River Campus Libraries Metadata That Supports Real User Needs Jennifer Bowen Head of Cataloging University of Rochester Libraries David Lindahl Director of Digital Library Initiatives University of Rochester Libraries

Agenda  Assessing real user needs  Issues finding library content (books, etc.)  CUIPID project  Issues finding online content (articles)  Find Articles project  GUF project  Moving forward

Assessing real user needs  User-Centered Design  User Research

Issues finding library content  Precise queries are necessary for good results  Large result sets are unwieldy and difficult to comprehend  Unclear boundaries - what is and isn’t in the catalog

Issues finding library content  Precise queries are necessary for good results  Choose a search type  Set limits  Omit initial articles  Use correct spelling  Improving the situation  Metadata Perspective  System Perspective

Issues finding library content  Large result sets are unwieldy and difficult to comprehend  Users just use the first hits and may miss the best ones  Multiple editions: what’s the difference?  Relevance ranking not sufficient  Improving the situation  System Perspective  Metadata Perspective

Issues finding library content  Unclear boundaries - what is and isn’t in the catalog  “What am I searching: the website, the catalog, a database? Don’t make me decide!”  “Articles, Books, Digital repository, ILL, which link do I use for what?”  Improving the situation  Metadata Perspective  System Perspective

CUIPID Project  CUIPID: Catalog User Interface Platform for Iterative Design  XML database  MARCXML copy of catalog records  Multiple metadata schemas  User interface platform  Demo

CUIPID Project  Metadata Perspective  Make the most of existing metadata  Precise results using FRBR model  Multiple schemas, more flexibility  System Perspective  Separate system interoperates with ILS  User centered interface

Issues finding online content  Difficulty selecting and using databases  User perceptions around search skills  Problems getting to full-text

Issues finding online content  Difficulty selecting and using databases  Don’t know that you have to use a database  Can’t choose a database or a subject area  Improving the situation  Metadata Perspective  System Perspective

Issues finding online content  User perceptions around search skills  Users think they are skilled searchers  Users expect websites to be easy to use  Valuable content goes unused  Improving the situation  System Perspective  Metadata Perspective

Issues finding online content  Problems getting to full-text  Can’t tell if it’s available from the results screen  Navigation pathways are long, slow, and error prone  Usability testing proves failure  Improving the situation  Metadata Perspective  System Perspective

Find Articles Project  User centered design  Usability tested  Metasearch technology  Two clicks to full-text  Demo

Find Articles (current)

Find Articles Project  Metadata Perspective  Metadata for database selection  Display configuration  System Perspective  Metasearch software customization  Website integration

GUF Project  GUF: Getting Users to Full text  OpenURL link resolver  “Don’t make me choose or follow links”  Dependent upon:  Web services  Knowledge base  Demo

Find Articles without GUF (old version)

Find Articles (with GUF)

Find Articles (without GUF)

Find Articles (with GUF)

Find Articles wiht GUF (current)

GUF Project  Metadata Perspective  No standard for 3 rd party citation metadata  MARC free-text holdings  Multiple metadata transformations  Full text available?  System Perspective  Screen scraping  Hiding the system complexity  Two clicks

Moving forward  Users  Range of skills and backgrounds  Many different tasks  Shift focus from technology to user  Metadata  Interface design  Flexible Platforms  User-Centered Design

River Campus Libraries Metadata That Supports Real User Needs Jennifer Bowen Head of Cataloging University of Rochester Libraries David Lindahl Director of Digital Library Initiatives University of Rochester Libraries