Discovery Interfaces: The Next Generation
September 15, 2010
The development and enhancement of open source Online Public Access Catalog Services (OPACS) have become extremely valuable. The Catalogue and Index Blog “Discovery Interfaces (Next Generation)” provides readers with a glimpse of the type of interfaces that the British Library uses. The discovery interfaces have been designed to “offer improved access to contents.” These interfaces in many ways are similar to traditional Online Public Access Catalog Services but they go a step further and offer users some notable enhancements. The article notes the products “provide modern web interfaces that can compete with commercial offerings such as Amazon and the BBC.” A few extra additions are improved visual presentation and additional options besides those included in the local catalogue. Many of the listed product systems help to improve the search and find capabilities of library systems which in turn give users access to a larger and more detailed pool of information. “Finding a needle in a haystack” seems to have gotten a little easier for researchers.
Stephen E Arnold, September 15, 2010
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One Response to “Discovery Interfaces: The Next Generation”
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These look like good components for developers of systems. What I’d like to know is if there is any comprehensive useful chart comparing ready open source and commercial systems – used in libraries and information centers – in any of the haystacks including commercial databases. I suggest as a consequence there is also a big gaping hole in the so-called university rankings business that seem to be more an offshoot of credit agencies relying on establishment-provided data at significant cost to the establishment being rated than suggesting which universities give the most bang for the buck in terms of their potential at-hand information yield not inter-library loan as distinct from faculty citations. My guess is the free and open net does – but what is it missing that is existent? Oh right – the relationship and connection between the almost by definition incomplete sets of needles and the next question that only the relatively informed researcher knows long before an article, patent or book gets published, if it gets published at all, or an accessible comment or hint turns up. What comes first, the honeypot or the bumblebee?