ITAL Information Technology and Libraries (E-Journal)
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Using Ajax to Empower Dynamic Searchinb
Get PDFThe use of Ajax, or Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, can result in Web applications that demonstrate the flexibility, responsiveness, and usability traditionally found only in desktop software. To illustrate this, a repository metasearch user interface, OJAX, has been developed. OJAX is simple, unintimidating but powerful. It attempts to minimize upfront user investment and provide immediate dynamic feedback, thus encouraging experimentation and enabling enactive learning. This article introduces the Ajax approach to the development of interactive Web applications and discusses its implications. It then describes the OJAX user interface and illustrates how it can transform the user experience
Graphical Table of Contents for Library Collections: The Application of Universal Decimal Classification Codes to Subject Maps
No full textThe representation of information content by graphical maps is an extended ongoing research topic. The objective of this article consists in verifying whether it is possible to create map displays using Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) codes (using co-classification analysis) for the purpose of creating a graphical table of contents for a library collection. The application of UDC codes was introduced to subject maps development using the following graphic representation methods: (1) multidimensional scaling; (2) cluster analysis; and (3) neural networks (self-organizing maps). Finally, the authors conclude that the different kinds of maps have slightly different degrees of viability and types of application
A Dynamic Methodology for Improving the Search Experience
Get PDFIn the early years of modern information retrieval, the fundamental way in which we understood and evaluated search performance was by measuring precision and recall. In recent decades, however, models of evaluation have expanded to incorporate the information-seeking task and the quality of its outcome, as well as the value of the information to the user. We have developed a systems engineering-based methodology for improving the whole search experience. The approach focuses on understanding users’ information-seeking problems, understanding who has the problems, and applying solutions that address these problems. This information is gathered through ongoing analysis of site-usage reports, satisfaction surveys, Help Desk reports, and a working relationship with the business owners
Visualizations for Digital Libraries
No full textThe concept of digital libraries is familiar to both librarians and library patrons today. These new libraries have broken the limits of space and distance by delivering information in various formats via the Internet. Since most digital libraries contain a colossal amount of information, it is critical to design more user-friendly interfaces to explore, understand, and manage their content. One important technique for designing such interfaces is information visualization. Although computer-aided information visualization is a relatively new research area, numerous visualization applications already exist in various fields today. Furthermore, many library professionals are also starting to realize that combining information visualization techniques and current library technologies, such as digital libraries, can help library users find information more effectively and efficiently. This article first discusses three major tasks that most visualization for digital libraries emphasize, and then introduces several current applications of information visualization for digital libraries
Digitizing the Non-Digital: Creating a Global Context for Events, Artifacts, Ideas, and Information
Get PDFThis paper discusses some of the problems associated with search and digital-rights management in the emerging age of interconnectivity. An open-source system called Context Driven Topologies (CDT) is proposed to create one global context of geography, knowledge domains, and Internet addresses, using centralized spatial databases, geometry, and maps. The same concept can be described by different words, the same image can be interpreted a thousand ways by every viewer, but mathematics is a set of rules to ensure that certain relationships or sequences will be precisely regenerated. Therefore, unlike most of today’s digital records, CDTs are based on mathematics first, images second, words last. The aim is to permanently link the highest quality events, artifacts, ideas, and information into one record documenting the quickest paths to the most relevant information for specific data, users, and tasks. A model demonstration project using CDT to organize, search, and place information in new contexts while protecting the authors’ intent is also introduced
Strategic Planning and Management for Library Managers
Get PDFStrategic Planning and Management for Library Manager
OpenSearch and SRU: A Continuum of Searching
Get PDFNot all library content can be exposed as HTML pages for harvesting by search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. If a library instead exposes its content through a local search interface, that content can then be found by users of metasearch engines such as A9 and Vivísimo. The functionality provided by the local search engine will affect the functionality of the metasearch engine and the findability of the library’s content. This paper describes that situation and some emerging standards in the metasearch arena that choose different balance points between functionality and ease of implementation
Electronic Resources and Web Sites: Replacing a Back-end Database with Innovative's Electronic Resource Management
No full textIn the fall of 2002, Ohio State University along with the University of Washington, the University of Western Australia, Washington State University, and Glasgow University entered into a development partnership with Innovative Interfaces. The goal was to develop a module to manage electronic resources, integrated into Innovative’s Millennium library system. The product, Electronic Resource Management (ERM), became available in 2004 and is based on the work of the Digital Library Federation Electronic Resources Management Initiative. This article focuses on one aspect of ERM, the integration of the module with the Web OPAC, and describes how the Ohio State University Libraries replaced a back-end database with ERM to support lists of electronic resources on their Web site
Dispelling Five Myths about E-books
Get PDFSome considered 2000 the year of the e-book, and due tothe dot-com bust, that could have been the format’s highwater mark. However, the first quarter of 2004 saw thegreatest number of e-book purchases ever with more than$3 million in sales. A 2002 consumer survey found that67 percent of respondents wanted to read e-books; 62 percent wanted access to e-books through a library.Unfortunately, the large amount of information writtenon e-books has begun to develop myths around their use,functionality, and cost. The author suggests that thesemyths may interfere with the role of libraries in helpingto determine the future of the medium and access to it.Rather than fixate on the pros and cons of current versions of e-book technology, it is important for librarians tostay engaged and help clarify the role of digital documents in the modern library