Laundry list for NGC (long post) -- How does Koha measure up?

Amy,

Thanks for such a great list. Out of curiosity I compared the
functionality you describe to the some of the current functionality of
Koha ZOOM's new search engine (Koha was the first open-source ILS). Here's what
I came up with:

On Tue, Dec 12, 2006 at 10:00:54AM -0600, Amy Ostrom wrote:
>    *I want it all in one place with option to see more or less (if it's on a
>    booklist let me know, if it has reviews let me see them, put it all in the
>    same place; if the library has it in audio and book format, put it in the
>    same record!, seriously, if one type isn't in, I'll take another format -
>    I don't want to click on 15 records just to find something; I also want to
>    be able to hide some stuff if it is too cluttered)
Right, so this is a biggie. Koha's had a concept of a 'metarecord' since
version 1.0. Give this a shot:

http://www.library.org.nz.
Search on "harry potter and the chamber of secrets"

The item record:
http://www.library.org.nz/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?bib=35551
contains several material types: Video, DVD, Fiction, Talking Book, etc.

When you go to place a reserve, it'll ask you whether you care about the
material type or not ... if you don't it'll just pull the next avaialble
one.

>    *I want descriptions, dangit!  And why does no software exist for
>    integrating series information in the catalog??  I want to know what the
>    next book is!  (nothing like clicking on something you think you know what
>    it is, and then it really isn't.  I HATE that for something I might be
>    interested in, I have to go to Amazon first to find anything)
So ... how about having Amazon.com descriptions in your catalog ... and
how about having them downloaded in real time as you pull up the record?
Amazon licenses this material for free under its Associates and
Developer programs.

Here's what that looks like using Koha ZOOM's Amazon module:

http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/bib/158735

Heck, why limit yourself to descriptions, take a look at the ratings and
reviews as well. And while you're at it, might as well click on the
image which takes you directly to the book itself so you can read it
online.

>    *I want to see related/similar materials (I want a smarter version of
>    http://www.literature-map.com/, either to graphically display the
>    closeness of the book/author, or to at least list what others think are
>    close)
Very cool idea. How about this implementation:
http://library.neu.edu.tr/cgi-bin/koha/opac-main.pl

Do a search on 'harry potter' and then click on any of the links in the 'Shelf'
column -- you should get a popup with a map and even some little
animated arrows to show you how to get to the shelf.

>    *I want to make wishlists and my own booklists (heck, if I read an awesome
>    series, I want to let others see these books if they share similar tastes;
>    also I may not have time to read right now, but doesn't mean I want to
>    forget a book I found that might be worth reading later)
Right, so in Koha this is done with a feature called 'virtual shelves'.
You can add as many shelves to your account as you want, and can make
them visible to others or keep them to yourself. Librarians can also
make lists that everyone can see. Have a look:

http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/cgi-bin/koha/opac-shelves.pl

Of course, to create your own you'd have to log in, etc ...

>    *I want pictures!  (I am visual, I'll know it's the right book if I can
>    see it first; I want to see a sample of of the content as well, but would
>    settle for a description)
http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/search?q=harry+potter

The images are pulled from Amazon.com under the same agreement as
mentioned above.

>    *I want suggested searches and ways to narrow or broaden the search I made
>    (if I can't remember the name or misspell it, I want it to act like Amazon
>    and pull up suggested spellings or related searches, also broken down by
>    category)
So ... notice the faceted results in the above query. You can use them
to refine your search.

There is also a link at the top 'limit to currently available items'.

Also, check out the re-sort options on the right-hand top of the results
page, you can even resort by popularity!

Spellchecking ... the system automatically incorporates a fuzzy operator
into every query so that catches most spelling errors. There's a backup
spellcheck in case the fuzzy operator didn't catch anything, here's what
that looks like:

http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/search?q=neeel+stephenson

>    *I want the search to pull up the RIGHT materials (rank by popularity
>    would work better than what item was last cataloged; Amazon is very good
>    with its algorithm, it's not that hard to replicate - we can record how
>    many times a record was viewed and how many times it was checked out, we
>    know its publication date, we know its format, why can't we organize the
>    search better?)
Yea, this is a biggie. Koha ZOOM's results algorithm has been fine-tuned
based on library specifications. This means we actually sat down with a
bunch of librarians and did walked through some searches to see how they
wanted the system to behave. Here are some examples:

Single word titles:
http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/search?q=it
http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/search?q=the

Series titles:
http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/search?q=the+baroque+cycle

In the case of Athens County, they didn't want popularity to be included
in the rank, but they did want it to be available as a re-sort option.
But ultimately, how the search should work is up to the library.

>    *I want an RSS feed for new items based on a search query (heck yeah I
>    want to know what just came in without going to the catalog every day so I
>    can get my hold on it ASAP, but I don't want to know EVERY item that is
>    purchased, only what I am looking for; great for current awareness as
>    well)
So what you want is RSS feeds on search criteria. Hmmm ... well that's
pretty simple, Koha uses OpenSearch for that. Have a look:

http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/search?q=neal+stephenson

(look for the little RSS icon after 'currently available items' ... it's
an RSS feed of whatever search you just did ...) So you could do a
search on say, the latest DVDs, then copy that RSS feed link into your
RSS reader and it would track if anything on that list changed.

