[Web4lib] Federated search products and Full Text/PeerReview limiting

Tue Apr 18 17:27:32 EDT 2006

It sounds like the work of determining if the Library has access to an item before the link is displayed could and should be extended to provide such information as:
The call number of a book, if the library has it.The link to a pre-filled ILL request form ONLY if the library does not have it.The exact location of the bound volume needed (enter RFID & GoogleMaps mashup)A GoogleMaps mashup of other libraries in the area who have the item (book or journal or otherwise)Link to Amazon.com to order the book IF the library doesn't have it I agree that our clients' experience with our link resolver suggests that when the link resolver's Web page appears, instead of article or even the journal Web site, the search is over. That page is, effectively, a dead-end.  That is why we are seriously considering another link resolver which behaves slightly differently: if it cannot resolve the link to the article or issue level, it will send the user to the vendor's site.  Even if they have to navigate the site to get to the article, we surmise that this would be considered more successful than seeing the "dead-end" page.  True, the actual single-click-to-full-text success rate of the resolver under consideration is, indeed, better than the one we're using now; but I really think we would still consider them even if that rate was the same.  The users' overall experience is better if they do not see that page. 

My conclusion then is, if we can let the user know the exact status of obtaining each citation at the exact point of need, their experience with the Library would improve.  

Which leads me to what I was originally going to ask Roy:  more details (about their project), please....

Karen R. Harker, MLS
UT Southwestern Medical Library
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, TX  75390-9049
214-648-8946
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/library/

>>> "David Walker" <dwalker at csusm.edu> 4/18/2006 2:48:51 PM >>>

>> Encouraging this behavior would encourage the 
>> students to ignore anything that is not easily available

I understand your concern here, Karen.  I think libraries need to seek
out opportunities to encourage students to look for the best resources,
rather than just those that are easiest to get.  That's important to
good research.

But I think Ross and Roy are entirely right here.  Forcing users to
click on a link resolver button for each search result just to determine
that item's availability does little or nothing to encourage users to
look for the most appropriate resources.  It simply frustrates them.

Likewise, we have to view each interaction with the library as an
opportunity to win-over our users.  If our systems are not easy-to-use,
our users have an increasing number of other places they can go.

We need to meet students where they are, and design metasearch and other
systems to better meet their goals and behavior.  Once we've got them
hooked on using the library, we can, through instructional sessions and
in reference encounters, encourage them to get beyond immediate
full-text only.

But it has to be a carrot rather than a stick.

--Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Karen Harker
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 11:43 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Federated search products and Full
Text/PeerReview limiting

However, using such visual cues as the appearance (or non-appearance) of
the link resolver button/link could only further the reliance on
full-text. Encouraging this behavior would encourage the students to
ignore anything that is not easily available, causing them to miss a
still rather large segment of literature and information.

Karen R. Harker, MLS
UT Southwestern Medical Library
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, TX  75390-9049
214-648-8946
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/library/

>>> Roy Tennant <roy.tennant at ucop.edu> 4/18/2006 1:24 PM >>>

On Apr 18, 2006, at 9:52 AM, Dale Askey wrote:

> Besides, if you have a good link resolver, why limit to full text  
> results? Just slap a link resolver button on each result, and that  
> problem is largely solved.

I disagree strongly with this position. Slapping a link resolver  
button on each search result does little to help the user focus on  
only content that is available in full-text. Expecting the user to  
successively click on a link resolver button for each and every  
result, not knowing what they can expect, strikes me as particularly  
user-hostile. Realizing this, places like the University of  
Rochester, CSU San Marcos, and now soon us at the California Digital  
Library, are developing services that will do a lookup to the OpenURL  
resolver _before_ putting the search results up, so we can depict  
whether an item is available in full-text or not (with a link direct  
to the source).

Even better would be to have the ability to limit search results to  
full-text resources, but as has been said here that is still  
difficult and often out of our hands (vendors need to support it). So  
no, the problem is far from solved, at least from the perspective of  
good user service.
Roy
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