Robbins Library Notes

Good morning, readers!

Over the last several months, HCL has rolled a new search interface for HOLLIS. But, this doesn’t mean that we’ve left the older interface behind — far from it.  Now re-branded as “HOLLIS Classic,” the older interface is still available for you to use.

Both HOLLIS and HOLLIS Classic can search Harvard’s library catalog, but what are the advantages of each, and when should you use them? My HCL colleagues have come up with the following cheat sheet:

HOLLIS

• Easy-to-use, intuitive interface
• Relevance-ranked results
• One-click search refinement – filter searches by publication, date, format, language and more
• More searchable tables of contents
• Built in spell checker

HOLLIS Classic

• Browse subject headings and author names
• Search by call numbers
• Search using non-Latin characters
• Refine searches using exact phrases
• Powerful “Expanded Search” feature for more precise searches

In short, both interfaces have their place in your research toolkit.  When used in tandem — just as when you use, e.g., JSTOR and Academic Search Premier in tandem — your searching becomes that much more effective and powerful.

If you are interested in learning more about the interfaces, or are interested in seeing a demonstration, please let me know.  I’d love to show you!

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For Firefox users, check out this post by Adrienne Carlson, “50 Firefox Extensions to Turn Google Into the Ultimate Research Tool.”  Some very cool stuff here.

Good morning, readers, and welcome back to Harvard readers who’ve returned for the start of term!

Just a reminder of the many things I can help you with as a librarian:

• Reference & Research

Having trouble finding an article?  Need some help locating information or doing research?  Confused by the Library of Congress classification scheme?  I can help!

• Bibliographic Instruction

If you’re curious to learn about all of the resources available to you at Harvard, or if you want to learn how to search with greater skill and efficiency, I can show you how. Get out of that Model T Ford research mode in which you’ve been driving and step into the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 research mode with a bibliographic instruction session.  Or, if you’d like to get started on your own, check out my Bibliographic Instruction page.

• Research Tools

Let me tell you about tools like LibX, RefWorks, EndNote, and Zotero, which will make your research life much easier.  Also check out Writing Resources and Secondary Sources in Philosophy.

• Web site Set-up and Design

Looking to set up a personal Web page?  Need help with course iSites?  I’m happy to provide support

• Collection Development

Are there books and other items that you think belong in the Robbins collection?  Stop by, and we’ll discuss.

• Course Reserves

Would you like to put materials out on reserve in Robbins for a philosophy course?  Drop me a line, and I’ll arrange for them to be placed on the reserve shelf.

• Navigating the HUL labyrinth

Confused about how the Harvard University Library (HUL) system is organized?  Not sure which library to go to look for information?  I can help guide you through the maze.

All these things, and much more.  So, drop by Emerson Hall 211, send me an e-mail, or give me a call, and we’ll set up some time to chat.  I’m looking forward to working with you in the coming academic year!

*For those who may be too young to get the reference in the title of this post, all your questions will be answered here.

Good morning, readers! Welcome back after several weeks of vacation!

Today’s post is about a review of Web browsers in PC Magazine that I found via “American Libraries Direct.” Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, Safari are all reviewed — both with a short review and with a more detailed review. Pros and cons are listed for each.  It’s useful when comparing which browsers you might want to use.  (For the record, I remain a firm believer in the Firefox browser.)

Enjoy!

Good morning, readers!

Lots of great items in this week’s Library News & Notes. Some of the most interesting include:

• A Bing/Google comparison
• “The end of theory in science?”
• “How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data”
• “58 Essential Resources For Every Mac Geek”
• More on Twitter and Wolfram|Alpha

Enjoy!

Good morning, readers!

I’m curious to know if any readers have been using Wolfram|Alpha, and what they think of it.  I have only used it a little bit so far.  From my (limited) experience, it seems a great engine for quantitative data.  Not quite the Google killer that some made it out to be, but definitely a useful auxiliary search engine.

In other news: there is a two-day conference on themes from the political philosophy of T.M. Scanlon in the UK this coming weekend.

