Melvyl Matters
Volume 1, Number 1, August 2004
In this issue:
- Melvyl Matters: Title Change
- Moving through your search results: don’t use the browser buttons
- Want to display more records per page?
- RedLightGreen added to Other Catalogs links
Based on user input (could there be any other way?), we have changed the name of El Mel Tells! to Melvyl Matters. El Mel Tells! is too much like an index with a non-intuitive name, our users cried! What does it mean anyway, they asked? So in order for everyone to know that this little publication is about the faithful Melvyl Catalog (and maybe even be more easily discoverable via Google), we’ve changed the name. Let us know what you think.
Moving through your search results: Don't use the browser buttons
We've had a spate of users reporting this particular problem recently. Patron writes, "I will search for an item, and the search will produce more than 20 twenty citations--say, for example, 45. I will be able to scroll through the 20 citations on the first "page," but when I push the button for the next 20, I will be taken to what amounts to a third page, with, say, the last 5 cites. In other words, the display of the search results skips many citations in going from the first twenty to the last few. Is there any way to remedy this skip?"
This problem usually occurs when users move forward and backward through their search results using their web browser's Back and Forward buttons. Always use Melvyl's Previous and Next buttons to navigate through your search results. By using your web browser's Forward and Back buttons, records may be skipped in your search results display.
Additionally, although the default display is 20 records per page,
if you display the Full Record of record number 8
in your search results and then return to the previous screen, the
multi-item (short) display will now be reset to display records 8-28
rather than 1-20. So, if you scroll down the screen and stop at record
20 and click the Next page button, you would suddenly
be missing records 21-27. Scroll to the bottom of the screen if you
don't want to miss those records, or use the
Item #
box to jump directly to a particular item number.
Want to display more records per page?
Did you know that you can set your Melvyl search results to display 5, 10, 20, 50 or 75 records per page? Sign in with your user name and password, which you create by clicking the Sign in link and following the instructions, if you haven’t already done so. Then click on My Workspace and select Display preferences. Here you can choose your default record format (review, short or long) and the number of records per page. Every time you sign in to use Melvyl, these preferences will be in place. If you use Melvyl without signing in, you will see the usual default settings.
RedLightGreen added to Other Catalogs links
Following several requests from UC librarians for more information and integration of RLG's RedLightGreen resource into CDL services, the CDL is adding http://redlightgreen.com to the list of "Other Catalogs" in the Melvyl Catalog. Two unique features make it of special interest: the ability to display ranked results and to create bibliographic citations in a variety of formats.
RedLightGreen is a good starting point for undergraduates and other research novices to begin their catalog searches. It helps users locate the most important books and other research materials in their areas of interest (based on numbers of editions of a work and libraries holding a work, somewhat similar to relevance ranking in Google), and to find out whether what they need is available at their library. It can also help to guide them to more authoritative terminology, such as Library of Congress Subject Headings.
RLG organized the vast number of records in the RLG Union Catalog in such a way as to not overwhelm users with a deluge of information about different editions. RLG turned to the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), an emerging model proposed by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm ). FRBR distinguishes between a work, its expressions (e.g. translations), manifestations of those expressions (specific editions), and items (specific copies). The RedLightGreen database collapses FRBR's four levels into just two, displaying a work and various manifestations of that work. This approach will reduce a potentially overwhelming number of editions into a smaller, more manageable set of works that match a user's search terms.
After searching for a subject and clicking on a title from the list of retrieved items, users can click on "Get it at your library." Users can then type in their city or institution name in order to locate their library. The campuses can decide whether a link to the Melvyl Catalog or the campus catalog is more appropriate. RLG has the ability to track and report the aggregated number of RedLightGreen users, and from where they were referred.
After registering, users can format and send citations in a variety of standard formats: MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian.
The CDL would be interested to know if and how you use RedLightGreen in your instruction.
There is an array of informational and training materials, including promotional materials and a user guide, available at http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/web/redlightgreen-for-librarians.jsp Information sheets for librarians and staff, as well as plastic cards for students can be provided by RLG. Please contact Ellen Meltzer for more information (Ellen.Meltzer@ucop.edu)
From RLG's publicity:
RedLightGreen searches millions of records from the RLG Union Catalog to put the most widely held, most relevant items near the top of any search results list, which helps students zero in on the most credible books and authors quickly. If a particular book is widely available, it can be considered an important source of information in its subject area: selection by dozens of academic librarians is an implicit endorsement of its worth.
Simple searching… sophisticated results
Student testing has informed the development of RedLightGreen from the start. The goal is a Web site that excels at addressing undergraduates' research needs, while improving the quality of their research. A familiar search interface is backed by data mining tools (Recommind Inc.'s MindServer software) that enable students using their own words and phrases to get quality results from the authenticated library catalog data at the heart of RedLightGreen.
A gateway to the library
Once students have found the books they want, just a few clicks will take them right to the entry for that book in the library catalog to check on its availability, allowing them to move quickly from initial discovery (finding relevant books) to in-depth research (getting and reading those books).
Citations in standard formats
With a few more clicks, RedLightGreen creates a properly formatted bibliography according to MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian rules. The system also provides detailed bibliographic information on any book, including data about editions, contributors, subject classifications, and more.
About RedLightGreen
RedLightGreen is a tool produced by RLG and is available to any Web user.