Hi all, One of the things MassLNC liked about the jspac was the "search range" functionality where a user could search the entire consortium, but, because the system knew which library a user was tied to, would also see copy and availability information for their home/preferred location.
We want to see elements of this functionality reintroduced in the TPAC and would like to share our thoughts on how we would like to see it work. I would love to hear others' thoughts on how it might be implemented in TPAC. Once there is a community consensus around the direction this should take, we are prepared to work with a developer to make it happen. Currently in TPAC, you can link to the catalog with a default scope by including the "loc" parameter in the URL. However, once the user changes the scope, for example to the consortium, the system forgets which library the user belongs to and does not display some of the local information that we had previously seen in the jspac. MassLNC would like to suggest that we add an element that also identifies the user's preferred local library. This library would default to the user's home library, but could be changed via the user's preferences. A library should also be able to provide a link to the catalog that identifies this preferred local library so that, for example, if a user is searching the catalog from inside the library without logging in, that library's holdings information will be highlighted, even if the user is searching the entire consortium. If the user were to change their scope to a different library, then the catalog should highlight the holdings of that scoped library. However, if the user were searching the entire consortium, the catalog should highlight the holdings of their preferred local library. We have pulled together some requirements and mock-ups for the information we would like to display on the search results and record detail pages depending on what is being scoped and whether there is a preferred local library. You can view them at http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/2454. We welcome any thoughts or suggestions on the best way to get this rolled into the TPAC. Thank you! Kathy ------------------------------------------------------------- Kathy Lussier Project Coordinator Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative (508) 756-0172 (508) 755-3721 (fax) [email protected] IM: kmlussier (AOL & Yahoo) Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