Once I’m done with the end of term (today), I should have more time to write more in-depth posts starting next week.  Please feel free to send me ideas.  I have some, but I’d love to hear from readers.

Good morning, readers!

This week, I have a number of items on search engines that may interest you:

Via Garrett Eastman’s Library News & Notes, several articles on Wolfram|Alpha, which I mentioned last week.

• Impressive: The Wolfram Alpha “Fact Engine”
  http://searchengineland.com/wolfram-alpha-fact-engine-18431
  (Source: Pandia Search World)
• See also: Ask Alpha: Quizzing the world’s first answer engine
  http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227075.600-ask-alpha-quizzing-the-worlds-first-answer-engine.html
  (Source: Science in the News)
• See also: Wolfram Alpha and Google Face Off
  http://www.technologyreview.com/web/22585/
• See also: Wolfram Alpha vs. Google: Answers to Your Queries
  http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23495/
  (Source: dweinberger)
• Wolfram Alpha vs. Google = Power vs. Simplicity?
  http://ow.ly/5N9N
• See also: Little search engines that could
  http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/05/07/little-search-engines-that-could/

It’s my understand that Wolfram|Alpha will launch this coming Monday, 18 May.

I don’t think Wolfram|Alpha will be a “Google killer.”  The data it collects and parses is somewhat different from the majority of Google searches.  My guess is that it will become a very useful niche search engine, to be used in conjunction with Google.

In other search engine news:

• Google announces that is offering “smarter” searches
• CNN.com/technology looks at alternative niche search engines to supplement Google.

Good morning, readers! Today we’ll start with the weekly posts.

Here are two links to philosophical reviews to amuse you this week:

• The April 2009 reviews from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
• A link to Philosopher’s Digest, a site that provides “Timely Reviews of Current Philosophy Articles”

I recently learned about a new search engine, Wolfram|Alpha, which is set to launch this month.  What exactly is Wolfram|Alpha?  According to a post on the WolframAlpha Blog,

So what is Wolfram|Alpha? To begin, we’ve named it a computational knowledge engine.

The heart of Wolfram|Alpha is a computational engine able to draw on terabytes of curated data and synthesize it into entirely new combinations and presentations. The stock of systematic, structured data in the world is vast, but finite, and the efficient processes developed for Wolfram|Alpha have allowed us to make real progress towards the goal of incorporating all of it.

Our overarching goal, the “higher purpose” of this project, is to make all computable, factual knowledge available to everyone. What Wolfram|Alpha does is compute on top of those facts—answering questions, solving equations, providing insights, projecting future behaviors, and more.

We believe the result is an extremely powerful way of harnessing the world’s knowledge and making it possible for anyone to benefit from that power.

My interest is certainly piqued, and I will be curious to use this new search engine when it is launched.

Good morning, readers!

Last Friday, I attended an overview session of the new HOLLIS interface, HOLLIS beta. From what I’ve learned, the new interface comes out of the recognition that the current HOLLIS interface simply isn’t working well, and is no longer sufficient for the needs of Harvard users.  HOLLIS beta is an attempt to develop a more user-driven search interface, rather than one solely designed by librarians and experts.

Today’s post will cover the highlights of what I learned about the new interface, which is expected to go live tomorrow soon.  (Update 4/7/2009: The new interface is now live, and you can find it at http://lib.harvard.edu/catalogs/hollis.h… Or, you can find it listed as “HOLLIS” under the HOLLIS Catalogs button, at http://lib.harvard.edu.)  If you would like to see what the new interface looks like before it goes live, please stop by my desk, and I’ll be happy to show you.

