Philosophy and tools for simplifying the user experience in the changing scholarly information landscape.

Libraries are not without tools for making things easier, however. Link resolvers have greatly simplified the task of locating the full-text of books and journal articles. MetaSearch systems can greatly simplify access to many of the library’s resources by giving users the ability to select and search multiple databases simultaneously. Together, these systems can provide the simple entry point our users expect to find when first using the library.

SFX

Cal State first implemented SFX, the link resolver developed by Ex Libris, in 2002. Prior to SFX, when a student found an abstract of a journal article in one of the library’s databases, he or she had to do another separate search in the library catalog to see if the library owned the journal in order to find and read the article itself. A full-text version of the article might exist online in another database (a more convenient option), but finding it would require navigating an electronic journal list and searching for the article in the appropriate database. If the library did not have a subscription to the journal, the student had to manually request a photocopy via interlibrary loan. It was at best a complicated, time-consuming process; at worst, it was too complex even to be attempted by undergraduate students, who then settle for the quickest thing they could find.

SFX solves this problem by linking the library’s various information resources together. Now when a student finds a journal article in a database that has been SFX-enabled, he or she will see a button that, when clicked, brings up a menu with links to all the places that article is available in their library. Ideally, it will provide a direct link to the full-text of the article in another database. If that is not available, it will provide a link to the library catalog showing the location of the print version. And if the library does not own that, it will bring-up an interlibrary loan form with the article information already pre-filled. What previously took hours of extra effort is now accomplished with just a few mouse clicks, allowing students to focus their efforts more on research and writing and less on simply finding the appropriate copy of an article or book.

This year, the Chancellor’s Office has begun a number of new initiatives aimed at improving SFX. Libraries can take advantage of new template files that greatly simplify and improve the SFX interface. A new set of modules can also better integrate a library’s print holdings into SFX, pass a much fuller set of data from SFX to your interlibrary loan system, flag dissertations, and link users to ERIC documents.

Metalib

Metalib, the MetaSearch application in use in the CSU since 2003, can broadcast a user’s query to a group of remote databases, translating that querying into the appropriate protocol and syntax for each resource. Metalib then retrieves and merges the top results from each database, presenting them to the user with options to sort the records by relevance, date, author, or title. Users appreciate the time savings reaped from such a system, as well as the advantages of having to learn only one interface.

To get the most out of Metalib, Cal State libraries have been actively designing and developing custom MetaSearch systems. Using Metalib’s application programming interface, known as the X-Server, the Chancellor’s Office and a number of campuses have been at the forefront of developing new systems that greatly improve on the standard Metalib interface. This allows us to not only make Metalib easier to use, but also allows us to build in new functionality, such as spell checking queries or flagging peer-reviewed articles. Cal State libraries are now using these applications to drive their database lists and seamlessly add MetaSearch capabilities to their existing websites. The Chancellor’s Office is looking to leverage this technology to create an ambitious table of contents alerting service, as well as use it as the center piece in the integration of library and learning management systems.

We know from usage statistics that making the library’s various systems easier to use will in fact increases usage. In the academic year ending in June 2005, Cal State students and faculty accessed SFX over 4.5 million times. In the nearly five years since SFX first became available, interlibrary loan requests for journal articles increased by 20 percent, largely because of the ease with which users are able to easily submit complete and accurate interlibrary loan requests for journal articles.

As libraries compete for student and faculty attention amidst a dynamic and competitive information landscape, MetaSearch systems and link resolvers can greatly simplify the complex world of online scholarly resources. If your library website is hard to use, it will be hardly used. SFX and Metalib, and the work CSU libraries are now doing to make those systems better, can make a big difference.