using unicorn to create e-journal pages bernard scaife – electronic services librarian

Using Unicorn to create e-journal pagesUsing Unicorn to create e-journal pages

EUUG – Amsterdam 2004EUUG – Amsterdam 2004

Bernard Scaife – Electronic Services LibrarianBernard Scaife – Electronic Services Librarian


EUUG – Amsterdam 2004 – Bernard ScaifeEUUG – Amsterdam 2004 – Bernard Scaife

•Background

•Why we did it?

•How we did it?

•Impact

•What we learnt

OverviewOverview

•Objective

•Future development



•UK's national museum of nature, and a centre of scientific excellence in taxonomy and biodiversity.

•We maintain and develop the collections and use them to promote discovery, understanding, responsible use and enjoyment of the natural world

NHM Façade, South Kensington

BackgroundBackground The NHMThe NHM



•5 libraries (4 at South Kensington)

•800,000 monographs

•20,000 serial titles (half current)

•Third largest collection of watercolours in UK.

BackgroundBackground The LibrariesThe Libraries



BackgroundBackground Electronic servicesElectronic services

DATASETS EJOURNALS



BackgroundBackground Electronic JournalsElectronic Journals

1400 in total

550 abstracts / ToCs

850 full text



BackgroundBackground Electronic Services LibrarianElectronic Services Librarian

ESL

Unicorn (50%)

+Electronic services (25%)

+

Web pages (25%)

=

ESGWeb



ObjectiveObjective

•Produce an A-Z listing of full text journals •Branded html pages

•Simple for the end user

•Easy to maintain

•Generated from Unicorn

•Repackaging content



Why we did it.Why we did it. Boosting usageBoosting usage

•Usage

•Athens

•Training© Copyright Eduserv - All rights reserved. UK Registered Charity No. 1079456



Why we did it.Why we did it. Removing barriersRemoving barriers

•Political – internet presence needed

•Content Management System

•Branding



Why we did it.Why we did it. Just use Unicorn?Just use Unicorn?

•WebCat and DDA issue

JAWS 5.0

•iLink - funding




•Simplicity?




•Gateway setup



How we did itHow we did it

•Use Sirsi seltools to query dbase

Export from UnicornExport from Unicorn

Selitem –t “EJOURNAL”

Catalogdump -of

•Save to a file on server



How we did itHow we did it Export from UnicornExport from Unicorn

A record

A field



How we did itHow we did it ConversionConversion



How we did itHow we did it ConversionConversion

Practical

Extraction and

Reporting

Language

Accessible to librarians?

String manipulation!String manipulation!



How we did itHow we did it ManipulateManipulate

245856

Refined 245 for sorting puposes



How we did itHow we did it Construct web pages [1]Construct web pages [1]

•Separate header file (accessible)

•Global variables: url etc..




•Subheader on each page

•Dependent on letter (no x)

•Links to other pages e.g. a.htm, b.htm etc..




•Subheader on each page

•Column headings

•Direct link (from 856) to target ejournal




•Showing bottom of page and…

•Footer (separate file)



How we did itHow we did it Automatic Scheduling [1]Automatic Scheduling [1]

•To reflect amended 856 details and changing title set.

•ejour_fulltext.pl : all-in-one

•Seltools: precede by “system” command

•Incorporate various “includes”

•Call the manipulation and html file creation scripts



How we did itHow we did it Automatic Scheduling [2]Automatic Scheduling [2]

•Run from unix cron

•Weekly 8:30am.



ImpactImpact Two issuesTwo issues

•Maintainability

•User feedback



ImpactImpact Maintainability [1]Maintainability [1]

•Unicorn upgrades?

•Add to list of upgrade checks

•Use minimal Sirsi tools

•Good documentation




•Global variables/modules.

•Common modules for reusability

•Global variables for portability

Header Footer

Stopwords

$my_sirsi_tools="/s/sirsi/Unicorn/Bin/";

$my_css_loc="../css/lib.css";

$webcaturl="http://library.nhm.ac.uk/uhtbin/webcat";

$userver="unicorn.nhm.ac.uk";

$nhm_mark="../images/mark2.gif";

$nhmurl="http://www.nhm.ac.uk";

$nhmhomepage="$nhmurl/index.html";

$my_temp="/tmp";




•Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)



ImpactImpact User feedbackUser feedback



What we learntWhat we learnt TipsTips

• A lot of flexibility exists in Unicorn seltools

• Don’t underestimate maintainability issue

• Repackaging “jewels” of content helps discovery and promotion

• Having some understanding of your database helps when designing reports in Unicorn



FutureFuture Further DevelopmentFurther Development

• iLink?

• Script is easily cloneable for various purposes

New acquisitions listings?

• Cataloguing online databases – combined *a-z* of e-resources?

Draw attention to a collection?



Questions?Questions?

using unicorn to create e-journal pages bernard scaife – electronic services librarian

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