General Information

• The new interface is called “HOLLIS beta.”  This is to indicate that the new interface is under development, and that the developers are actively seeking user input to shape and craft the interface over the next several months to conform to Harvard users’ online search expectations and practices.
• Thus, feedback is expected and welcomed. There will be links to evaluation forms for you to fill out throughout the search form, and to note mistakes in HOLLIS records needing correcting.  Again, the new interface is meant to be user-driven, not librarian-driven, reflecting your searching patterns and habits.  Your feedback will help to make this happen.
• Given that the new interface is in beta testing, the older interface — called “HOLLIS Classic” — will remain in place until at least the fall of 2009, from my understanding.  Also, all Request Item forms and Account forms will leave the new interface and return to the HOLLIS Classic page for the time being, as will results obtained from the LibX search tool.

Searching

• The default search is the Basic Search box.  For now, users are being advised to use this search option, as the Advanced Search option is limited, at present.
• You will also have the option to search “Text-only,” without all of the graphics and Word Cloud present.  (Very useful, too, if you are having trouble reading the current layout, the colors and font of which are still being refined.)
• Searching in the new interface is much closer to natural language searching.  You do have the option of using the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT, which must be capitalized in search strings.
• Searches are not case sensitive.
• Nested searches are possible, e.g., plato (forms OR ideas)
• If you are using multiple search terms, the default search is a Boolean AND search (no need to add in the word “AND.”)  So, if you search virtue ethics, the new interface will treat it as virtue AND ethics.

Unfortunately, there is no phrase searching at present, so if you enter the phrase “virtue ethics,” the search engine will ignore the quotation marks.  However, it will return results with the two terms next to each other at the top of the results list.

• The back button on your browser works such that you will not lose a search or search terms, as is the case with HOLLIS Classic
• To start over, simply click on the HOLLIS beta name.

Refining searches

• To the right of the results list, there will be a list of “facets.”  These include a drop-down menu of library locations where the results are found, and options such as Online, Publication Date, Topic, Format, and so forth. Click on these facets to refine your search results.
• Facets can be added sequentially, but not all at once.  It is much easier to explain how to do this in a training session, so please contact me if you are interested in learning more about how to do this.
• Facets that you’ve clicked on will also be listed just above the search results.  You can “remove” or “keep” the facet in your search by clicking on it.

One thing to note about choosing a library location: doing so will lock into in future searches that you undertake during your session.  Thus, if you are looking for books in Robbins in your first search, but forget to remove it for subsequent searches, you may find that you return no results.  Simply remove the limiter, rerun your search, and you should be all set.

Advanced Searching

• There is a link to the Advanced Search form next to the Basic Search box.
• As noted above, this option is very limited at present, so you may want to use the Basic Search option for the time being.
• Searches can be limited by format and fielded keyword searches.
• This option will be refined over the coming months and improved.

Command Searches

• Advanced searching can be done using Command Searches in the Basic Search field. The most common Command Searches that you’ll likely use are Author (author:first name last name or author: last name first name) and Title (title:full title), entered exactly like this.  So, e.g., author:derek parfit title:reasons and persons — since the default search is the Boolean AND search, you don’t need to put “AND” in between the author and title Command Search function. (If you would like to use things like ISBN numbers, subject, publisher, and the like, please contact me for a complete list of Command Searches.) This option is useful for looking for specific books, without having to wade through long lists of results.

Results

• Results are returned in order of relevance, though you do have the option of resorting the records by year or author.
• Journal titles are sorted to the top of the list, which should help for short journal titles like Ratio, and indeed for all journal searching.
• Also, journal records will show holdings of that journal at all locations.
• Word variants: the search engine automatically looks for variations of a word, along with words formed from the same stem.  E.g., Disobediance also returns disobedience; adolescent also returns adolescents and adolescence. If you do not want this to happen, simply add quotation marks around the word.
• “Did you mean to search for…?” suggestions: if you misspell a search term, or enter in a term that returns no results, the search engine will ask you, “Did you mean to search for…?”  Thus, if you enter in “pyschology” as your search term, you may be prompted for “Did you mean to search for psychology?”
• Individual records of books, journals, and other items contain a URL that can be bookmarked.
• If you check items from searches to save in a list, the list of results is cumulative across multiple searches, and you will not lose this list should you move on to another search.

