August 2009 Archives

Deep Web Content

By bobrobboy on August 31, 2009 11:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Libraries subscribe to databases of content, like you and I might subscribe to a newspaper or a magazine. Like us, libraries buy these subscriptions based their interests or the interests of their communities.

A medical library at a university might pay for access to highly specialized content about surgical techniques, but that access is limited to their students, staff and professors. A public library might subscribe to a database that provides environmental or business regulation data for their entrepreneurial and business communities. This content is hidden deep within subscription-based Web sites that require authorization. The content is seldom exposed in Web searches, but your library can make some of this hidden content available to you.

Libraries that have set up access to their subscription databases on WorldCat.org, enable their users to search these hidden, licensed databases as well as the print, audio and video collections in the library all at one time. If your library is doing this, you have access to a lot of deep Web content. But the rest of us do not.

And that is the topic of a panel discussion that OCLC has proposed for the 2010 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. We've submitted a proposal for a panel on "Discovery, Identity and Rights: Three Deep Web Problems." But we need YOUR "thumbs-up" in order to increase the odds of our proposal being selected.

The selection process closes on Friday, Sept. 4 so please take a moment to visit the SXSW PanelPicker and give us a thumbs up: http://bit.ly/vuPu5. You'll be asked to register, but it's a very simple process.

Help us and a panel of licensing, business and identity experts answer the question: "What if you could search all of the content available to you?"

The week in tweets (8/21/09 - 8/27/09)

By Andy on August 28, 2009 9:27 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Twitter messages from the @OCLC account between Friday, August 21 and Thursday, August 27 2009.

Good news for WorldCat Affiliates: an API for all

By Alice Sneary on August 26, 2009 1:34 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

For those developer/tech-oriented among us, we have some good news.
worldcatsearchapi badge.jpgWorldCat Search API enhanced
The WorldCat Search API now enables developers to limit the results returned to an individual library, without authentication.

With this functionality enhancement, the eligibility requirements for the WorldCat Search API have also been updated.

NB: ALL 200+ current WorldCat Search API WSKeys will remain active through at least September 1, 2010. This eligibility change should affect very few future requests for service. In addition, there is even more good news if your library doesn't currently qualify--or if you're a developer who is not connected to a library.

WorldCat Basic API planned
As much as we love WorldCat.org, we've wanted to provide an additional general Web service to WorldCat for a long time now. So we're very excited that later this year you'll have access to a simple API into WorldCat that anyone and everyone in the world can use, for noncommercial use. Called the WorldCat Basic API, it will provide a mashable access point for lightweight apps built by developers who may or may not have ties to the library community.

Sign up for the monthly e-mail updates to hear when WorldCat Basic API is available, and start planning your apps now!

The week in tweets

By Andy on August 21, 2009 1:55 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
In addition to being a blogger here, I'm also one of the team members who posts tweets to OCLC's Twitter account. If you'd like to follow us, we're @OCLC (not surprisingly).

Despite Twitter's growing popularity, though, some people prefer to get their online news in other formats, of course, including blogs. Since some of the links we post from Twitter might be interesting to readers of the WorldCat Blog, we thought we would try copying them from there to here once a week. If folks think it's useful, we'll keep doing it.

OCLC Tweets from August 14 - August 20, 2009 (in reverse chronological order; most recent to least).

Nancy Pearl's Mysteries You May have Missed on NPR

By Alice Sneary on August 20, 2009 11:47 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of America's most well-known librarians, Nancy Pearl, had a segment on today's NPR Morning Edition. (Listen to the audio and get excepts.) She was giving a list of mysteries you might have overlooked earlier this summer. So in case you need one more beach read--one more long, lazy summer weekend in the hammock before school starts again--we've captured her list as a WorldCat list. (Nancy Pearl's Mysteries on NPR). Here they are:

What is your favorite mystery? Or mystery series?

New Search for a Library feature provides location, maps & visibility

By Laura on August 17, 2009 1:44 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

searchforalibrary1.jpg

A library search feature is now available to WorldCat users. Users can search for libraries by name/keyword, location or zip/postal code - and refine their search results by library type, such as Public Library or Academic Library (results via the "Library type" filter on the top-right of the results set).

The order of library search results will vary depending on the type of search that is conducted:
- If 'zip /postal code' is used to search, libraries in that code will be returned. The results will be ordered by proximity to the zip/postal code center.
Please note: At this time, the WorldCat library search is unable to include libraries in nearby cities and in some cases nearby zip/postal codes- enhancements to this feature are planned in the near future.

- If library name/ keyword is used to search, results will be ordered alphabetical by all libraries with that search term in the library name.

- If specific location search is used, such as 'city, state'; results will be listed alphabetical by library name within that location.

Google Maps have also been integrated into the experience to make it easier to find a library near you.


* Note to library staff: The WorldCat Library search is powered by WorldCat Registry data. If your library's info is not appearing the way you'd like it to for users, please update your WorldCat Registry profile.

Top 20 Most-Viewed Items for July

By Bob Schulz on August 7, 2009 3:54 PM |

The July top 20 list in its entirety. Noteworthy changes below.

New to the List

Gone from the Top 20 (with June ranking)

WorldCat Local usability studies - summary of findings

By Christie on August 4, 2009 2:13 PM |

Recently, at the American Library Association (ALA) conference, one of my colleagues, Arnold Arcolio, gave a presentation about the WorldCat Local usability studies we've done over the past two years. Most of these studies were conducted in collaboration with partner libraries who piloted WorldCat Local. We've decided to make this summary of findings available on the oclc.org website for anyone:

http://www.oclc.org/worldcatlocal/usability

If you have any questions or comments regarding this summary, please contact Arnold at arnold_arcolio@oclc.org.

What's next?

We are continuing to usability test WorldCat Local and to make improvements to the application based on customer and user feedback we receive through various channels. Our most recent usability testing is being completed at academic and public libraries in Illinois. A few of the concepts we're looking at involve improvements to the search results pages and library filtering, improvements to the search of multiple databases in one interface for metasearching, and improvements to the display of electroinc access on the item record pages.


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