Spell Check in OPACs is Active

I activated the Spell Check feature in our OPACs this morning. It has been on the staging/test server for the last 4-6 weeks. I did not find it aesthetically pleasing and could not make alterations without the UofL's consent. We experienced some delays in activation because many of my contacts at the UofL were on sabbatical or vacation in June. Fortunately they returned and agreed with my assessment, and I consequently made the alterations and activated it on the live/public servers.

Give the new feature a spin and let me know what you think - it is active on the Basic Keyword Search (@Vera Bracken Library/Brooks Catalogue; @Brooks Catalogue) and Advanced Keyword Search (@Vera Bracken/Brooks Catalogue; @Brooks Catalogue) pages. It is not quite Google, but it is a much improved first step. The activation of this feature should be last of the major OPAC upgrades for a while. It will mostly be a matter of house keeping and refinement of the CSS.

All that I have to do is hope that I will not have to revise the OPAC for a few more years.

OPAC and Database Updates

There are a few things to let you know about in this bulletin. Among them are OPAC and database updates.

OPAC

The Spell Check feature is active in the staging catalogue. You can view it at: http://eureka.uleth.ca:2082/search~S2/X [NOTE: This page can only be viewed on campus.] The UofL has activated in in their live catalogue (http://eureka.uleth.ca/search~S1/X), but I am not fond of a particular "Go" button that accompanies the feature - it really does not fit into the overall aesthetic of either OPAC. I changed this in the staging server, but I cannot make this change in the live side until my UofL contacts return from vacation to discuss this. I will design some alternative buttons for deployment if they do not approve of my alterations in the staging server. View each and try making multiple misspellings and see what happens. It is a really cool feature.

DATABASES

EBSCO made some alterations to its database URLs - moving from epnet.com to ebscohost.com. The links from our pages to EBSCO databases have been altered to reflect this change. The news release can be found at: http://support.epnet.com/support_news/detail.php?id=222&page=.

Additionally, the Clinical Pharmacology database has been discontinued by EBSCO. Health Source (Consumer Edition and Nursing/Academic Edition) databases have been upgraded with equivalent content. You can read the press release from EBSCO at: http://support.epnet.com/support_news/detail.php?id=359&page=.

OPAC Upgrades Near Completion

The light at the end of the tunnel is quickly nearing for the WebPAC Pro upgrade. The principle features are installed and activated. I will be refining some of the Spell Check features before posting it in the live interface.

If you are on either of the campuses, navigate your Web browser of choice to: http://eureka.uleth.ca:2082/search~S2/X, type: testr [yes, it is an intentional misspelling], and see what happens. Though it is not quite Google, it is a nifty new feature with lots of promise.

A formal announcement of the WebPAC Pro launch should be made by the end of the week.

WebPAC Pro Updates

Yesterday the initial upgrading of the OPAC to WebPAC Pro was initiated. The enhanced search algorithm and lengthier results list (from 12 to 50 per page ) were activated. Additionally, the brief citation was also activated. With the activation of the brief citation, a user will no longer have to enter a record before determining where it is located or if it is available.

There will be more enhancements to come over the next week. Things such as a spell checker and the Syndetic Solutions plug-ins will add further user convenience.

Old with the Old, In with the New (OPAC)

Well, the bulk of the refreshed OPAC has been completed and pushed to the live web server. There will be a few anomalies - such as blue buttons at the record level, but the UofL will be fixing that when they post their revisions later this week.

With any luck we will make a smooth transition to III's WebPAC Pro later this week. In the following week, the Syndetic Solutions enhancements should also come online.

Some screens captures of the before and after versions of the OPAC are shown below.

Old OPAC homepage:









New OPAC homepage:









Old OPAC Record Entry:









New OPAC Record Entry: