LibX: A Firefox extension for Libraries

October 13th, 2006

Annette Bailey, Newman Library/Virginia Tech
Godmar Back, Virginia Tech

http://www.libx.org/

Situation/problem/reality with users:

  • 2% college students start w/ library website
  • 89% start w/ search engines

Possibilities/ideas for solution:

  • toolbars (e.g., FASTJack, HALbar)
  • bookmarklets
  • scripts
  • Web localization services

Virginia Tech’s chosen solution:

  • “LibX” Firefox browser extension
  • Installed on client-side

Problems with LibX solution:

  • Each ‘version’ works for one library and one library only
  • Does only a limited number of things

What LibX provides:

  • Direct access to OPAC(s) and databases
  • Direct access to OpenURL resolver
  • Localization (supports COinS, includes ‘hints’)

LibX features:

  • ‘Autolinking’ pages – LibX function that links citations, ISBNs, etc.
  • Place library logo in Amazon pages, google search results pages
  • Proxy options
  • Logos

LibX today:

  • 30 ‘live’ editions (including MIT in August)
  • Downloaded and installed over 4,000 times

We can do it too:

  • Download sources and configure LibX ourselves; or
  • Get them to do it (bottleneck)
  • Decision: Who hosts it? Us? Them?

Presenters recommend we:

  • Go ‘beta’ first – worry about appearance later
  • Volunteer to test ‘edition builder interface’ (down the road)
  • Subscribe to mailing list

Posted in extensions, Firefox, google, link resolver | No Comments »

LibX: A Firefox extension for Libraries

October 13th, 2006

Annette Bailey

Annette developed a Firefox extension that allows users to access their library resources on any page – including Amazon, or external databases. The extension can be customized for individual institutions, and they will assist at Virginia Tech. Download: http://libx.mozdev.org. 

Posted in extensions, Firefox | No Comments »

Library Chatbots in Electronic Reference

October 13th, 2006

Anne Christensen

The University of Hamburg library wanted to assist users with a natural language tool to replace their FAQ. The project was proposed to get grant money for further development. They developed “Stella”. In their character conception, they decided to avoid using a real librarian, created something discreet yet friendly, Stella became a patron saint with a backstory. Along with prescribed answers to questions, Stella is also capable of various moods/expressions including laughing, explaining, enthusiastic, confused. 

Novomind Composer is the software used for Stella. It allows only 3000 rules. Stella is placed in a frame that is moveable.  Chat is not a big thing in Germany, but this type of interactive tool is really taking off and catching on in libraries. The knowledge base created for Stella is for sale.

See presentation here.

Posted in chatbot | No Comments »

Library Chatboxes (sic) in Electronic Reference

October 13th, 2006

Anne Christensen

U Hamburg

What?

Why?

  • Assist website visitors
  • uses natural language
  • explain access to ejournals and research databases
  • info literacy

How?

  • Knowledgebase contains 3,000 rules
  • Responses are accomanied by one of 10 ‘moods’
  • Hooked-up to library catalogue

Who else?

  • Hamburg PL’s “Ina”

Pros:

  • Usage
  • Marketing
  • 24/7 availability
  • Anonymity

Flaws:

  • Not info literacy
  • No connection to OPAC
  • Serious problems with pop-up blockers
  • Requires a great deal of programming of responses (not real AI)

Posted in chatbot | No Comments »

Getting the Goods: Libraries & The Last Mile

October 13th, 2006

Roy Tennant

Access 2006 Keynote Speaker

  • “Last Mile Problem” = getting connected to houses they (utility companies) want to serve
  • Libraries (historically) are better at description than delivery
  • Systems are ill-suited for online delivery
  • “Two-click solution” (Jeremy Frumkin): One click to search, on click to get

Books

  • e.g., google books = good – but google books is mostly about generating revenue for the publishers
  • e.g., library catalogue = bad – takes to long to find link to fulltext
  • Librarians have often asked for the wrong thing from their vendors – part of the problem
  • Mirlyn mirlyn.lib.umich.edu U Mich library catalog – linking to google books doesn’t work because there’s no search string (no terms, just a link to the book ID)
  • Open WorldCat has Schooler/Scholar level-of-audience indicator for digitized books
  • FRBR concepts
  • xISBN service FRBR relationship