Word Cloud

One of the features of the new HOLLIS interface is the Word Cloud, found in the left-hand panel next to your search results. What is this feature?

• The Word Cloud contains words that the search engine determines are closely related to the term(s) you searched.  It is more of a three-dimensional model of classification, rather than the traditional two-dimensional hierarchies of most cataloging systems.
• The Cloud only includes terms that will retrieve hits.
• The size of the font of the Cloud term indicates the relevance of the term.
• Please note that the distance or direction of a Cloud term from the center term of the Cloud has no significance.
• The color of cloud term indicates the type of relationship:

Associations are related words that are found by co-occurrence analysis, and are often found near the search term in the catalog

Discovery trail shows terms you have already searched or clicked in the Word Cloud

Spelling variations are terms that occur in the catalog and are spelled similarly

Thesaurus terms are Library of Congress (LC) Subject Headings that are similar to the term(s) searched

Translations are worlds from built-in dictionaries and are only displayed if they are found in the catalog.

• If you click on a Word Cloud term, this executes a new search rather than modifying the original search.  The previous search term affects the relevance ranking of the new results.  Records containing both the Word Cloud term and your previous search term will be ranked highest.
• Also, if you click on a Word Cloud term, you will be able to use the back button on your browser to return to your original search, without losing it.
• Clicking on a facet does not change the Word Cloud.
• Finally, the Word Cloud will often catch spelling errors and other mistakes in HOLLIS records, so, if you spot one, please report it via the Feedback tool, so that it can be corrected.

This feature can be useful when doing broad searches.  It is also best shown live, so please contact me for a demonstration.

When to use HOLLIS Classic

For some searches, HOLLIS Classic will be the better choice for searching Harvard’s library records.  These searches include:

• For string or phrase searching
• Complex Boolean searches
• Searches with a specific date range or date
• Sophisticated or targeted searches.

Known Issues

• There are known display issues with the fonts and colors, especially with the Internet Explorer browser.  For now, you might be better off using Firefox, Safari, or another browser with HOLLIS beta.
• The new interface will display non-Latin characters, but it does not fully support searching for these characters at present.

All of this is a lot to take in, so please don’t hesitate to contact me for an overview or tutorial — indviduals, groups, whomever — I’m happy to help in any way that I can!

Good morning, readers!

For my Harvard readers: I’ve received word that the HOLLIS interface will be changing next Tuesday, 7 April to a new platform.   Before this happens, I want to pass on to you a few things of note.

The e-mail announcment I received states: “For the initial rollout this spring, we will use the name ‘HOLLIS’ for the new discovery tool, and will rename the Aleph OPAC as ‘HOLLIS Classic’.”  Thus, from 7 April going forward, you will have the option to use the new search interface, or to use the “classic” search interface, though it’s not clear how long the “classic” interface will remain.

The new interface is promised to be “a fun and exciting way to explore the 11+ million records from Aleph.   The system is very different from HOLLIS Classic but many features are intuitive.”

You will also be able to provide feedback and critiques of the new interface over the coming months through a form on the new interface.  Please do fill this out — it’s very important that the maintainers of the interface know what you like/dislike about it, so that it can be modified and adapted according to user needs.

If you’d like to see what the new interface looks like, please stop by my desk, so that I can show you.  (I can’t, unfortunately, pass the beta URL around.)  I’ll also be attending a training session this coming Friday morning, to learn more about the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the interface.  I’ll pass around any information I learn.

I can tell you, from my few minutes of playing around with the new interface, that the two search options are very different.  The new basic search option, which features word clouds and facets, seems to be best used for large searches on broad topics, of the sort one might do for a dissertation or paper.  The “classic” interface seems the one to use when looking for a specific book or journal.  I will confirm this after the training session on Friday.

Good morning, readers! Happy Monday to you!

A reader commenting on my post about Soople last year let me know about another search engine, Onlyjust.net. This is a very cool search engine that puts all of Google’s functionality, including some of its hidden functionality, in one place. Definitely take this out for a spin, if you are a heavy Google user.