I’m finally getting around to watching a webinar entitled “Data, Discovery, Readers, and Records – ER&L 2014 In Review” presented by Electronic Resources and Libraries and Library Journal.
Here is the description from the webinar website: “Managing e-resources, developing collections, evaluating user behavior, and making e-content accessible is equal parts challenge and opportunity. This free LJ webcast, developed by Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L), offers attendees a brief look at user’s expectations, how e-content is presented to our users, what we need from our vendor partners to make e-content accessible, and tools to better analyze our user data. ”
The webinar was divided into four main sections.
Why Users Won’t Jump Through Library E-Book Hoops and How to Fix It
This presenter makes a compelling case for why current access methods to ebooks are bonkers. People expect an intuitive and easy to use interface and librarians tends to expect users to learn and master complicated interfaces instead. Her solution – work directly with publishers to established Demand Driven Access to ebooks with no-DRM is certainly a step in the right direction. I wonder if the “ebook hoops” would extend to library workflows as well – setting up contracts with many publishers, loading MARC records from a number of different sources, and monitoring usage is a daunting task that would stress the staff at most libraries!
Using Data Refinement Tools to Improve User Experience
These presenters collected
- Discovery layer search terms
- Database Usage
- Link Resolver Statistics
- Website Analytics and Usability.
They don’t collect Proxy Stat, Gate Count, Circulation by Patron. Success went from 80% to 90%; used weekly or once a month. They use Excel, OpenRefine, TextSTAT, Google Analytics.
They discovered some “bad” searches (“bad” from a librarians point of view – I’m trying to avoid blaming the users!) and decided that the best way was to clean up those searches using a program them developed. Basic stuff including sending people directly to the searched URL, linking to library hours, the writing center, etc. More advanced cleaning involved parsing APA citation data to extract just the title; this increases the odds of a positive result. They also added “Best Bets” in Summon based on known user searching.
Librarian Adoption of Web-Scale Discovery Services
This session was really titled “Garbage Dump or Buffet” that was a panel discussion at ERL 2014. Why Discovery? To compete with Google and to break down silos.
This presenters conclusion was the discovery in the new systems wasn’t perfect, but that it met the needs of the community.
Where Do MARC Records for eBooks Come From?
How do we purchase ebooks: single titles (firm order, DDA purchase, approval), publisher collections, aggregator collections. This presentation focused on the difficulty of adding MARC records from a number of sources. This mad me (1) grateful that most of our MARC cataloging comes from YBP and (2) motivated to check to confirm that I’m not missing updates from other providers!
Conclusion
Overall, this webinar was good and informative. It presented interesting information that either confirmed my ideas (about MARC cataloging and the adequacy of Web-Scale Discovery Services) and/or provided new perspectives on issues in electronic resource management in libraries. Overall, it was very well done!