Journals

  • Why do link resolvers require users to click to link to fulltext? Why don’t we take them directly there? We could automatically link users to 1st link to fulltext. We could automatically link them to the OPAC (having 1st checked whether or not we have it in the OPAC). We could automatically link them to an ILL form. “Let’s get rid of the window” (and the extra click)
  • See Georgia Tech: umlaut.library.gatech.edu/resolve?res_id=523 – uses OCLC’s OpenURL Resolver Registry
  • See Dave Lindahl’s GUF (Getting Users to Full-Text):
    • floorplans with book highlighted
    • uses Cold Fusion, database of print journals, web services API to OpenURL resolver, OCLC’s xISBN service, ISSN lookup, etc.

Posted in google, link resolver, Open WorldCat, OpenURL resolver registry | No Comments »

Getting the Goods: Libraries & the Last Mile

October 13th, 2006

Roy Tennant

Electronically speaking, libraries have dealt better with description than delivery. As Jeremy Framkin says, we need the “two-click solution”.

It’s not just the vendors faults, libraries have often asked for the wrong things. We need to be better at discovery of online texts. There are a lot of free full text books out there. A good example is the Mirlyn catalogue at the University of Michigan. They link to online texts several different ways.

A direct link into Google Books is confusing since Google expects users to start with a search engine. Directly linking to a book results in a phrase such as “417 references to in this book” – no keyword reference.

The open resolver (ie SFX) is the first step, not the last. Ross Singer’s Umlaut at Georgia Tech is an excellent example of minimizing the number of clicks a user must make to get to the resource. It sucks the data out of the link resolver and puts it up front.

Best linkage from a catalogue, is google-like, linking titles directly to the item.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Hackfest results

October 13th, 2006

hackfest.kicks-ass.net/

www.flickr.com/photos/moil

www.flickr.com/photos/calvinm

Dale Askley, Kansas State University

  • Adding Google books as an SFX target
  • plus a catalogue mash-up

Posted in google books, link resolver, mashup, OPAC | No Comments »

Rethinking Resource Sharing

October 12th, 2006

Clare MacKeigan (Relais International), (working with Gail Wanner, SirsiDynix)

  • “[Patrons] have their tools for finding… now we have to help them get it.”
  • future of ILL?
  • “…plans to develop an extensible open source browser plug-in and an initial set of extensions based on existing standards. This plug-in will enable people who search web-based resources [to link from citation-bearing webpages to] items from their own library, its resources sharing partners and other suppliers.”
    • plug-in must be installed on workstation?
    • must gather info on user (occurs when the plug-in is installed)
    • not ‘coins’-dependent
  • there followed a call for volunteers to code an open-source prototype

Posted in ILL, plug-in | No Comments »

Lunch: WebVoyage new items RSS feed, keyword search fix

October 12th, 2006

Lunch with Dale S. Askey, Web Development Librarian, Kansas State University

…and several UW/TUG cronies

WebVoyage new items RSS feed 

  • Dale has developed an RSS feed(s) for Michael Doran’s WebVoyage new items list
  • feed includes html for header tag (displays in Firefox)
  • has created different RSS feeds by subject/call number
  • feeds for multi-disciplinary topics not practical – only those defined by LC range
  • run once a week (sync’d with their new items list updates)
  • at UW we update our new items list every morning at 3:00 – we could update our feed daily if we wanted to, or weekly – offer patrons many options including pre-configured subjects, frequency
  • code is well-commented
  • we would need to change location codes for local settings

Keyword search fix

  • for WebVoyage’s single-line search page (called “basic search” in TUG, “browse” at KSU)
  • invisible fix, makes the search more google-like
  • assumes phrase (quoted) search for hyphenated terms
  • automatically ANDs search terms unless explicitly OR’d

Posted in googlization, OPAC, RSS, WebVoyage | No Comments »

Lightning Talk: Mr. Sid

October 12th, 2006

Walter Lewis, Halton Hills Public Library

  • Used Mr. Sid from Lizard Tech
  • Allowed display/magnification of large images
  • uses AJAX
  • “It works with IE and Mac unless you use IE 5.5 for the Mac which reacts badly”
  • applications for GIS?

Posted in image magnification | 2 Comments »

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