The eXtensible Catalog’s Drupal
Toolkit: a Discovery Interface to
Address Users’ Needs
Jennifer Bowen
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
ALA LITA Drupal Interest Group, June 25, 2011
New Orleans, LA
Problem:
• User research is of limited value if a library
doesn’t have control over its discovery
environment
• Our solution:
– Develop our own software (eXtensible Catalog)
– Offer a modular architecture (4 “toolkits”)
– Make it as configurable as possible
– Give it away (open source)
How XC Uses Drupal
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XC Software Components
User Interface for
searching and browsing
Library Website (on Drupal)
XC Drupal Toolkit
XC
Tools for automated processing of
large batches of metadata
XC Metadata
Services Toolkit
MARCXML
Tools for connectivity between
XC and an ILS
XC NCIP
Toolkit
DC
XC OAI
Toolkit
Integrated Library System
Repository
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Drupal Toolkit (User Interface)
User Interface for
searching and browsing
Library Website (on Drupal)
XC Drupal Toolkit
XC
Tools for automated processing of
large batches of metadata
XC Metadata
Services Toolkit
MARCXML
Tools for connectivity between
XC and an ILS
XC NCIP
Toolkit
DC
XC OAI
Toolkit
Integrated Library System
Repository
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Drupal Toolkit (User Interface)
Features
Single search interface across:
Library catalog
Digital repository
Website resources
Faceted browsing of results
FRBRized metadata
Integration with ILS circulation
system
Extensive customization
Library Website (on Drupal)
XC Drupal Toolkit
XC
XC Metadata
Services Toolkit
MARCXML
XC NCIP
Toolkit
DC
XC OAI
Toolkit
Integrated Library System
Repository
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XC User Interface Customization
Themes
Indexes
Facet definitions
Result Lists
Record Displays
Browse interfaces for specific users/purposes
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XC Drupal Toolkit
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Built on Drupal 6 – upgrade to Drupal 7 is planned
20+ new XC Drupal modules
Software available now on www.drupal.org
Demo site available soon!
Implements a FRBR-based data structure in Drupal
Each FRBR-based metadata record is treated as a
Drupal node
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XC Drupal Toolkit modules
• OAI-PMH harvester module to harvest metadata
from the XC Metadata Services Toolkit
• Separate modules support each metadata schema:
XC Schema and Dublin Core included; others possible
• Storage modules manage both SOLR and mySQL for
storing library metadata
• XC Drupal/SOLR module supports configuration of
searching and faceting
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More XC Drupal Toolkit modules
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NCIP - live circ status, circ requests
Link resolution
Ezproxy
Syndetic Solutions - thumbnails, etc.
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User Research for the
eXtensible Catalog
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XC User Research Partners
Cornell University
Ohio State University
University of Rochester
Yale University
XC User Research Approach
• What articles, books and other resources had
researchers used most recently?
– How did they know the items existed?
– How did they obtain them?
– How did they use them?
• How do they keep current in their fields?
A Few User Research Findings
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User Research Findings
• Users want to choose between versions of a resource,
see relationships between resources
• XC approach:
– Underlying XC metadata is based on FRBR model:
works, expressions, manifestations…
– Eventually: aggregate/group FRBR entities in the
User Interface
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User Research Findings
• Users have preferred material and format types,
depending upon their projects
– Show online materials only
– Exclude microforms
• Users want to know why items appear on a search
result list
– Show keywords in context
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XC User Interface Demo
Translating User Research
Findings into XC Functionality
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Next Steps for XC Software
• All XC toolkits available for download:
www.extensiblecatalog.org
• Enabling record aggregation/FRBR groupings with
grant from The Mellon Foundation via CARLI
(Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in
Illinois)
• Robust, end-to-end discovery system: coming soon!
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www.eXtensibleCatalog.org
jbowen@library.rochester.edu
Thanks to Nancy Fried Foster and David Lindahl for the use of selected slides.
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“View XC Schema”
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Next Steps for XC Software
• All XC toolkits available for download:
www.extensiblecatalog.org
• Enabling record aggregation/FRBR groupings with
grant from The Mellon Foundation via CARLI
(Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in
Illinois)
• Robust, end-to-end discovery system: coming soon!
42
www.eXtensibleCatalog.org
jbowen@library.rochester.edu
Thanks to Nancy Fried Foster and David Lindahl for the use of selected slides.