Taking OPACs to the Limit - libraries' online catalogs

Information Today, Jan, 2001 by Terry Ballard

Online catalogs are dynamic and always open to improvements

Not so long ago--last April to be exact--I thought my library's online catalog, QCAT, was as good as an OPAC could be. We even went so far as to print up 200 mouse pads with the image of the OPAC's front screen. I was constantly fine-tuning, but as far as I was concerned, QCAT was complete. Then, a number of things happened to shake me out of my stupor.

First, I went to a conference and saw a presentation by someone who had done remarkable things with an OPAC. After that, our OPAC's software was enhanced to allow for a whole suite of personalized applications for our key users. In addition, the reopening of Quinnipiac's vastly remodeled library forced us to create new ways of describing the building's layout. Finally, in rewriting the help screens, I hit upon a way of handling new book lists that has already started saving people a lot of work and has implications far beyond our library. As the late Mr. Sinatra would put it, "It was a very good year."

A Gathering of Innovators

Each spring, the libraries that run Innovative Interfaces' online catalog hold the 3-day Innovative Users Group Annual Conference. Last year it was in Philadelphia. Even though this was my fifth such conference, it was the first one in which I was simply an attendee and didn't have to speak or help run the show. My only obligation was to attend sessions and come back with some good ideas.

While getting my name tag, I came across Karen Perone, the incoming president of the Innovative Users Group. She mentioned that her library, the Rodman Public Library in Alliance, Ohio, was using OPAC links fields to add book reviews to the standard bibliographic records. That way, a patron finding a record in the catalog can not only see if the book is checked out, but can also see what reviewers said about the title. This is exactly the kind of idea I look for at a conference, and my library was able to make good use of it.

One of the most inspiring sessions was presented by Kevin Cullen, a systems librarian from Colorado State University who spoke about OPAC Web design. He convinced me to abandon the idea of using text that looks like graphics and instead incorporate actual graphics that would allow me to add "alt" messages that describe a search. (You'd be surprised at the number of people who think that an "author" search finds books "about" an author.) He said that by adding these graphics to secondary screens, you allow the users to change search modes without going back to the main menu--and make use of the efficiency of browser cache files for a fast screen load.

As Cullen talked about the importance of contrast, I felt a dagger slipping into my heart. Some of our screens displayed dark blue letters on a light blue background. He also talked about the thought that goes into search examples. If a search within your library's OPAC displays the title "Letters of Millard Fillmore," you had better make sure that such a book is in your catalog, because people will want to use the examples you give.

I left Philadelphia with a treasure-trove of ideas and a commitment to give QCAT a complete facelift.

The Design Process

The redesign of QCAT got underway in the last month of the spring semester. For political reasons, we designed buttons for Author, Title, and Subject searches that included the school colors. The face of the original QCAT main menu screen had been royal purple, but I finally had to give that up and chose a light beige for good contrast. The biggest changes were in the secondary screens where the actual searches were made.

At least once a day, I would go to the reference area and show off the work in progress. One day, somebody walked in when the Author search was up on the screen and said: "Ooh, that's neat. What is that?" I knew I was getting there. Because people can make instant skips between author, title, subject, and keyword screens, I found that I had to work hard to make the screens identical. The other librarians warned me to wait until the last day of classes before I made any real-world changes to the catalog. I followed their advice and introduced the new QCAT after the semester ended.

Beyond a New Look

Another thing that stuck in my mind from the conference was the idea of linking from bibliographic records to book reviews. At a public library, this would mainly be used for current popular items, but at Quinnipiac University, I could envision using this for scholarly material. One of our most frequently asked questions from students is, "Do you have a review of this book?" If the OPAC could automatically answer this question, our library would be a happier place. To that end, I made a list of every book the library owned about the Civil War, as well as every biography. A student assistant of mine patiently checked every title to see if a review could be found in JSTOR. Since we have a lifetime commitment to JSTOR, its reviews seemed like a stable source of information.

Surprisingly, nearly half of the titles in history and biography netted reviews in JSTOR. I taught my assistant to go in and add the links, and since then, our supply of bibliographic records with links has shot into the thousands. Because we still haven't looked up reviews in sociology and philosophy, my assistant is assured that she'll have enough work to last through her college years.