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CARLI OPAC Enhancements Status Log
Last updated: September 14, 2009
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| # |
Issue |
Details |
Discussion so far |
Difficulty Level |
Priority |
Status |
| 1 |
Make it easier for libraries to customize their catalog's color scheme. |
Develop a mediated process for WV customization, or a customizing wizard, and redesign training for customizers accordingly. This might be a pre-set "skins" approach or (more likely) a template to set up color changes. Update 07/2009: this should now be easier with WV7. |
Our contribution to this would be to develop a system that allows libraries to specify a few color codes so their catalog would fit their preferred color scheme, rather than the default colors they have now. They could also submit their own button images and have CARLI upload them on their behalf. This would allow libraries that don't have the resources to be "customizers" to match their catalog to their school or library colors. Update 07/2009: Approach is now to offer Webinars to train librarians how to change color schemes etc. themselves. Preferred logos can be sent to CARLI support to add to local catalogs. |
hard |
high |
Basic Webinars on how to change the look of WV7 local catalogs using CSS are being offered in July & Aug. 2009 |
| 2 |
Reevaluate search types currently offered in the WebVoyage and VuFind OPACs, and which indexes they include; consider changes and additions. |
Types of searches to consider include the Title Words search (default operator AND), the HKEY (holdings keyword search), and the new keyword-in-headings search capability. |
For each of these search types, we'd need to test how they worked in WV, decide if they would enhance searching on the Quick or Advanced Search pages, decide if they'd replace similar searches or be added in addition, and consider how this would change help text (which we'd need to modify). |
medium |
medium |
*Usability Testing Needed |
| 3 |
Add a spell checking tool |
Add a spell check to WV so a search that found no results would ask, "Did you mean ---?" like Google, or something similar to that. |
We'll need to investigate what tools are out there, whether they cost money, whether they'll work with WV, etc. Not likely to happen in the near future.
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hard |
high |
referred to the Products & Services Vetting Committee; rudimentary spellchecker available now in VuFind
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| 4 |
Terminology changes |
Should we rename the call number browse as "browse shelf" (or some variation of this)? What about changing "Limits" to "Filters," or something like that? |
Without usability testing, it's really hard to say whether this kind of thing will help or hurt. Individual libraries are encouraged to do their own testing and report back. |
hard |
low |
*Usability Testing Needed.
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| 5 |
What sort of message should users see when they get too many results? Too few results? How should they be redirected? |
For example, if user gets no hits, could they be directed to search an SFX A-Z list or World Cat? |
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hard |
low |
no action at this time |
| 6 |
Make help more FAQ-like. |
Revise help screens into some more useful format? pop up boxes? more action-specific? recast as answers to FAQs? |
This would require a tremendous amount of work, since virtually every help page would have to be rewritten. Because help is context-sensitive, the initial help page you see when you arrive there from the titles list page is different from what you see from the Quick Search screen. This prevents us from just building a single FAQ page to serve as the gateway to help, and leaving the rest of the help pages as they are. The Usability Testing Task Force did hear from users that they'd be much more likely to click on a button that said "FAQ" than on one that said "Help." Would take a lot of effort to improve, and very few end-users use Help. |
hard |
low |
no action at this time. Staff and team resources better used on other projects; OPAC Team resolves to use the FAQ format for any new help text written, such as in any open source alternative to WebVoyage |
| 7 |
Maintain search options in a drop down menu with search box at the top of every screen |
In WV7, there is a nice search box available at the top of every screen, but it defaults to an "anyword anywhere" search. To do any other search, you must click back to the Basic or Advanced search tabs, which can become frustrating, especially when users assume that the box will perform the last type of search they executed. |
Rather than have the Quick Search box "remember" the last kind of search you did from a search page, an easy change would be to add a drop-down list of search types next to the Quick Search input field. |
hard |
low |
no action at this time |
| 8 |
Add an "I'll go get it" button to I-Share. |
GoogleMap mash-up to mark the location of libraries that have available copies of the desired title. |
none |
medium |
medium |
no action at this time |
| 9 |
Add a "Where is my request?" button to the MyAccount page. |
Providing the user with detailed information requires having the detailed information to provide. Perhaps as the delivery service evolves? |
none |
currently impossible |
low |
no action at this time |
| 10 |
Improve output format for EndNote; create output format for RefWorks.
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Existing EndNote format reported not to work well with the newest version of EndNote. |
Unclear how often this would be used. Do EndNote users search from within EndNote? Are there still large populations of EndNote users, or does everyone use Zotero or something similar? Looks like Hamilton College has come up with something successful for RefWorks. Will contact them.
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medium
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medium
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in planning
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| 11 |
Punch List from WV7 Upgrade.
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Includes: a) Repeat search in I-Share links, b) Find other copies links, c) Text me this call number feature, d) AAA workaround, e) WV as SFX source. |
Agreed that these are all important features
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medium?
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a-c= very high, d-e= high
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CARLI will do everything it can to re-implement for fall 09 semester.
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| 12 |
Move prolific author search to Author tab
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Currently, the two types of author searches are separated, the 'regular' author search on its own tab, the 'prolific' search remains on the basic search tab. |
Especially important for music librarians & patrons.
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hard
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medium
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Keith will work up a spec for what he envisions this looking like.
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| 13 |
Return search options in basic search to 'box' style?
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WV7 has a drop down menu for search options in the basic search tab, we've gotten some comments that showing all the options in a box is preferrable to some. |
Some of us like the cleaner/shorter page that results from having a drop down menu, some of us feel that the drop down menu 'hides' the other search options, making them unlikely to be chosen by patrons even if they are a more effective mode of searching.
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easy
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unranked
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*Usability Testing Needed.
