Shen, 'Evolving Online Catalog: Shaping Third Generation OPACS', LITA Newsletter v14n04 URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/lita/lita-v14n04-shen-evolving [v14n4.evolving litanews] -------------- The Evolving Online Catalog: Shaping Third Generation OPACS Xiao-Yan Shen More than 500 people attended this program, sponsored by the LITA On- line Catalogs Interest Group. Michael Gorman (California State Univer- sity, Fresno) moderated this session and started by asking the audi- ence: how will the revolution of the online catalog take place? What will the online catalog be by the end of this decade? The growth of online catalog systems confronts users with as many dilemmas as opportunities. The unprecedented size of catalogs and sup- plementary databases threatens to conceal traditional functions while systems still allow users' queries to fail. Many fields of the MARC re- cord remain unindexed or unused for searching and Boolean searching often is used only primitively. This program explored the future of online systems, more intensive use of existing catalog records and Boolean searching, and offered new guidance as we continue to "grow" the catalog, especially as we link it more closely to the networks such as the Internet. What is Missing from the Catalog in the User's View Ellen Crosby (University of South Carolina) stated: "As we move to the third and fourth generation of the online catalog, it becomes increas- ingly important to determine from the users themselves what is miss- ing." Crosby held interviews with different kinds of library patrons as well as reference librarians at the service desks to get front-line impressions of what people might be needing. According to Crosby, users have suggested enhancements in two funda- mental categories: *Enhancements to the computer online catalog systems. In her survey, users preferred browse capabilities, spelling correction, search pro- files, touch screens, color and attached printers. *Enhancements to the bibliographic records. Users want more subject headings and subject headings for fiction. Users need the online cata- log to tell them if a particular record representing the item will fulfill their information need. We should have more people tell cata- logers: "Wow! That's a beautiful record, I really appreciate you work- ing on that." Users also need access to other collections, other databases such as periodical indexes and union catalogs such as OCLC. The next genera- tion of the online catalog should provide access to all the databases in one place. Other enhancements and improvements that users have suggested in- clude: *Users' needs vary from unknown to known. Some users can express their information needs; other users don't know what they are looking for. Frequency of information need is another characteristic: whether it is a one-time need or on-going need, the online catalog should work for all users *Even though online catalogs offer a wide variety of features, users need to have online help screens or printed instructions next to the terminals and/or human beings that they can go to for help *The system itself has needs such as remote or local access, speed, connections, etc. Users want searching assistance. They want more information to help them to choose an item. The online catalog should help them decide whether it's worthwhile to go to the shelf to look for an item. Crosby also pointed out that when we design the next generation of online catalog systems, we need to study user characteristics: their level of sophistication, their level of intelligence, their computer experience, their library experience. She suggested that right now, we should not spend a lot of time cre- ating more sophisticated interfaces, more indexes, more ways of search- ing. We need to upgrade the millions of existing MARC records so they do what information seekers expect them to do. Making Better Use of Existing Catalog Records Michael Buckland (University of California, Berkeley) noted that on- line catalog end-users' special needs include: *Entry vocabulary: use the word the users use *Situational help: more online help screens *Toolkit for retrieval set analysis *"Nearest neighbor" searching *Document/subset ranking *Blending with user's tools *Searching networked resources *Sending search results to user's own electronic mail account. He pointed out that in order to make better use of existing catalog records we should have more powerful commands such as FEWER and SUMMA- RIZE. FEWER limits the size of retrieved sets by assuming reasonable default preferences--e.g.: find subject napoleon might retrieve 4,580 hits. Successive uses of FEWER might do the following: -limit to Berkeley holdings (2,259) -limit to English-language (853) -limit to last 10 years (73) -limit to last 3 years (30) -limit to books (26) SUMMARIZE finds all the subject headings in all retrieved records and lists them by their frequencies. MORE finds more books with the same author or subject. In addition, users should be able to preprocess commands as well as process retrieved sets--e.g., the limit feature in FirstSearch. Seeking Order in the "Great Disorder": Defining a Future for the Online Catalog Alan Ritch (University of California, Santa Cruz) characterized the chaotic and contradictory nature of the online catalog in a networked environment as "a great disorder in an order." Ritch feels that public service librarians, as "connoisseurs of chaos," have become hunters and gatherers, foraging in the new information environment of mature metacatalogs. There are gems in this disorderly mosaic: systems are often free of charge, may offer specialized functions that would be masked by Z39.50, and offer specialized collections, regional diver- sity and the search efficiencies of smaller catalogs. Ritch discussed the paradoxes that confront users and designers of future catalogs. Some examples: *Online catalog users are both more and less experienced than ever be- fore. In technically progressive California, school libraries have on- line catalogs, but in politically backward California, many schools no longer have libraries. *Advanced features may be rarely used, but may be crucial when they are used, particularly in larger catalogs. *Making one part of the catalog or collection more visible and more valuable may make another part of the catalog or collection less vis- ible. *Bad texts in good databases are still bad texts. The value of the cataloging and indexing depends on the value of texts cataloged and indexed. Just because an encyclopedia is online does not mean it's a good encyclopedia.--Xiao-Yan Shen is Systems Librarian at the Univer- sity of the Pacific, Stockton, CA. Additional information for this re- port came from Mary Engle, University of California.