Federated Search

After testing I believe the "The" problem is fixed and the updating print holding in Serials Solutions is complete.

I returned to the federated search project and continued to evaluate which of our databases have 360Search connections and which would be link only. I completed lists of our databases, the ones we are currently configured for in subject searches and for federated search and the status of the connections for each. The next stop will be testing different combinations of databases in different federated searches (keyword, subject, etc).

Next week is Spring Break. I will not have my usual internship on Tuesday and Thursday but I do plan to visit some academic libraries.

ABCs of Military Sources

I attended a presentation on "The ABCs of Military Sources" last night which was held in conjunction with the DTIC conference that is going on this week. It was a very useful and fast paced introduction to a large variety of military sources, including military universities, military archives and historical documents, and miltary publications available online. (That's not technically part of my internship)

Today I worked on fixing a problem we have with many of our periodicals in Serials Solutions showing a title that begins with a "The." Unlike the catalog which automatically remove initial articles, Serials Solutions keeps them and lists all of those titles under T. This makes it difficult to find the item unless you search with the "The" which we usually tell people not to do. So the solution to the Serials Solutions problem was to go in and edit each title. This was only a problem for those titles which were unique to MCU and which had been entered with a "The" I did keep three "The" titles because I checked on the print copy and the "The" was there. One example was "The old schoolhouse."

Because Serials Solutions updates my edits overnight, I will not be able to test today's work until my next internship day on Thursday.

eBook Summit

I attended an eBook summit on Thursday instead of my internship. There was a speaker, small group discussions, and a panel for questions. Academic, government, and corporate librarians were on the panel and in the audience so there was a mix of ideas and experiences. I am pretty sure I was the only student.

My small group discussed the advantages and challenges of eBooks. I was familiar with most of the ideas discussed, but I did learn about the advantages/disadvantages of the variety of ways that eBooks can be acquired: (purchased or leased) and (individually or by collection) and (put in a catalog and/or put in a database)

One thing that really surprised me was that one government organization's library catalog displays who has checked an item out so that if you really need a book and it's checked out, you can go to that person and ask for it. I am surprised that they would do that, even if the collection is only professional books. But it does make sense.

0 hours

Virtual Branch projects continue

I did a little research and straightened out some problems Serials Solutions. I am still working on issues with SS including "The" and "A" in our print periodical holding.

7 hours
TOTAL so far = 102 hours

A new Serials Solution Project

Today I started a new Serials Solution Project. I am working on reviving the federated search (called 360 Search in Serials Solution). The Library had used the federated search approximately two years ago with unsatisfactory results and I am trying to improve and revive it.

Today I created an excel spreadsheet with three columns:
1. The serials that Serials Solutions can include in the federated search
2. The serials that MCU library holds
3. The serials that MCU had used in the federated search in the past.

I color coded each of the MCU serials titles to indicate if Serials Solutions can include it in a federated search or if S.S. could only display a link to the database which the user would have to search separately.

Next week I will discuss progress so far with my supervisor and proceed to the next step, which I think will be "turning on" the federated search and testing to see which serials we want to include in the overall federated search or in subject specific federated search.

7 hours.

Finishing the finished project

Today worked on the project some and there was a little more work left to do than I had thought. I have some minor problems and one particularly pesky problem: I have one more record in Serial Solutions than I had in the original Excel spreadsheet. There was some test data in Serial Solutions so I suspect that one of the test files did not get overwritten for some reason. Other minor problems were things like periods in the title and inconsistency in the titles.

7 hours.

Phase 3 completed

On Thursday, March 4 I completed the Serials Solutions project. I uploaded > 600 MCU holdings records in Serials Solutions. Prior to this project print serials holdings were not in our Serials Solutions account.

I recognized that the "Make List" feature of Millennium has the same types of functions that I did with SQL in the database I created in my Design and Management of Databases class.

I am trying not to use personal names in my blog so I won't name her, but the person who guided me in the project was an excellent teacher. In addition to learning the download/manipulate/upload process I learned a little about teaching also.

7 hrs

The Virtual Branch

Tuesday, March 2 was my first day in the virtual branch. I am working on a project to update all of our periodical holdings in Serials Solutions. The three steps of the project steps are:

1. Use Millenium "Make a List" to make a list of the periodical title, its holdings record number, and its ISSN.

2. Export the list to Excel and manipulate it as needed to convert the record number into a URL for the record, eliminate extraneous data, and correct title errors caused by special characters, particularly in foreign language titles.

3. Batch upload the file into Serials Solution.

We are now in step two.