There's a separate RSS feature unrelated to OpenSearch that just tracks
the latest items added to the collection. The Northland College uses
this here: https://libcat.nbbc.edu/ (check the 'RSS Feed of Recently
Acquired Items' link at the bottom of the page).

>    *I want to see the newly available items, especially in DVDs, CDs, and
>    games (not just an RSS feed out, but actually on the site!)
How about a sort based on date acquired that you can turn into a link to
put on your website:

http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us (look for the link on the
right-hand side 'See Our Newest DVDs')

>    *I want to know how long the wait list is, in days and or queue location
>    (if it's too long, I'll just go buy the item)
Very cool idea. Koha ZOOM does tell you where you are in the queue and
when the item is due back ... but I suppose it would require a bit of
trickiness to calculate how long you'd have to wait if you weren't the
next in the list ... hmmm, I'll give that some thought.

>    *I want permalinks, so I can link to a book from my blog to the catalog
>    instead of to amazon or remember easily how to get back to it without
>    running the search again (I am all about promoting the library, but Amazon
>    is better than the library could ever be with marketing and promoting,
>    let's take their example!)
How about permalinks by record ID or ISBN:

http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/bib/16595
http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/isbn/0375502246

>    *It would be awesome to create my custom display, so I see what I want in
>    the color I like (okay, it's a stretch, but it's all about customizing and
>    personalizing these days)
Hehe ... yea, stay tuned for this one. We're implementing a stylesheet
switcher that will allow you to change the color on the fly ...

What would be really slick is to re-implement the OPAC using one of the
available UI libraries (like Yahoo's maybe), that would allow the user
to actually move items around on the screen, etc. ... I'll give that
some thought as well.

>    *I want a map to show me the general shelf I might find my item (so many
>    times an item was pulled out of the general collection and I pull my hair
>    out in frustration)
See the link I posted above about the shelf location map ...

>    *I want a library where I only have to sign in once, ONCE! (in my library
>    catalog, every time I place a hold I have to enter my information; I log
>    on, and I get signed out after maybe ten minutes of idleness - I'm
>    probably surfing Amazon to find the RIGHT book...)
Koha's session management takes care of that. You sign in once, it remembers
who you are. It even has the amazon-style 'click here if you're not So
and So'.

>    *I want to be able to turn on alerts for things like service outages, due
>    dates, and overdues with quick access to renew, let alone modify my
>    account profile and add password hints... (people are very forgetful)
Libraries can turn these on globally. Off the top of my head we've got:

  * overdue notices via email or RSS
  * hold request status via email or RSS
  * due dates warnings via email or RSS

You can also (of course) place holds, renew items online, check your
account balance (and soon you'll be able to pay it with paypal).

It would be really slick to allow a patron to turn on alerts, etc on their account.

>    So, from these wants, here is a basic (non-comprehensive) list of features
>    we need to build a better catalog:
>
>    1.  XML format
>    2.  More (and better) content
>    3.  More pictures
>    4.  Smarter search engine
>    5.  RSS on the fly
>    6.  Commenting!!  Commenting!!
>    7.  User accounts
>    8.  Single sign-in
>    9.  User created lists/content
>    10. Permalinks
>    11. FRBR 2.0
>    12. Highly customizable interface
>    13. Highly user-friendly account settings/options
>    14. Smart spell-check aka related spelling/search terms
>    15. Organizable search results
>
>    So for those who aren't very technical and are kind of freaking out about
>    the grocery list, the basic configurations should still be in tact with
>    ability to enable the customization tools.  I am tired of code that is
>    falling apart, personally, and I would love to have a "skin" collection
>    similar to MySpace, where you can pick or share your theme (with small
>    customizations for name, etc), so the smaller libraries can also have a
>    pretty catalog.  Or even being able to share the customized configuration
>    files without loss of security?  Seems like the world, but aren't we
>    paying a fortune for these systems?
The skin idea is fantastic. I'd love to explore that with Koha ...

Since you brought up payment, I'll just take this opportunity to say
that all of the features I've reviewed above were sponsored by libraries
who, at one point or another, had the same idea you did. Most of the
libraries I've cited don't even have a tech staff implementing these
features, they hired Koha companies to create the features and contribute
them back to the community.

I should also mention that Koha's search engine is built on top of Zebra
(http://indexdata.dk/zebra), an open-source indexing engine, and that in
addition to the amazing flexibility in terms of search options, it can
easily scale to tens of millions of records with no performance loss.

Anyway, thanks for the list, it was fun filling in the answers .
There's a lot more functionality in Koha ZOOM but that's probably best
saved for another email.

Cheers,

--
Joshua Ferraro                       SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
President, Technology       migration, training, maintenance, support
LibLime                                Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS
jmf <at> liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS