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Initial Report May 22, 1997
Prepared by: |
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Introduction
At the outset, it is important to say that, in the initial implementation of WebLUIS, FCLA has operated, and is operating with two basic goals. A) As much as possible of the existing functionality of the NOTIS/LUIS system should be preserved and where possible, enhanced. Any functionality lost
should be restored as soon as possible. B) Sufficient resemblance to the existing NOTIS/LUIS system should be retained so that neither existing library staff nor users would need retraining to use it.
The report is divided into the following sections:
It is also seems important to mention here that all long term development will be affected by any decision that may be made to abandon the NOTIS/LUIS/WebLUIS system in favor of some alternative that may exist (or may come to exist). Obviously, if another system is chosen based on the perceived desirability of its user interface and its adaptability to our Digital Library initiatives, local development efforts will change (to conversion of data, creation of means to recover lost functionality which will likely occur on both the tech and public side, etc.) If another system would be chosen more for its technical side strengths, further development of the Web interface might be necessary in which case the design principles suggested in this report for WebLUIS development might serve as a guide. A decision to retain the current system and focus on enhancing it significantly for the Web environment would result in yet another work plan. Resolving this fundamental issue of the system to be used in the future needs to be a very high priority
Scope of Activities
From the beginning we also attempted to make a clear distinction in our discussions between the concepts of "search engine" and "user interface" - and to restrict our efforts to "user interface" issues at this time. Briefly, "search engine" refers to the underlying search capabilities of a system, while "user interface" refers to the "presentation" of those capabilities and search results to the system end user. The LUIS search engine, for example, currently has two user interfaces (terminal LUIS and WebLUIS) which, while similar in appearance, are not the same. While there may be suggestions for further enhancements of the "engine" in the future, the many enhancements during the past decade have made the search engine itself quite powerful. The priority at this time is seen as evaluating options for "presentation", and not for the "engine" itself.
I. Short Term Development of WebLUIS
While the "WebPortal" interface became available in Summer, 1996 to enable staff and users to begin accessing LUIS in the Web environment (including providing links to the newly-available full text of some journal articles in General Academic and Business indexes), "WebLUIS" itself was not really introduced until late November and was not "released" until early January, 1997. The initial interface was conceived to closely resemble the familiar terminal LUIS product "look and feel" (partly to avoid having to train users on multiple interfaces), while adding the ability to navigate the system by clicking Web links. Links to the full text of some periodical articles and, within library catalogs, to other web pages whose URL is entered in the 856 field of bibliographic records were the other primary "values added" with initial implementation. Access via Web browsers has also meant that some people can now gain easier access to LUIS resources without additional telecommunications software.
As the Task Force began discussions, it seemed that the focus of our (and FCLA's) initial efforts needed to be on stabilizing and enhancing the product as it was initially conceived (rather than on immediately developing a major re-design). Providing a fully functional system first was considered a much higher priority than diverting resources to move in a very different direction. With that in mind, here is a list of changes that have occurred since initial implementation (and a list of current development activities):
B. Presentation
C. Functionality
D. Digital Library Initiatives
E. Currently Being Worked On
F. Other Known problems
II. Medium Term Development Possibilities
As the short term development described above unfolds and system reliability/stability is achieved along with an increasingly functional user interface, additional development may be undertaken that is characterized here as "medium term". This means that the basic presentation of LUIS search results continues to approximate the current WebLUIS system, but that some enhancements are made to take advantage of the greater flexibility of the Web environment. Following are some of the possibilities:
* It is recognized that some institutions may wish to have the WebLUIS Home Page at
http://www.fcla.edu serve a larger role in their organization of access to Web resources than others instead of creating and maintaining a local Web structure.
III. Long Term Development Possibilities
As previously mentioned, our focus to date has been on further developing and "tweaking" the WebLUIS product as originally conceived so that it can be considered throughout the SUS as a viable alternative to terminal LUIS. FCLA efforts in that direction during recent months have been detailed above. We have also given some attention to the medium term development possibilities. While we have begun formulating additional ideas for longer term development of the WebLUIS interface by beginning to review other library catalogs on the Web (as well as interfaces provided by other database services) to see what works well and might be applied in our future development, this review is not yet complete. Shown below are some of the issues involved in this development along with some tentative "design guidelines" that need to factor into our own design. This section is divided into A) WebLUIS Interface Possibilities, B) Digital Library Possibilities, and C) Technical Services Possibilities.
