MAKING IT OUR OWN

Creating a Customized Product

NC Serials Conference April 14-15, 2005

from an

“Out-of-the-Box”Link Resolver Software Package

NC Serials Conference April 14-15, 2005

Kristine E. Mudrick Serials/Electronic Resources Librarian

Linda A. Kubala Web Resources/Reference Librarian

NC Serials Conference April 14 -15, 2005

• Who we are

• Why use Link Resolver Software?

• The Saint Joseph’s Solution

• Implementation and Customization

• Q&A

• Who we are

• Why use Link Resolver Software?

• The Saint Joseph’s Solution

• Implementation and Customization

• Q&A

3950 traditional undergraduates:-2075 College of Arts & Science-1875 Haub School of Business

780 university college/bridge

2500 graduates:-1560 College of Arts & Science

- 900 Haub School of Business- 40 doctoral students in Education

Enrollment - 7230 students

• 40 undergraduate majors

• 10 additional special-study options

• 52 graduate study areas

• Ed.D. in Educational Leadership

Curriculum

Francis A. Drexel Library

InformationAccess &Services

ResourcesManagement

LibrarySystems

(Public Services)(Public Services) (Technical Services)

S-23; L-10/3

L-1 L-3/1 L-5/2

• Develop/Maintain Library Web pages

• Conduct Library Instruction

• Regular Reference Desk Hours and Consultation

• Consultation with ILL

• Collaborate on Library Services that are Web-based

• Liaison to vendors for access toserials and electronic resources

• Maintain links to e-journals in the Library catalog

• Consultation with Reference Librarians for patron problemswith access to serials

• Consultation with ILL

• Collaborate on Library Services that are Web-based

Web Resources/Reference Serials/Electronic Resources

• 61 Subscription Databases for Periodicals

• 3 E-Book Subscription Collections

• 231,500+ Database Searches

Database Subscriptions

Titles VolumesPeriodical 2,695 63,817Microform 889 847,711*Current Print ~1,437

FT Journal Links via

Paid Subscriptions: 742JSTOR titles: 635Aggregator titles: 16,250Miscellaneous free titles: 2,645

Total (duplicated count): 20,272

Journals “Received”

Q. What do students want?A. FT—easily, consistently, and quickly

Q. What do Librarians want to provide to students?A. FT—of articles that are appropriate to the research

The Abiding Questions

ex. Use MLA for literary research

ex. Use PsycINFO for psychology research

ex. Use Philosopher’s Index for philosophy research

How Can We Provide Access to FT?

• List all your e-journals, including aggregators, in your Library catalog • Selectively list your e-journals in your Library catalog

• Provide e-journals lists on your Library Web site

• Employ Link Resolver Software Vendor- provided proprietary OpenURL

ex. only those to which you directly subscribe, not the aggregator titles

Why Use Link Resolver Software?

• To reduce the amount of time it takes to locate FT articles from citations

• To reduce the frustration and confusion that students experience when forced to use multiple databases to retrieve FT

• To streamline the patron’s ILL submission process

(1)

Why Use Link Resolver Software?

(2)

• Not all scholarly bibliographic databases include FT (Web of Science, Philosophers Index, MLA)

• There is often no overlap between vendors’ offerings (Web of Science, Philosophers Index)

• Vendors will link to FT articles between databases in its own suite, but generally will not link to other vendors’ products

(EBSCOhost EBSCOhost) (EBSCOhost ProQuest)

Link Resolver Software 101

• Streamlines the research process by directing users to a single point of access at the citation level • Includes a regularly updated database of publisher and vendor products (ex., Knowledge Base)

• Vendors agree to standards that allow hyperlinking all the way to the article (in most cases)

• Interprets the data coded in aggregator databases and directs researchers to FT articles to which you have access

Link Resolver Software 101 (2)

+• You can host your own server

• Can direct users to Library Catalog

• Can also link to book chapters, abstracts, etc.

