The User Services Task Force Meeting Report

December 6, 2000

The User Services Task Force met at CSU headquarters on December 6, 2000. We discussed the need to complete a checklist of PHAROS 1.0 functionality and outstanding issues.  Paul distributed a template he developed for testing search functionality and response time.  LaVonne agreed to draft a checklist of tasks to be completed.  A draft of that checklist was completed in January for the Management Team meeting on January 19th.   We were reminded that iPAC will be in general release in a few months -- changes to WebPAC should be kept to a minimum.  We do not know, as yet, if any of our  customizing on WebPAC can be readily rolled over to iPAC.

FEEDBACK NEEDED:

The Management Team has asked us to determine which tasks are imperative before rolling out 1.0 at the remaining campuses. Send your feedback to LaVonne by Monday, Feb. 12.

At the time of the meeting, the PHAROS servers at the pilot campuses were in various stages of progress in their local development.  Members were encouraged to continue "kicking the tires" to find bugs or other changes that are needed.

Much of the rest of the meeting was spent viewing the screens and hearing reports from each pilot site related to those screens.  LaVonne later summarized the identified tasks and forwarded them to Marvin and Jessica Hartwigsen.  Many of these changes have been made, some are waiting on graphics assistance or Epixtech.  Highlights follow:

FEEDBACK NEEDED:

It was suggested that the style sheets be changed to mandate that links be underlined -- this would assist novice searchers. Send your feedback to LaVonne by Monday, Feb. 12.

We recommended that the Advanced Search and Multisource Search lists of resources be subdivided (Databases section, then Library Catalogs section below) and alphabetized by column (up and down rather than across rows). This is extremely time-consuming to modify. This will be left as a local option.

Boolean searches done by filling in the search boxes do not execute properly.  (This works better in the newest version of  iPAC that I tried today.)   After extensive discussion, we changed the terminology on the search screens that a user toggles between (from standard/boolean to advanced/combined).  We also recommended that the number of search boxes be reduced to two.

Some wishes we can't have:

• In the CSU Catalog, the holdings list for journal titles cannot be  restricted to just those libraries that own the journal.
• In the CSU Catalog, check a title such as "Huckleberry Finn" --  title browse does not (and cannot be changed) to distinguish among the titles (by format or other distinguishing feature).
• at the time of the meeting, the system cannot do phrase searches.  (again, the newest iPAC release is ok)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• InfoComp -- the rest of the in-context help will wait until the next version of PHAROS.
• Subject Pages -- don't spend too much time on them (see note about WebPAC's short life span)
• RSS -- the ICS task force is discussing partial implementation (for example, books only).  The" CSU users may request" functions should be suppressed when not in use.
• Kill the animated .gif on the "thank you for waiting" message
• Add text to blank screens seen while waiting for multisource results to load
• Remove << and >> from Previous & Next; spell out Previous  --  DONE
• Now:  "Request Item" button - Comment it out in databases until RSS will handle articles; leave in library catalogs.
• Later:  In databases, move the "Request Item" button to place it above "locate library holdings" box. [ The list of libraries is selected locally and unrelated to which libraries actually have the journal.]
• In The CSU Catalog, holdings display screens for journal titles -- add a button for "Results List"
• ERIC Databases (all campuses will want this):  Place the 035 MARC field at the top of the record; followed by.  In SFSU
• PHAROS, please place 037 (availability notes) right below it.
• URL Help needed with regard to links that don't work (because local library isn't authorized)
• In catalogs, add subfields to the 245 title field - see Huckleberry Finn example in the CSU Catalog -- need to distinguish similar titles.
• On the Advanced and MultiSource screens for selecting search tools, add a sub-heading for Databases like the one for Library Catalogs.
• Advanced Search -- two search options - terminology changes:
•         Default to the "search types" option (already does so)
•         Change wording on first blue bar to "Advanced Search:  Enter Search Terms"
•         Change option to toggle to boolean to "Combined Search"  (instead of 'advance search')
•         Boolean Screen --
•                 Change blue bar to "Combined Search:  combine terms using AND, OR or AND NOT"
•                 Change option to toggle back to search types screen to "Advanced Search"   (instead of 'simple searc

• BUG note:  PHAROS Home link on pages with  "Return to MultiSource Results" banner links to correct page but leaves the "Return to..." banner.
• BUG note:  Full Display (after EBSCO search) -- buttons below the Holdings at: line - E-mail works but doesn't have an alt tag; other button is a broken icon (save?)
• BUG note:  Campus specific connection notes in the 856 field are a problem in the CSU Catalog - for example, "Access restricted to CSUN IP address"  is not literally true; it depends on whether the local library also subscribes.