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| 14 |
Improve highlighting in search results
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WV7 is overzealous in highlighting search terms, for example, if searching 'id or ego', 'id' and 'ego' may be highlighted as parts of other words, leading patrons to think they are getting false drops, even when they are not. |
We could turn off the highlighting altogether, or try to improve. It looks like another school has improved the highlighting to be more "appropriate" so we will try that fix first, and see how we feel. A few of us also feel the bright yellow color is too distracting.
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easy
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medium
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looks like another WV7 user may have improved on the highlighting, will contact them.
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| 15 |
No highlighting on individual records
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Highlighting is working on search results page, but not on single-record view page. |
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medium
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Bug reported to ExLibris.
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| 16 |
Supress result list filters on un-limitable searches
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Quick limits 'gray out' appropriately, but in some cases, the filters box (aka "fake facets") will still show on the search results screen when not appropriate. |
Not as widespread a problem as initially feared.
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hard
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low
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no action at this time.
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| 17 |
Make page titles distinctive
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Webpage title in browser bar used to specify which local version of WV patron was in, but no longer does. Also, making the page title more distinctive (for example, on an item record, having the item's title or other information show up in the page title) could be important to those relying on screen readers. |
So far, it doesn't seem like anyone has noticed the lack of the individual library's name in the page title, so maybe not that important? We would make the OPAC more accessible for screen readers, but it may take a significant amount of work and time.
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re-adding library name- easy, making page titles distinctive for accessibility purposes- hard
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medium
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no action at this time.
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| 18 |
Text/labeled link to Syndetics
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Currently, patron must click on cover image or link that says "cover art" to see further Syndetics data, which is not intuitive. |
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hard |
high
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in development
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| 19 |
Fix database column on My Account page
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Want to re-name "database" as "library" and clear up confusion with this column in the requests area. |
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easy |
high
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Version done is test database.
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| 20 |
Links to library webpages and/or contact information in My Account page
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Would like each different library to be hyperlinked so that if patrons or circulation staff have questions, appropriate contact information is easily accessible. |
There is some question as to where the data would be drawn from, and whether libraries could control what would show (UIUC, for instance, may want links to chat reference available, but not an actual phone number).
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medium?
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medium
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Amanda will work up a spec for what she'd like this to look like.
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| 21 |
Add call numbers to My Account lists
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Would make it easier for patrons with a large number of items checked out to identify which items are due when. |
Reported to ExLibris, who says that it is not a bug. Is supposed to contribute towards "cleaner" look of My Account page?
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hard
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medium
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no action at this time.
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| 22 |
Re-word "charged items" terminology in My Account
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"Charged items" may be too library-speak for patrons, who tend to associate the word "charged" with being charged $$. |
Change to "Borrowed items" and also change the charged wording in "status" column to "checked out"
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easy
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high
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in planning.
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| 23 |
Warning in My Account re: one renewal at a time
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When patrons have many items checked out and try to renew them at one time, if they get any alert messages (for example, a "could not renew" message") it makes it difficult to understand which specific item that alert refers to. Plus, renewing one at a time just works better. |
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easy
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medium
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Done in test.
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| 24 |
Remove blank link from UC's results page where call number would be
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When there are multiple holdings, display looks ok, but when just one library owns a copy in the UC, there is a blank space where the call number should be, which looks weird . |
Yes, this looks odd, but probably not the most important thing in the grand scheme.
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low
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No action at this time.
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| 25 |
Cosmetic difference of UC
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Identified as important in previous usability testing rounds. |
Greg will work with Paige on color scheme.
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easy once decisions on colors are made
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high
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in planning.
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| 26 |
Default font
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The font wasn't always consistent after the upgrade. |
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easy
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high
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done in test.
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| 27 |
Other format-specific brief views
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For serials, films, cartographic materials? |
Serials would especially benefit from a shorter display that brings the local holdings information up on the screen, making it more noticeable to patrons.
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easy
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high
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WV7 supposedly supports this, but is not currently working correctly. Bug reported to ExLibris.
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| 28 |
Collapse/expand individual fields in display
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Could make the default display easier for patrons to scan, more clean, but data would still be easily accessed when wanted |
Records with multiple 700 fields may benefit from this idea. Perhaps display the first one, when have a collapse/expand icon with the label "see more" or "more."
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hard?
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high
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in investigation stage.
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| 29 |
Add optgroups to long drop down lists
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For example, language limits could be "categorized" by "common languages" and "other languages" |
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medium
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low
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no action at this time.
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| 30 |
Export to Del.icio.us
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Looks like other libraries have done this (and other social networking applications as well) successfully.
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medium
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low
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in testing stages.
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| 31 |
AUTH redirect on 700 $a=$t
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hard
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medium-high
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Reported to ExLibris, they say currently in development.
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| 32 |
Modify the timeout warning behavior
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Perhaps offer "quit now" and "continue" buttons as seen in another library. |
The current warning is just a warning. Clicking on "ok" does not extend the session as some expect it to do. |
medium
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high
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initial investigation.
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| 33 |
Add location & item status to call number browse results
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hard
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low
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no action at this time.
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| 34 |
Reconcile EndNote, email, print export formats with online display formats
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Would be nice to send the same fields, labeled the same way as the display format |
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easy
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medium-high
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no action at this time.
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| 35 |
Sortable My Account columns
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Would be nice (especially for heavy users) to be able to sort My Account columns by due date, school, etc. |
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hard
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medium
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no action at this time.
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| 36 |
Icons for print, email, etc. action items in "action box"
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To make those options stand out more |
Currently, many users are using a print screen option, which doesn't work well. We may also want to extend these icons/buttons over the top of the item record to mimic the way they display on a search results screen.
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easy-medium
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high
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in planning
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| 37 |
Re-enable persistent links for item records
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medium
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medium
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no action at this time.
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