Re: google onebox, "next generation" library catalogs, and interpreting queries

Hi Eric-

   We have been doing something similar to this with our QuickSearch
feature (http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/ and use the QuickSearch box right
under the header), except that we have created more of these specific
areas on the results page, namely for the catalog (with the "Format"
facet), for article search, for our "Journals" tool, institutional
repository, FAQs, and so on.  Known items (try a journal title, say
"Journal of African earth sciences", or a monograph title) generally
result in very accurate results in whatever tool contains that object,
especially if you use quotes around the search phrase, but then you have
the hodgepodge of remaining Web content.  One thing that this sort of
solution points out is the importance of good <title> metadata, as
witnessed by a search of "encyclopedia of philosophy" or "Jennifer
Younger" (with and without quotes) on the ND mockup.  Although it is
easy to see the catalog and people search info, the stuff below that
contains minutes from meetings, single alpha pages from the Notre Dame
e-journal alpha listing, Reference Dept. subject pages, and so on with
little meaningful contextual information to guide the user.  Even though
there was an attempt at cleaning up metadata in NCSU's Website a couple
of years back, you can see from results in our QuickSearch tool that a
lot of cleanup remains, with headers consisting entirely of URLs, and
several different formats for the more meaningful headers.  The "cleaned
up" headers are the hierarchical titles that end with "NCSU Libraries".
So, for "Journal of African earth sciences" you get a bit more
contextual information for some headers, like "All collections by title:
SCRC finding aids: NCSU Libraries" or "Serials cancellations (by
subject) 2002-2003..."  This is an indication that we need to provide
more guidance to our Web authors in creating meaningful headers in the
larger context of the whole library Website, rather than just the small
area they are working in.  Think globally, act locally?

    Charley
> On May 2, 2008, at 4:06 PM, Eric Lease Morgan wrote:
>>
>>> I have been thinking about Google Onebox technology, "next
>>> generation" library catalogs, and interpreting user queries.
>>> Specifically, I think the techniques behind Google Onebox
>>> technology could easily be implemented in "next generation" library
>>> catalogs.
>>
>>
>> To illustrate some of the possibilities of Google Onebox technology
>> and how a library catalog search can be integrated into "search this
>> site" functionality, I created the following demonstration. Try
>> searching for Walt Whitman at the following URL:
>>
>>   http://dewey.library.nd.edu/box/
>>
>> Remember, it is just an example -- a prototype!
>>
>> Here at Notre Dame the library manages the campus-wide search engine
>> -- a Google Search Appliance. For the most part, it works pretty
>> well. The Appliance allows us to create sub-collections, and in our
>> case we created a sub-collection of simply library- and archive-
>> related materials. It is then possible to insert sub-queries (called
>> Onebox in Google parlance) into the Appliance interface such as
>> queries against a campus-wide directory. Enter a query. The query
>> gets sent to the sub-queries. The query gets sent to Google
>> Appliance. Results are returned. Display. The whole thing sort of
>> works like meta-search, sort of. Try these searches as well:
>>
>>   * jennifer younger
>>   * plato and aristotle
>>   * encyclopedia of philosophy
>>
>> In a world were the name of the game is "Put your content where the
>> users are", integrating the searching of library content in "search
>> this site" functionality makes a lot of sense.
>>
>> --
>> Eric Lease Morgan
>> Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame

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Charley Pennell                        mailto:cpennell_at_unity.ncsu.edu
Principal Cataloger for Metadata                 voice: (919)515-2743
Metadata and Cataloging Department                 fax: (919)515-7292
NCSU Libraries, Box 7111
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC  27695-7111

      Adjunct Librarian, Memorial University of Newfoundland
World Wide Web:     http://www.ibiblio.org/hillwilliam/chuckhome.html
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