As we reach the midpoint of the semester, the focus of the Ex Libris project has begun to shift from planning and implementation to maintenance and support. Since its formation, the team has received close to 700 questions, comments, and suggestions on issues ranging from access and authentication to resource management and user interface design. Approximately 75% of tickets were answered in under 12 hours (40% were answered in under 10 minutes!). Thanks to feedback from library users and staff, the team has continued to make improvements to QuickSearch. Some highlights since the last update include:
Improved journal searching
Relevance ranking of one-word journal titles (Nature, Science, Cell, etc.) has been improved, making these publications easier to locate using the Journal Search option
Browse options restored
The ability to browse library materials by title, author, and subject has been restored. (These options were disabled at the start of the semester due to a software bug.)
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Suggestions have been added to the bottom of the search results page to help users improve or expand their search. Suggestions vary depending on the type of search performed and include links to external borrowing services such as E-ZBorrow and Interlibrary Loan.
System alerts
System alerts have been added to allow for improved communication of service disruptions and outages.
Improved facet and summary holdings display
The formatting of long facets and summary holdings statements has been improved by allowing them to wrap to the next line instead of truncating them.
Next/previous record
When viewing a record, users can navigate to the next or previous record without having to return to the search results page.
Translation of foreign language serial titles
English translations of foreign language serial titles now appear in the main title entry of the brief and full record display.
Firefox bug fix
There was a bug in Firefox that produced different results depending on whether a search was executed by clicking the search button or pressing enter. This has been fixed.
Since going live in June, QuickSearch has clocked over 470,000 sessions and handled roughly 850,000 queries. Though transaction logs are useful for measuring usage, they don’t tell us how well a product meets the needs of its users. That’s why, in November, we’ll be conducting a universitywide usability study to learn more about how library patrons use QuickSearch. Students and faculty from all four campuses have been invited to participate and share their thoughts on the new interface. Findings from the study will be used to guide further enhancements to QuickSearch and improve the overall user experience.
