standard form where they can report an issue or offer their feedback.

ScoutContactForm

If you have any feedback on these additions, please don’t hesitate to post a comment below.   In the absence of any concerns about these changes, they will be added to Scout at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12th.

5 thoughts on “Proposed Scout additions

  1. These look like good additions to me. I will definitely use and encourage others to use the “Send PDF to my Cloud” link. I’m happy to hear the UA-supported cloud services will be available: OneDrive (faculty, staff, and students get 1TB free with the Office 365 Education plan); Google Drive (available with the Google Apps for Education/crimson.ua.edu accounts), and Box.

    • Thank you for providing your feedback, Melissa. Unfortunately, unlike Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive, Box doesn’t appear to supply a widget to easily add something to cloud storage. However, I’m optimistic that we will work out a way to provide that functionality.

      -Drew

  2. These look good. I also like the cloud option. Is there a widget for HathiTrust in addition to the Googlebook option?
    Thanks

    • Thank you for your feedback, Millie. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a HathiTrust widget. I agree that such a widget would potentially be very useful. It’s possible we could develop something — I’d have to look into it more.

      -Drew

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