Discovery update – September User Advisory Group
Ongoing projects which are related to Discovery
Finding Archives project – presented at last UAG, see link for details
Website design project - being presented at September UAG
Search replacement project – this is a project to move from current search platform to a
new search platform (will provide update at a future UAG)
Single sign on project – this is a project to create an integrated sign on across our web
services (will provide update at a future UAG)
Suggestions/Issues being worked on
Date
raised
01/04/2013
Category
Description of issue
Benefit of change /
description of impact
Improve filter functionality
Comments
Search
There is no way for a user to „clear
all filters‟ on the search results
page without clearing them one-byone.
01/04/2013
Search
There is no way for a user to „clear
all fields‟ on the advanced search
page without clearing them one-byone.
Improve advanced search
Part of Finding
Archives
implementation so will
go live with this.
15/05/2013
Details
Delivery option offsite doesn't
make it clear if there is a 3 day wait
to see a document (at Cheshire).
Advises users onsite.
User could come onsite to
order a document which
has a 3 day lead time and
leave unhappy
Delivery options
update being
implemented.
15/05/2013
Details
Digital downloads email does not
make it clear there is a 30 day limit
on downloading items
Poor user experience
Email text review and
update being
implemented
01/10/2012
Details
Hyperlinks in the details page
performs a search instead of taking
you to another records details
page (when appropriate)
Poor user experience
Hyperlinks being
updated to go direct to
details page (where
appropriate)
Part of Finding
Archives
implementation so will
go live with this.
Suggestions/Issues under review
Date
raised
01/10/2012
Category
Description of request / issue
Search
Some search options are not
available in Discovery‟s
„Advanced Search‟ (e.g. subseries, sub-sub-series,
language, map designation).
Benefit of change /
description of impact
Places some limitations on
the precision of more expert
searching.
Comments
Being discussed as part
of Advanced search
review, this work is
needed for Finding
Archives data too.
01/10/2012
Search
Searching by „Former
Reference‟ in Discovery‟s
„Advanced Search‟ cannot be
carried out without a
„Keyword‟ value also being
entered.
Inability for users to find
information using a logically
valid search term.
01/10/2012
Authority
files
In the Catalogue, there is a
resource for information about
prominent people, places,
record creators and corporate
bodies (available in the
Catalogue). There will be no
such resource in Discovery
until the new interface is made
available.
01/10/2012
Search
The 20 Century „date‟ filters
are restricted to 1900-1925,
1925-1949 and 1950+.
Users cannot access
authoritative information
about prominent people,
places, record creators and
corporate bodies as before.
Also reputational impact
within the wider archives
sector as this resource
disappears for the time
being.
Less helpful for researching
contemporary history – there
should be an option to refine
at a more granular level
beyond 1950.
01/10/2012
Browse
The vertical scroll bars used
on the „browse‟ page are very
narrow.
Some users may have
difficulty in using the scroll
functionality effectively.
Mixed feedback on this and
user interface meets
accessability standards.
01/10/2012
Download
The outputs of the „Download‟
options offered to the user
when viewing search results
in Discovery needs to be
reviewed as some fields are
confusing/missing.
Some users are now
struggling to understand the
information they have
downloaded.
Download has been
updated. Further
requirements being
looked into based on
feedback since changes.
System
Consider using the "covering
dates" on search results page
- There are 2 sets of dates in
the data. The document date
is called “covering date” and
“start/end date”.
Discovery uses the "start/end
date" for the date filter and for
sorting due to the quality of
data and how the data is
formatted.
Potentially confusing for
users as different dates
displayed on search results
and details page and could
lead to ordering wrong
orginals/downloads. Also
potentially confusing for
users if data shown does not
match sort order selected or
filters selected.
Agreed that it is
important to display
covering dates in search
results. However,
covering dates first need
to be improved and
corrected and applied to
all records. The data will
also need to be reloaded
and indexed. Therefore,
needs to wait for
completion of Finding
Archives project and
data corrections. Also
affected by move to new
search engine. For these
reasons no further direct
work planned until
2014/15.
th
Being discussed as part
of Advanced search
review. Mixed views as
user can enter former
reference in basic
search. Advanced
search is a search and
some think that all terms
need keyword while
others don't.
Work to integrate this is
being investigated
currently. Finding
Archives work will in part
facilitate this.
It is agreed that more
granular refinements
would be useful. Our first
step is to clean up data
to remove 'dates
unknown', to find pre1000 records. Once this
is achieved the UI needs
to be considered. Will
also need to be
considered under
Finding Archives project.
Will test this in next
round of user experience
testing we undertake for
Discovery.
03/07/2013
System
Using social media tools for
users to share, bookmark,
email and like pages/images
More integrated with online
tools, wider reach, improved
user experience
Idea approved for 201415
03/07/2013
Search,
details
Improving how we flag
digitised content - adding LIA
content to online tab, icon on
search results page to show
when result is digitised
Clearer for user what is
online and available right
now
Paper for Discovery
Enhancements board
about integration with
online services being
drafted.
