What's your experience with the new ProQuest platform?

[Smith, Risë]

We have been using the new interface since the summer when all of our Proquest databases were available in the new interface. The interface issue that bothered us the most has been fixed. The admin module now lets you choose whether the default is full text searching or all-fields-except-fulltext searching. For a very long time, the default was full text searching (with no way to change it in the admin module), which worked "okay" with a relevance sort but had hideous consequences when you changed the sort order to publication date (i.e., lots of extremely marginal items showed up in the results).  Getting this fixed was a HUGE improvement for those trying to teach students good search techniques. 

An interface issue that we're still not happy about is how the search terms are displayed at the top of the results screen after a Basic search. Instead of simply showing the terms that were searched, Proquest formats the search in a search box so that a search for "virtual reality" shows up like this:  all("virtual reality")
There is a note and an "information" icon immediately above that explains what "all" means, but students don't know what to do with that format when they need to modify the search. It would be far better -- remember, this was a Basic search -- to just show the original search entered, which was: "virtual reality." 
The use of this format by Proquest also has a disturbing impact if you have autocomplete turned on. As you begin to type additional terms to modify your search, autocomplete provides autocomplete options for the word "all" since it is the first word.

However, all("virtual reality") is better than what was being shown three weeks ago which was: cabs("virtual reality").    "CABS" had been the new interface designation for citation-and-abstract field searching, which was a mystery abbreviation even for "Advanced search" users.  We turned off autocomplete when we realized that the autocomplete suggestions of "cabs" and "taxi cabs" added an additional layer of confusion for students. 

My opinion is that it is safe to make the switch, but I'll be curious to hear if others have different opinions. Every Proquest maintenance seems to tweak the interface.

We just subscribed to Proquest Dissertations & Theses - Full Text, and it is in the new interface.  I noticed that it was on the list that someone sent of the yet-to-be-migrated databases.

Best regards,
Risë

Risë L. Smith
Digital Design & Access Librarian / Professor
Karl E. Mundt Library & Learning Commons
Dakota State University
Madison, SD  57042-1799
Library home page: http://www.dsu.edu/library

-----Original Message-----
From: Munson, Doris [mailto:dmunson at EWU.EDU] 
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 1:27 PM
Subject: What's your experience with the new ProQuest platform?

Hello,

We're considering switching to the new ProQuest platform over winter intersession.  However, I've heard there are still some problems with it and would like to know if this is really the case.

If you have switched, are you encountering any problems with the user interface?  With the admin module?  Do you recommend switching over to the new platform or waiting?

Thanks,
Doris

Doris Munson
Systems/Reference Librarian
Eastern Washington University
dmunson at ewu.edu
509-359-6395

============================

To unsubscribe: http://bit.ly/web4lib

Web4Lib Web Site: http://web4lib.org/

2011-11-22