Library Metasearch
####Create a Unified Interface to Browse All Internal and External Reference Descriptions
##Background
The AMNH library holds an extensive collection of publications and archives. Most of the resources can be found in catalogs available online. Additionally, the Museum’s publications are available in full text in the library’s digital repository. The Digital Special Collections holds thousands of images from digitized photographic negatives, archives and rare books. To support archive materials and primary resources, the library has been creating entity records of museum expeditions and expedition personnel, departments, permanent halls, and temporary exhibitions. These entity records provide general descriptions offering context and sometimes links to related resources in the museum.
All of these resources combined provide a rich history of the museum itself through its staff, scientific research and expeditions or exhibitions and special events. To find this material efficiently, a user has to know where to search for a particular asset. For instance, a search for digitized images should be done using the Omeka public interface. Primary materials are found in our ArchivesSpace catalog of archives and special collections. The library's online catalog in Sierra contains the majority of the library’s holdings, but descriptions are limited.
Links to external databases can be entered manually in any one system but it would be great to VIRTUALLY BROWSE ALL OF OUR DESCRIPTIONS USING A SINGLE INTERFACE.
Similar to the example from a Google search pictured below, the library wants to dynamically pull data into a visually appealing info sheet displaying relevant images and basic data with links to fuller descriptions. In other words, we want something that can generate a page “on the fly”.
All of these separate systems have their own public interface for searching and retrieving information. While some data may be duplicated in systems (e.g., finding aid data in ArchivesSpace also has a corresponding bibliographic record in Sierra), a user has to choose a system to navigate to find what they are looking for. Many times, a user will repeat the same search in another portal. It is important to describe the material using the most appropriate standards for the format; however, a user has to understand our particular library landscape in order to search the right tool.
DYNAMIC
- We don’t want yet another system to manage, but we do want this tool to access the live versions of existing databases
- Generate related search queries, can be built upon search histories or inferred relationship based on content of materials being sourced; like a “You may also like” category?
- Way to refine within a search; can the search strings be saved to develop some learned behavior? People who searched “X” also searched “Y”?
VISUAL
- Display snippets of information with a link to expand, or link to external documentation.
- User-friendly display (mobile-friendly?)
- Designed to be visually appealing, organizing a lot of information that is easy to read and navigate
FACETED SEARCHING & SEARCH BY CONCEPT
- An interface with dynamically generated results that are based on concepts such as: Person, Expedition, Exhibition, Halls, Temp Hall, Departments
- Have categories listed for faceted searching. [Example] (http://apps.webofknowledge.com/Search.do?product=ZOOREC&SID=4CxUd16h9NMBI74ytYx&search_mode=GeneralSearch&prID=12c1a00e-2b69-40ee-a7b4-da755691ea4c)
- This can use controlled list of names -- working document
DISPLAY SOURCE INFO
- Information can be generated from metadata in catalogs and content from digitized publications
- Possible to grab relevant images and text from museum publication pdfs?
PRIVACY
- Have levels of access for public vs internal museum vs library staff use
- This would be needed for certain databases (Central Archives) or sensitive content that we shouldn’t make public (images, personal data).
SUPPORT TRACKING AND/OR ANALYTICS?
Public, librarians and archivists, researchers, staff
Note: This tool will help users find a broad range of library holdings when doing a search. A user can drill down to specific databases in order to see further descriptions (descriptive metadata, basically) on a particular asset, but this is not a tool for finding detailed information. For that, see “Keyword in Context (Mai)”.