Suggestions/Issues closed
Date
raised
01/09/2012
01/09/2012
01/09/2012
Category
Description of issue
Search
The way in which search
results are presented in
Discovery is different to the
way search results are
presented in the Catalogue. In
the Catalogue, the order in
which search results are
presented by catalogue
reference. In Discovery, the
order in which search results
are presented by relevance.
Search
Search
In addition, when viewing a list
of search results in the
Catalogue, users can change
the order in which they are
displayed from a limited set of
options (e.g. by date). This
cannot be done in Discovery.
There are separate search
boxes in the Catalogue for
word/phrase, date range and
Department/Series code; this is
not replicated exactly in
Discovery, which has one
search box presented to the
user „up front‟.
Similar functionality is available
via different routes in Discovery
and although though there has
been negative feedback on
this, there is positive feedback
evidenced through user testing
and the user feedback log
which show that users see the
single search box as a positive
step.
Users are used to using the
search box in the Catalogue as
a direct „go to‟ for departments
(e.g. WO); similar functionality
is available in Discovery but
requires extra steps as the user
needs to scroll down the page
and use the various „Refine‟
options. User experience
testing showed many users did
not understand/use the "go to"
box
Benefit of change /
description of impact
There is no clear
consensus as to the
preferred way of
presenting search
results; some users have
said that they prefer the
reference order, some
expect results to be
presented by digital
category, some have
suggested ordering the
results by date and
others have said that
they are happy with the
relevance order.
Comments
Relates to personal
preference rather than a
problem in finding
information in Discovery.
Closed as
functionality
available via
different routes.
12/10/2012
Increased number of
„click-throughs‟
Closed as
functionality
available via
different routes.
12/11/2012
Following
discussions and
based on
feedback,
relevance order
was agreed as
default. Sort by
Reference and
Date have been
added so users
can order as they
prefer. All
implemented.
Date
closed
28/02/2013
01/09/2012
Browse
01/09/2012
Details
01/04/2013
Guidance
01/06/2013
Details
01/04/2013
Guidance
01/04/2013
Search
01/09/2013
Search
04/12/2012
Search
01/05/2013
Search
When browsing well
catalogued correspondence
series (e.g. HO 52, HO 42, MH
12) in Discovery, the user can
see only one line of text. In the
Catalogue, more text can be
seen.
The „hierarchy‟ details text on
the right hand side of the
screen does not include
references. This reference
information is displayed in the
Catalogue.
Search help is not accessible
from anywhere but the
homepage.
If a record is out to a
government department, the
offsite delivery options do not
indicate that the user may not
see it if they visit
Users cannot browse
efficiently our most
comprehensively
described material
without „clicking into‟
each entry.
4 lines of text now
visible implemented
17/04/2013
Could make it harder for
new users to grasp what
the hierarchy display is
for and how the
referencing system
works.
Users can‟t find help
pages.
Implemented
17/04/2013
Link implemented
across system
02/05/2013
Users come onsite and
can't see the documents
they want
04/07/2013
The wording of the „help‟ text
on the advanced search page
is not always as clear as it
could be.
There is duplication of the
description in the expanded
view - should be removed
Improve user
understanding of
advanced search
This is a very rare
situation and
solving it via an
update to the
online system will
be very difficult and
could lead to user
confusion. We
have a manual
process which is a
sufficiently good
„work around‟ for
the number of
instances under
consideration and
have closed the
issue.
Help text reviewed
and updated
Can lead to distrust in
the quality of data.
Removal of
duplication
implemented
04/07/2013
Make sort "sticky" so sort
settings selected are retained
where possible
Integrate series further into the
Collection filter
Reduce usefulness of
sort
Stickiness
implemented
04/07/2013
Improve filters usage for
finding series
04/07/2013
Ability to add custom date
within date filter
Allow user to narrow
down date search further
As we extend the
system, this
becomes less
viable as part of an
integrated user
experience.
Advanced search
is considering how
to promote this
function elsewhere
rather than doing
this via the filters.
Finding Archives
interface which
promotes date
search on home
page will help
resolve this.
04/07/2013
04/07/2013
01/07/2013
Search
Ability to sort by former
reference
Allow users to sort when
searching by former
reference
04/07/2013
Details
Improve description where it
says "description at other level"
Poor user experience
03/07/2013
Search
Ability to filter on free digitised
content
Users can find free
content
19/12/2012
Search
Hide icon on the filters so
results can expand
Once finished with
filtering, will give more
room for reviewing
results
This is a very
specialist
requirement which
can be met by
download results
for those who
specifically need it,
therefore the issue
has been closed
Passed over to
Catalogue team as
BAU work (not
related to
Discovery
functionality)
20/08/2013
This would be
confusing and
challenging to
implement due to
free access to all
onsite. We are
looking into how
we can provide
better information
about what records
are available online
(from our site and
commercial partner
sites) which may
include an
overview of what is
free / chargable.
Reviewed and
closed as filters are
core to experience
of Discovery so we
would like to
encourage use
rather than hide
this function.
20/08/2013
20/08/2013
20/08/2013