one counter argument that i would make to this is that we consistently
hear from faculty that they absolutely adore browsing the stacks--there
is something that they have learned to love about the experience
regardless of whether they understand that it is made possible by the
work of catalogers assigning call numbers and then using them for
ordering the stacks.
at uw-madison we have a faculty lecture series where we invite
professors to talk about their use of library materials and their
research and one historian said outright, the one thing that is missing
in the online environment is the experience of browsing the stacks. he
seemed to understand that with all the mass digitization efforts, we
could be on the edge of accomplishing it.
that said, i agree that we should do what you say also, just that we
should not throw the baby out w/ the bath water. if faculty somehow
understand that browsing the stacks is a good experience then we can use
it as a metaphor in the online environment. in an unofficial project i
have experimented w/ primitive interface tests using both subject
heading 'more like this' and a link to a stack browse based on a call
number sort:
http://j2ee-dev.library.wisc.edu/sanecat/item.html?resourceId=951506
(please, ignore the sloppy import problems, i just didn't care that much
for the interface test)
as for the original question, this has about a million records and
900,000 w/ item numbers and a simple btree index in the database sorts
at an acceptable speed for a development test.
-sm
Walker, David wrote:
a decent UI is probably going to be a bigger job
I've always felt that the call number browse was a really useful option, but
the most disastrously implemented feature in most ILS catalog interfaces.
I think the problem is that we're focusing on the task -- browsing the shelf --
as opposed to the *goal*, which is, I think, simply to show users books that
are related to the one they are looking at.
If you treat it like that (here are books that are related to this book) and
dispense with the notion of call numbers and shelves in the interface (even if
what you're doing behind the scenes is in fact a call number browse) then I
think you can arrive at a much simpler and straight-forward UI for users. I
would treat it little different than Amazon's recommendations feature, for
example.
--Dave
==================
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu
________________________________________
From: Code for Libraries [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stephens, Owen [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 9:17 AM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] creating call number browse
I'm not sure, but my guess would be that the example you give isn't
really a 'browse index' function, but rather creates a search result set
and presents it in a specific way (i.e. via cover images) sorted by call
number (by the look of it, it has an ID of the bib record as input, and
it displays this book and 10 before it, and 10 after it, in call number
order.
Whether this is how bibliocommons achieves it or not is perhaps besides
the point - this is how I think I would approach it. I'm winging it
here, but if I was doing some quick and very dirty here:
A simple db table with fields:
Database ID (numeric counter auto-increment)
Bib record ID
URIs to book covers (or more likely the relevant information to create
the URIs such as ISBN)
Call number
To start, get a report from your ILS with this info in it, sorted by
Call Number. To populate the table, import your data (sorted in Call
Number order). The Database ID will be created on import, automatically
in call number order (there are other, almost certainly better, ways of
handling this, but this is simple I think)
To create your shelf browse given a Bib ID select that record and get
the database ID. Then requery selecting all records which have database
IDs +-10 of the one you have just retrieved.
Output results in appropriate format (e.g. html) using book cover URIs
to display the images.
Obviously with this approach, you'd need to recreate your data table
regularly to keep it up to date (resetting your Database ID if you
want).
Well - just how I'd do it if I wanted something up and running quickly.
As Andy notes, a decent UI is probably going to be a bigger job ;)
Owen
Owen Stephens
Assistant Director: eStrategy and Information Resources
Central Library
Imperial College London
South Kensington Campus
London
SW7 2AZ
t: +44 (0)20 7594 8829
e: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of
Emily Lynema
Sent: 17 September 2008 16:46
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [CODE4LIB] creating call number browse
Hey all,
I would love to tackle the issue of creating a really cool call number
browse tool that utilizes book covers, etc. However, I'd like to do
this
outside of my ILS/OPAC. What I don't know is whether there are any
indexing / SQL / query techniques that could be used to browse forward
and backword in an index like this.
Has anyone else worked on developing a tool like this outside of the
OPAC? I guess I would be perfectly happy even if it was something I
could build directly on top of the ILS database and its indexes (we
use
SirsiDynix Unicorn).
I wanted to throw a feeler out there before trying to dream up some
wild
scheme on my own.
-emily
P.S. The version of BiblioCommons released at Oakville Public Library
has a sweet call number browse function accessible from the full
record
page. I would love to know know how that was accomplished.
http://opl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1413841_mars
--
Emily Lynema
Systems Librarian for Digital Projects
Information Technology, NCSU Libraries
919-513-8031
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Stephen Meyer
Library Application Developer
UW-Madison Libraries
312F Memorial Library
728 State St.
Madison, WI 53706
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
608-265-2844 (ph)
"Just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor at all."
- Andrew Bird, "Tables and Chairs"
