Improving the Catalogue Interface using Endeca

Tito SierraNCSU Libraries

Outline

• Motivation• Demo• Technical Overview• Implementation• Stats and Usability• Future Plans

Motivation

• Improve the quality of the library catalogue user experience

• Exploit our existing authority infrastructure (aka make MARC data work harder)

What is Endeca?

• Software company based in Cambridge, MA

• Search and information access technology provider for several major commercial websites

• Developers of the Endeca Information Access Platform

Why Endeca?

• Relevance ranking of results

• Browse

• Improved subject access

• Performance / speed

Demo

Key Features

• Relevance ranking• Faceted browse• True browse• Search comforts

• Spell correction• “Did you mean…”• Stemming• Sort options

Relevance Ranking

Based on an ordering of modules:1. Original query match2. Phrase match3. Field match (tiered)4. Number of fields matched5. Weighted frequency (TF/IDF)6. Publication date descending7. Circulation stats descending

Faceted Browse

• Search and browse in single interface• Layered facet refinement• Filter results across multiple dimensions• Facet deselection

Facet Refinements

• Availability• Author• Library• Format• Language

• New

• LC Classification• Subject: Topic• Subject: Genre• Subject: Region• Subject: Era

True Browse

• Entrypoint into the catalog based on Library of Congress Classification

Search Comforts

• Spell correction• “Did you mean…”• Stemming• Sort options (e.g. publication date, most

popular, call number)

Big Wins

• Relevance ranking• Speed / performance• Locally managed presentation interface• Persistent parameter based entrypoints

QuickTime™ and aGraphics decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Features Not Supported

• Work level aggregations / roll-up

• Customization / personalization

• Folksonomies / user contributed content

• Recommender functionality

• Shopping cart functionality

Technical Overview

• Endeca co-exists with SirsiDynix Unicorn ILS and Web2 online catalog• Endeca handles keyword search•Web2 handles authority search and detail

page display

• Endeca indexes MARC records exported nightly from Unicorn

• Endeca = discovery portion of the ILS

Technical Overview

Raw MARC data

NCSU exports and reformats

Flat text files

Data Foundr

yParse text files

Indices

MDEX Engine

NCSU Web Application

HTTP

HTTP

Information Access Platform

Technical Overview

Raw MARC data

NCSU exports and reformats

Flat text files

Data Foundr

yParse text files

Indices

MDEX Engine

NCSU Web Application

HTTP

HTTP

Offline - Nightly

Technical Overview

Raw MARC data

NCSU exports and reformats

Flat text files

Data Foundr

yParse text files

Indices

MDEX Engine

NCSU Web Application

HTTP

HTTP

Always Online

Implementation Team

• Seven member team• 5 IT staff, 1 cataloging librarian, 1

reference librarian

• Timeline• License / negotiation: Spring 2005• Software acquisition: Summer 2005• Implementation: Aug 2005 to Jan 2006

Implementation Challenges

• Deciding which facets to surface as navigation refinements

• Designing the user interface

• Optimizing the relevance ranking algorithm

• Optimizing the faceted navigation display

Usage Statistics

Navigation by Facet: September 2006

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000

Availability

Language

Subject: Era

Subject: Region

Author

Subject: Genre

Library

Format

LC Classification

Subject: Topic

Usage Statistics

Navigation by Facet: September 2006

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000

Author

Language

Subject: Era

Subject: Region

Library

Format

Subject: Genre

Subject: Topic

LC Classification

Availability

Usage Statistics

Searches by Field Type: September 2006

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

Keyword(default)

Title ISBN Author Subject Multi-Field

Usability Testing

• 10 undergraduate students• 5 with new Endeca-based interface• 5 with old catalog interface

• Data collected• Task difficulty/failure• Task duration

Usability Testing

Task Difficulty: Old Catalog

Easy43%

Medium12%

Hard22%

Failed23%

Usability Testing

Task Difficulty: New Catalog

Easy59%

Medium12%

Hard7%

Failed22%

Usability Testing

Average Task Duration:Old vs New Catalog

00:00.0 00:43.2 01:26.4 02:09.6 02:52.8 03:36.0

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Task 5

Task 6

Task 7

Task 8

Task 9

Task 10

Old CatalogNew Catalog

Post Launch Enhancements

• Relevance ranking tweaks

• Facet organization and labeling improvements

• Backend data cleanup (e.g. global subfield assignment changes)

Future Plans

• Aggregated work display (“roll-up”)

• More browsing options

• Interface improvements and continued usability testing

• Web Services interfaces• Search results in RSS/OpenSearch format•Catalog Availability Web Service

Reflections

• Right tool for right job

• Benefit of small teams

• Local iterative development

• Catalog interface only part of the puzzle

More Information

• “Magnifying the ILS with Endeca,” The Serials Librarian, 51(3/4), 2006.

• “Toward a 21st Century Library Catalog,” Information Technologies and Libraries, 23(3), 2006.

Thanks

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/endeca

Tito SierraDigital Technologies Development Librarian

tito_sierra@ncsu.edu