Web Technologies and Development

Q: What exactly IS the OneSearch?

‘OneSearch‘ is a comprehensive, UA-Libraries created, owned and maintained search tool that accesses all of the University Libraries’ resources using our discovery tools, Full-text article resources, the Libraries’ catalog, electronic resource, the library website, FAQs and research guides as sources.

• Searches almost every single resource available to the University Libraries including: Scout, our Database list, LibGuides, LibAnswers (the Library F.A.Q.), our Google API account, a curated list of the top  pages with suggested URLs, library subject specialists, the Library’s catalog, our electronic resources, the Music Library’s video database, and Acumen.
• Provides a ‘Bento-Box’ style array of search results, divided by item type.
• Allows the user to click through to a more comprehensive list of results within the native interface of the data-source.
• Provides immediate and direct answers to almost any natural language search concerning using the library or its resources.

Q: Can you break the tool down, section-by-section? (see the below figure)

OneSearch is divided into distinct sections – much like a Bento Box, hence the terminology – of the same name – that is used to describe these types of search interfaces, as found in the literature.

Section 1: The OneSearch bar – use this bar much like a google search bar. You may type any sort of query to find any item you need, or any type of information you seek about the library or its resources (such as hours, FAQ queries like “where is there a quiet place to study,” or full-text searches of our libguides / research guides.).

Additionally, the search bar will provide auto-completion of words and terms and – more importantly – give suggestions for pages or resources if what you type matches a hand-curated (and constantly updated) list of commonly sought resources and pages.

Section 2: this is the Nav bar of the OneSearch results page. Clicking on a navigation item will simply move the window to the area, staying within your search. Clicking an item in the nav bar does NOT push you off of the website, or force you to leave the page.

Section 3: These are individual onesearch sections. When you perform a onesearch, your results are divided into 9 separate sections, based on item ‘type,’ and are explained below:

• Articles (full-text Journal articles, searches Scout)
• Books (Book titles, searches Scout and the Catalog)
• Journal Titles (Individual Journals and collections, searches Scout and Catalog)
• Website (Uses Google API to perform very targeted, FT-search of library website pages and sections)
• FAQ (Uses Google API to search our FAQ repository – *Note* the FAQ contains a great deal of knowledge about how to do things in the various libraries, where things are, and and how to find and use various services. You may use keywords or complete questions or sentences. The results also appear as suggested terms when typing into the search bar.)
• Research Guides (Uses Google API to search our Research guides. These contain ALL support materials for both specific subjects as well as individual classes – if you are looking for help or suggestions on particular classes or subjects, or assignments, this is the place to look/start).
• Database Titles (Uses a custom SQL databases
• Acumen (Special Collections Archival Digital Image Repository)
• Other Items (media items, videos, Dvds, Cd-Roms, musical scores, etc.)

Q: What is the purpose of the ‘more’ link?

Section 4: More items – the OneSearch is generally intended to expose the user to the full breadth of resources available at UA libraries, but in a very limited sense, generally keeping results to the to three search items as indicated by the sources (that is, when OneSearch queries the Catalog for book titles, it is the catalog that determines and sorts the top choices, or Scout, or Google and so on.).

Since some users will want to see more results than what is provided, the ‘more’ link provides an avenue into the original source of those items, and – if clicked – will open a new window into the original resources with all available search results.

 

On Augst 12th, The University of Alabama Libraries will be launching a new website that focuses on the user experience, ease-of-use, and comprehensive access to resources.

Q: Where has everything gone?

A: Nowhere and everywhere. While all of our resource pages have been redesigned, many still share the same URL paths, (or similar) such as databases, Scout, etc. Additionally, all of our most requested or used pages are accessible via the large, easy-to-use drop down mega menus (please see video). If there is an area or resource that you need, it is likely available via the drop down, the OneSearch, or from the footer. There is also a hierarchical site map available which links to every page available on the website.

Resources that were previously a bit hidden away on the individual library pages have been moved into subject specific libguides, or into comprehensive unified services pages for functional, action-based areas such as printing, or equipment, etc.

Q: Where is the Scout Search Box? How do I search for things?

A: The Scout Search Box, along with all of the others, has been replaced by ‘OneSearch‘ – a comprehensive search tool that:

• Searches almost every single resource available to the University Libraries including: Scout, our Database list, LibGuides, LibAnswers (the Library F.A.Q.), our Google API account, a curated list of the top  pages with suggested URLs, library subject specialists, the Library’s catalog, our electronic resources, the Music Library’s video database, and Acumen.
• Provides a ‘Bento-Box’ style array of search results, divided by item type.
• Allows the user to click through to a more comprehensive list of results within the native interface of the data-source.
• Provides immediate and direct answers to almost any natural language search concerning using the library or its resources.

Q: Hey, it looks very different.