• Can often use it to submit ILL requests

• Offers A-Z list generation

• Provides user statistics

-• Some vendors host the server

• Not all publishers/aggregators yet participate

• Not all publishers/aggregators are fully compliant with standards

New Staff Arrives2/04

The Saint Joseph’s Solution

ReviewedProducts

Decided on SFX

Started Implementationw/ local University

Migrated to ourown server

Customized andTested

FullyImplemented*

Will migrate to new ILS

Spring 03 Summer 03 Summer 04

Summer 05

Implementation & Customization:Preliminary Set-up

Team Approach

Six Librarians: Serials*, Systems*, Web*, Cataloger, Reference, Department Chair

Training

Important enough to repeat for new key team members

Our 2-day SFX training/set-up tended to be theoretical

Web Resources/Reference

Implementation & Customization:Customization & Direct Support

Core Working Group Direct access to SFX server for customization work

University IT Higher-level UNIX support

SFX Help desk, listserv, and user support group with an annual conference

“Out-of-the-Box” Solution

• SFX logos only – No University/Library Branding

• Products labeled by SFX naming convention

• No hierarchy in choices offered to the researcher

• No limitation of choices offered to the researcher

• No value-added features on the menu -- such as linking to FAQs, Library Home Page, etc.

• No customization of the ILL form

The Saint Joseph’s Solution

• Named the product --- local and semantic meaning

• Offered a menu that “looked like” Saint Joseph’s University for the comfort level of our researchers:

- consistent button-graphic- color scheme and university/library graphics

used on Library Web site- familiar links (to our catalog)

(1)

The Saint Joseph’s Solution

• Prioritized the databases that would be offered on the menu by criteria:

- show our “most reliable” vendors

- show our “best fit for the subject” vendors

(2)

ex. ProQuest in place of LexisNexis

ex. Business Source Premier in place of Academic Search Premier ex. Health Source: Nursing/Academic in place of ProQuest Research Library

The Saint Joseph’s Solution

• Made it aesthetically appealing

• “Spoke” in language that our Library uses and that our users understand

• Customized Knowledge Base

• Maximized vendors’ ability to incorporate our customization:

- created a graphic button of a particular size- disabled vendors’ links to services we do

not subscribe to

(3) ex. Project Muse

The Saint Joseph’s Solution

• Created a pre-populated Interlibrary Loan form

• Created an A-Z list of e-journals for Library Staff use

• Secondarily, used the opportunity to step back and look at the customized branding of our bibliographic databases

(4)

Challenges along the way

• Off-campus access (IT collaboration)

• New staff members needed to come up to speed

• Problems linking from SFX to our OPAC

(1)

Challenges along the way

• Not all vendors allowed the same customization, so researchers and Librarians needed to deal with exceptions to the rule:

Click our custom button & be brought to the FT article

(2)

ex. ProQuest does not allow a custom button on the “Results” page – only on the “Document View” page

ex. LexisNexis will not connect to the article level—only the journal level

ex. Not all databases are Open-URL compliant

Challenges along the way

• Staff resistance to offering an A-Z list to patrons until we can also list journals (title and/or formats) now listed only in our Library catalog

• A-Z list is not in “Library A-Z order ”

ex. Air & space power journal (‘&’ is ignored)

ex. America’s is listed before America

(3)

Rolling it Out to the Public

• Timing: Best at semester start

• Training: Be sure staff are prepared and knowledgeable

• PublicityLarge signs with our logoLibrary Web page noticesPensEmail message to university communityNotices on campus portalTargeted messages to Faculty by Library-liaisons

• Be prepared for setbacks and adjustments

• Test, Test, Test, then Test Again!

• Setup and maintenance will take time away from other responsibilities

• Make backups of your customizations (even “edited versions” along the way)

Advice

(1)

• Know your subscriptions

• Be prepared to make changes as your offerings change

• Don’t be afraid to ask for help

• Still need to address helping users feel comfortable using non-URL compliant databases even though it takes longer

Advice

(2)

You Bet!

Our users love it…

and so do we!

Would we do it again?

“The Find it @ SJU tool is incredibly useful, even an occasional snag like this one. Pretty amazing times we live in, eh? “

Kristine E. Mudrick kmudrick@sju.eduLinda A. Kubala lkubala@sju.edu

Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA

Presentation URL: http://www.sju.edu/libraries/drexel/findit/ncserials/april1505.ppt

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