Special Note: It is important to mention that all long term development will be affected by any decision that may be made to abandon the NOTIS/LUIS/WebLUIS system in favor of some alternative that may exist (or may come to exist). Obviously, if another system is chosen based on the perceived effectiveness of its user interface and its adaptability to our Digital Library initiatives, local development efforts will change (to conversion of data, creation of means to recover lost functionality which will likely occur on both the tech and public side, etc.) If another system would be chosen more for its technical side strengths, further development of the Web interface might be necessary in which case the design principles developed for WebLUIS development might serve as a guide.
As other Web sites of particular merit are identified, links will be made on the Task Force Home page at http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/weblu.html
The Task Force has not focused to any significant extent on this area since this is generally believed to be more the purview of the SUS Electronic Collections Committee. However, in addition to contracting with commercial vendors for access to full text and other resources via remote Web link (or via local mounting and web access such as in the Elsevier Journals project for UF, USF, and FSU), we would encourage SUS institutional initiatives to identify and digitize unique resources that can be preserved and made widely available (perhaps even for a fee in some cases). Several examples of local projects may be previewed at http://karamelik.eastlib.ufl.edu/ (the UF Libraries' Preservation Department Home Page). NOTE: A listserv (SUSDIGIT-L) has recently been established for discussion of digitization issues in the SUS).
A major issue that will be increasingly important as more resources are delivered electronically is that of providing, insofar as possible, a common interface to those resources. While it is unlikely that all resources can be made accessible in a common way, we should look for opportunities (e.g. Z39.50) to help our users function as easily as possible.
C. Technical Services
The Task Force has not discussed this area of possible future development. However, the need to insure a stable, fast, environment for performing basic library staff operations likely means that shifting to Web processing where there are inherently more problems than in our NOTIS terminal environment should be studied very carefully before making such a shift.
Mark Hinnebusch will be meeting with the SUS Technical Services Planning Committee in June to discuss some of the possibilities for enhancing and improving functions in this area.
IV. Ongoing Structure for Development of WebLUIS
This Task Force has helped to identify some of the priorities for FCLA's short term development of the WebLUIS user interface. It has also created a listserv (WEBLUIS-L) which is open to any SUS Libraries' staff member interested in actively contributing to the development of the product. (NOTE: Following a recent re-advertising of the WEBLUIS-L listserv, the number of listserv members has substantially increased to 77 - and there is hope that it can become an effective communication vehicle). FCLA staff would like there to be a permanent group to interact with concerning this development, and several options for providing this ongoing input occur to us:
What needs to be clearly understood is that Web interface preferences appear to be even more highly "individual" than terminal emulation preferences have ever been, so an effective mechanism for discussion and decision-making needs to exist if any significant progress is to be made. If a group is to actually serve in an active advisory capacity to FCLA, perhaps the group should be given clear authority to make some ongoing design/development decisions without higher approval.
V. Recommendations
With a stable and functional Web product in place, development of an alternative presentation can be undertaken "behind the scenes" without direct impact on users of the active WebLUIS system.
While no recommendation is being made for setting a date to migrate to exclusive use of WebLUIS, such a recommendation may be desirable once acceptance is achieved. Terminal LUIS continues to be a very fast, reliable mechanism which effectively delivers information (although not to Digital Library resources).
The WebLUIS Task Force was established by the SUS PSPC in early January, 1997 and assigned the following charge:
"The WebLUIS Task Force is charged with making recommendations for the strategic direction of WebLUIS. The group will explore options, define alternatives, and make recommendations on the functionality of this user interface. Additionally, this task force will participate in the implementation of WebLUIS changes and revisions. An initial report on recommendations and direction for the scope of WebLUIS will be presented to the PSPC by March 31, 1997."
The Task Force has had one face-to-face meeting (at FCLA offices in Gainesville) and two conference calls. In addition, group members have exchanged a number of e-mail messages; some just between the group while others were on the WEBLUIS-L listserv which we established and opened up to all SUS Libraries' staff to encourage broader participation in generating ideas, evaluating options, reporting problems, etc.) While the deadline for our initial report proved to be optimistic (given Task Force members' schedules, ever-shifting local priorities, etc.), we are now pleased to deliver this initial report
"WebLUIS" primarily refers to the WWW interface to LUIS system public resources (i.e. services traditionally delivered by terminal LUIS menus and databases.) The term is also being used to represent the broader "FCLA Digital Library" initiatives that will result in access to additional library resources (i.e. non-LUIS databases) over the WWW. While this initial report will touch on the second aspect, it primarily addresses the first. We have not attempted to address the further issue of potential delivery of library technical services functions in the future via the WWW (although that topic needs to be addressed in some forum).
A. Infrastructure
A. WebLUIS Interface Design Guidelines
B. Digital Library Possibilities