A: That is correct, the new site was designed using the Responsive Design methodology, which is a users-with-disabilities and mobile-device friendly method  of site design – using various technologies, the website adapts to the device or browser on which it is observed.

Additionally, the graphic design style and UX were dramatically updated to match current standards and expectations.

We look forward to hearing your comments as we strive to make The University of Alabama Libraries web presence a more usable and attractive destination.

There are three different items related to Scout that we wanted to take the opportunity to go into some detail about.

Integrated search

We have replaced our integrated search connector for IBISWorld with ABI/INFORM Complete. Integrated search is a way for Scout/EBSCO Discovery Service to retrieve results for resources that it doesn’t have permission to index directly. We have four integrated search connectors available to us that can be used to search this kind of resource. Credit goes to Karen Chapman for alerting us that IBISWorld is now indexed directly by EBSCO, which gave us the opportunity to use the integrated search connector we used for IBISWorld to search another resource. Thank you to Jennifer McClure, Barbara Dahlbach and Karen Chapman for their help in finding a suitable replacement for IBISWorld.

Custom links

We’ve identified instances where additional Custom Links can be added to Scout and we’re in the process of adding them in. Custom Links are links (typically full text) that direct to the publisher’s website instead of to EBSCO’s servers.

 

In the above picture, “view this record from Manuscriptorium” is the custom link.

Because custom links are typically more reliable than using the link resolver (labelled “Check for Full Text”), we want to include them where they’re available. We’ll update everyone on specific Custom Links as they’re added.

Interface changes

We’d also like to solicit feedback on interface tweaks to Scout.  Screenshots of these interfaces changes can be seen below.  These changes can also be seen by accessing the demonstration version of Scout.  If you are off-campus, you can make use of our VPN to access the demonstration version.

As a byproduct of the discussion to make changes to integrated search, we’ve added some additional links to the Extended Search section.

The new resources linked are Gender Watch, Bibliography of Asian Studies, Ethnic NewsWatch and Sociological Abstracts.

The DPLA widget also has been added to Scout on the right-hand side.

The DPLA is a wonderful resource that we are excited to be able to feature in some way, even if it has quite a bit of competition for screen real estate. Though the widget is fairly far down the screen on the right-hand side, including it will give users a chance to discover DPLA’s rich collections that would not otherwise have thought to search it. Thanks go to Jennifer McClure for suggesting that we add this widget.

If you have any feedback on the above interface changes, please don’t hesitate to post a comment below.  In the absence of any concerns about these changes, they will be reflected on the live version of Scout the morning of Friday, July 29th.  Feedback on any other changes is also appreciated.

Thanks everyone for the beta comments, many were useful, some were not, and others we can’t – for a variety of reasons – take any action on for the moment. That being said, this site is designed for the users, so any and all user criticisms, pointers and comments are appreciated.

Things are moving smoothly towards a release for the fall semester. Our launch date is set for August 12th, about 1 week prior to the beginning of fall classes, but we hope to possibly release sooner.

Additionally, we are pushing builds of changes (based on internal schedules, task lists, and external comments) to the beta server, and the first push will be Friday, July 10th. We hope to push at least one more ‘semi-finished’ build out to the beta server for public consumption by all a week or so prior to the launch date.

Hi everyone,

The website beta is up, and available at : http://wwwdev.lib.ua.edu.

Keep in mind that it is a *beta* and exists as a snapshot of current work in progress. Some areas may not contain all of the information required by that area yet, others may have erroneous links (because of URL differences between live site, staging site, and active development site), and many of those URLs will not function as expected until the site goes live in early August. A good example are the website search results – since we use the Google api, and the live site is indexed and used by the api, then all website search links go to the current live site – there are a number of technical hurdles to overcome to achieve a separate, searchable index for the dev sites, and we are not even sure it is possible, so those results will – for the time being – link to the live site. But we are working to change that, and the site is about 90% complete in terms of functionality, content and links.

Please remember to ONLY make comments on wwwdev – that is the beta location – while we are continuing to work on wwwdev2 as our developmental site, wwwdev is the staging/snapshot location and is the URL that is open to all campus IP ranges. Dev2 is restricted. We may also make additional pushes to this server in the months leading up to the August launch. If so, I will communicate this clearly to everyone, with time/date, etc.

You may make comments and suggestion via KACE: https://wwwdev.lib.ua.edu/library-help/kacecontact-form/ OR you may email me directly (sjturner1@ua.edu)

Please be critical, but actionable. Comments such as “I hate XXX, and you are all impertinent fools” will be generally ignored :-).

But honestly, we welcome any and all suggestions. We will be working non-stop on the site until early August, which is the official launch period (about a week out from start of classes). Comments will be taken for the first two weeks, post-beta launch, after which we will close down the comment shop as we begin to work on actionable concerns (June 30).

Reference and Instruction folks – if there is a site section you need for us to complete or fix in order create instruction guides/tutorials, please let us know.

The beta is open to the entire campus, by IP, and access (unless you VPN in) from off-campus is disallowed. We intend this to be a ‘hard’ beta launch for the libraries, meaning we have officially announced and solicited comments from library faculty staff and students, but we want to involve the greater campus community as a larger whole at a later time, after all of the commenting is complete (post-june 30). You can feel free to tell parties you think are interested, or can contribute, but they must be made area of the beta status of this site. We may perform other pushes of changes to the wwwdev snapshot server over the ensuing months leading to August, and some of those may be better for consumption by outside-of-the-library parties.

Areas with known issues or bugs, or incomplete content, etc.:

• Web site search results link to live site (lib.ua.edu)
• Computer availability links to live site, and uses old look and feel (new version not yet complete)
• Contact and parking info not yet on Hours/maps/locations page
• Williams collection links to old site
• Only front pages for SMC and ADHC exist at the moment
• You will find some links not working, or going to odd places
• 5-10 % content is not yet available, or represented on the snapshot server

 

 

 

 

In a previous post, we announced our intention to change the Language field label “undetermined” to “English or other” in Scout.

The proposed change has been halfway implemented. For the catalog results that used to display in Scout with the language field label “undetermined”, that field has now been updated to display as “English or other.” However, the applicable EDS results still display with the “undetermined” label.

The second half of this change will be rolled out in the coming weeks. We’ll let you know when the change is complete.

Hi Everyone – it was made clear recently that some folks are unaware of how the databases page on the new website will function; we have in fact re-written the code engine, incorporated the front-end portion into our unified API and presentation layer structure, and re-constructed the database to be more appropriate. There is also, of course, a new back end as well.

All of that being said, people can be sure that the front-end functionality has not changed, but has in fact become more useful. The three interface areas of Search, Title browse and Subject/Type browse remain, as we have always indicated. However, the Search function now performs a keyword search on all / chosen metadata fields including description, title, subject, type, etc. – this new functioning will make it much easier for users who need to locate a given resource by a keyword or term, or who can only recall a portion of a DB title, etc.

Additionally, all results are loaded into the DOM immediately and bootstrap/jquery is being used to sort through the results on the fly, so users will see immediate results as they type / use the interface, there are no page refreshes that need to occur to see results.

If you are staff/fac user currently with access to the page, you are seeing a development version, the new interface is being designed in a separate environment.

Currently, records with incomplete or incorrect language metadata show up as “undetermined” in the Language facet of Scout.

Instead of using the EBSCO default “undetermined”, we intend to describe the language of these records as “English or other.”  Most of the records with incorrect language metadata are in English, so a label that indicates as much makes sense from a usability perspective.

Unfortunately, correcting the metadata for all of these records isn’t practical.  Much of the incomplete or incorrect language metadata originates from vendors; when vendors update their records, any corrections made to these records would be overwritten.  Records from vendors that aren’t updated as frequently will be corrected, as will records representing physical pieces.

Please leave any feedback with regard to this change in the comments section.  This change is scheduled to be submitted to EBSCO on the morning of Friday, May 8^th and is expected to take 1-2 weeks to go into effect.

As an interlibrary loan user here at The University of Alabama, I can attest to how well the service works.  But while our interlibrary loan service works very quickly and with a minimum of hassle, some elements of the website design and functionality have been in need of an update.  We’ve begun the process of working with Cornelia Davis and Interlibrary Loan staff to implement those updates here in the last month.

Our first step toward improving The University of Alabama Interlibrary Loan web presence was to make the emails users received clearer.  Information from a table in ILLiad (the software we use to handle interlibrary loan requests) that stores the interlibrary loan URL and email address wasn’t actually making its way into the email new users got when they registered.  Along similar lines, the method by which users would be notified of status changes in their interlibrary loan requests wasn’t appearing in the registration email, either.  Some of the language users encountered in the registration email was also a little user-unfriendly — for instance, “Thank you for logging into illserver” was the first line of the email.  Using interlibrary loan for the first time can be an intimidating experience for anyone, and we hope that fixing these elements of the registration email will do a little bit to help convince patrons that interlibrary loan isn’t something to be intimidated by.

Our larger project is to redesign the ILLiad site to closely resemble the new library website.  Navigating through different library silos — the catalog, our discovery layer Scout, the databases page, our library guides, and ILLiad — can make the process of using the library website disorienting, and we hope that bringing the ILLiad design closer to the library website design will make both ILLiad use and library website use more user-friendly.  Even small things, like adding University of Alabama branding more prominently to the ILLiad page, will hopefully help to reassure users that they are, indeed, in the right place when they first access our ILLiad site.

We’ll make sure to share updates once the ILLiad redesign’s far along enough to be ready for feedback.