ITAL Information Technology and Libraries (E-Journal)
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The Importance of Identifying and Accommodating E-Resource Usage Data for the Presence of Outliers. The Negative Impacts of Inaccurate E-Journal Usage Data.
No full textThis article presents the results of a quantitative analysis examining the effects of abnormal and extreme values on e-journal usage statistics. Detailed are the step-by-step procedures designed specifically to identify and remove these values, termed outliers. By greatly deviating from other values in a sample, outliers distort and contaminate that data. Between 2010 and 2011, e-journal usage at the J.N. Desmarais Library spiked as a result of illegal downloading. The identification and removal of outliers had a noticeable effect on e-journal usage levels. They represented over 100,000 erroneous articles downloaded in 2010 and nearly 200,000 erroneous downloading in 2011
President’s Message: UX Thinking and the LITA Member Experience
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Negotiating a Text Mining License for Faculty Researchers
Get PDFThis case study examines strategies used to leverage the library’s existing journal licenses to obtain a large collection of full-text journal articles in extensible markup language (XML) format; the right to text mine the collection; and the right to use the collection and the data mined from it for grant-funded research to develop biomedical natural language processing (BNLP) tools. Researchers attempted to obtain content directly from PubMed Central (PMC). This attempt failed due to limits on use of content in PMC. Next researchers and their library liaison attempted to obtain content from contacts in the technical divisions of the publishing industry. This resulted in an incomplete research data set. Then researchers, the library liaison, and the acquisitions librarian collaborated with the sales and technical staff of a major science, technology, engineering, and medical (STEM) publisher to successfully create a method for obtaining XML content as an extension of the library’s typical acquisition process for electronic resources. Our experience led us to realize that text mining rights of full-text articles in XML format should routinely be included in the negotiation of the library’s licenses
Adding Value to the University of Oklahoma Libraries History of Science Collections through Digital Enhancement
Get PDFMuch of the focus of digital collections has been and continues to be on rare and unique materials, including monographs. A monograph may be made even rarer and more valuable by virtue of hand written marginalia. Using technology to enhance scans of unique books and make previously unreadable marginalia readable increases the value of a digital object to researchers. This article describes a case study of enhancing the marginalia in a rare book by Copernicus
High-Performance Annotation Tagging over Solr Full-text Indexes
Get PDFIn this work, we focus on the problem of “annotation tagging” over Information Spaces of objects stored in a full-text index. In such a scenario, tags are assigned to objects by “data curator” users with the purpose of classification, while generic end-users will perceive tags as searchable and browsable object properties. To carry out their activities, data curators need “annotation tagging tools” which allow them to “bulk” tag or untag large sets of objects in temporary work sessions, where they can “virtually” and in “real-time” experiment the effect of their actions before making the changes visible to end-users. The implementation of these tools over full-text indexes is a challenge, since bulk object updates in this context are far from being real-time and in critical cases may slow down index performance. We devised TagTick, a tool which offers to data curators a fully functional annotation tagging environment over the full-text index Apache Solr, regarded as a “de-facto standard” in this area. TagTick consists of a TagTick Virtualizer module, which extends the APIs of Solr to support real-time, virtual, bulk-tagging operations, and a TagTick User Interface module, which offers end-user functionalities for annotation tagging. The tool scales optimally with the number and size of bulk tag operations, without compromising index performance
Rural Public Libraries and Digital Inclusion: Issues and Challenges
Get PDFRural public libraries have been relatively understudied when compared to public libraries as a whole. Data are available to show that rural libraries lag behind their urban and suburban counterparts in technology service offerings, but the full meaning and impact of such disparities is unclear. The authors combine data from the Public Library Technology and Access Study with data from smaller studies to provide greater insight to these issues. By filtering these data through the Digital Inclusion framework, it becomes clear that disparities between rural and non-rural libraries are not merely a problem of weaker technological infrastructure. Instead, rural libraries cannot reach their full customer service potential because of lower staffing (but not lower staff dedication) and funding mechanisms that rely primarily on local monies. The authors suggest possible solutions to these disparities, while also discussing the barriers that must be overcome before such solutions can be implemented
Open Search Environments: The Free Alternative to Commercial Search Services
Get PDFOpen search systems present a free and less restricted alternative to commercial search services. This paper explores the space of open search technology looking in particular at the issue of interoperability. A description of current protocols and formats for engineering open search applications is presented. The suitability of these technologies and issues around their adoption and operation are discussed. This open search approach is especially proving a fitting choice in applications involving the harvesting of resources and information integration. Principal among the technological solutions are OpenSearch and SRU. OpenSearch and SRU implement a federated model to enable existing and new search engines and search clients communicate. Applications and instances where Opensearch and SRU can be combined are presented. Other relevant technologies such as OpenURL, Apache Solr, and OAI-PMH are also discussed. The deployment of these freely licensed open standards in digital library applications is now a genuine alternative to commercial or proprietary systems
assignFAST: An Autosuggest based tool for FAST Subject Assignment
Get PDFSubject assignment is really a three-phase task. The first phase is intellectual—reviewing the material and determining its topic. The second phase is more mechanical, identifying the correct subject heading(s). The final phase is retyping or cutting and pasting the heading(s) into the cataloging interface along with any diacritics, and potentially correcting formatting and subfield coding. If authority control is available in the interface, some of these tasks may be automated or partially automated.
A cataloger with a reasonable knowledge of FAST[i],[ii] or even LCSH[iii] can quickly get to the proper heading, but usually needs to confirm the final details—was it plural? Am I thinking of an alternate form? Is it inverted? Etc. This often requires consulting the full authority file interface. assignFAST is a Web service that consolidates the entire second phase of the manual process of subject assignment for FAST subjects into a single step based on autosuggest technology.
[i] Chan, Lois Mai and Edward T. O'Neill. FAST: Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, Prnciples and Applications Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, 2010.http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591587224.
[ii] OCLC Research Activities associated with FAST are summarized at http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/fast/
[iii] Chan, Lois M. Library of Congress Subject Headings : Principles and Application: Principles and Application. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2005
Usability Testing for Greater Impact: A Primo Case Study
Get PDFThis case study focuses on a usability test conducted by four librarians at Texas Tech University. Eight students were asked to complete a series of tasks using OneSearch, the TTU Libraries’ implementation of the Primo discovery tool. Based on the test, the team identified three major usability problems, as well as potential solutions. These problems typify the difficulties patrons face while using library search tools, but have a variety of simple solutions.
 
