What is beta anyway? July 30, 2008
Posted by Catherine in : Catalog Tip , add a commentYou might have noticed that our new catalog interface says (beta) on the tab. Now if we were Douglas Adams we could be referring to the fish pictured here: 
But no, in this galaxy, we are referring to something not quite as beautiful and complete–a pilot version of the catalog interface. The interface is still in the process of development, with some features remaining to be implemented (and some pretty cool features like faceted browsing and linking to other Triangle libraries already there).
The good news for users is that “beta” means that we (the library) are receptive to making changes more nimbly with this interface than in other established ones. And unlike the beta fish, of which it’s said: “It is important not to feed your Beta fish too much live food as it has been known to cause problems,”
we encourage as much live input as possible. Once you are in the new catalog, just click the Feedback link at the top right. Or go directly to: http://library.duke.edu/research/help/catalog/feedback.html
So go ahead and feed the beta fish! Throw that constructive criticism at us and help us make it beautiful! We want to hear from students, faculty, and other researchers as well as library staff so that we can make it work best for all of the users in our library galaxy.
picture and quote from www.betafacts.com
Items ‘Being Repaired’ in New Catalog July 24, 2008
Posted by Jean in : Catalog Tip, Tips for students , add a commentIn our new catalog, there are books and other items which show as Being Repaired, like this one:
Items that are Being Repaired can be requested. Whether they are at the shop getting a new binding or up in one of the levels waiting to be processed, you can click on the title of the item to see more information.
When you get to the next screen, also called the Full Record, you will see a button in the top right part of the screen that says ‘Get this title’.
Click on this button to get to the Classic Catalog. There will be more information about the location of this item and often a Request link. Click on the Request link and fill in your NetID and password to let us know that we need to try to find this for you.
Some items may not have a Request link. In this case, stop by our Reference or Circulation Desk (or email us at askref@duke.edu) and we will investigate the best method to find it for you.
RSS & the Library Catalog: Why & How July 18, 2008
Posted by Sean in : Catalog Tip, Cool tools, Duke researchers, Research Help, Tips for students , add a comment
Last week, Duke Libraries launched a brand new interface to its catalog. There’s a lot that you can do with the new catalog that you couldn’t do before, so get ready for many new tips and tricks here on Library Hacks.
This post will focus on using RSS (really simple syndication). RSS “feeds” free you from having to constantly check web sites to see if anything new and interesting has been added. Instead, the information is delivered to you as soon as it is available. If you’re not familiar with RSS or would like a refresher, take a few minutes to watch this “RSS in Plain English” video by CommonCraft:
Of course, the library catalog is neither news nor a blog. So, you might ask, what can you do with RSS in the library catalog? You can…
Get alerted when items of interest to you are added to the catalog
Let’s look at some examples of items. I’ll use the first to demonstrate.
(Bookmarked with the “Save Search” feature):
- All of the feature film DVDs in Lilly Library
- All biochemistry books in the Medical Center Library
- All rock music CD’s in the Music Library
- All new additions to the catalog
- All cataloged items about 19th Century North Carolina
Whether you are just browsing by clicking around or you have narrowed a set of results with a combination of search terms and selections from the left-hand “Refine Your Search” menu, you’ll see an RSS icon ( 
) next to the number of results found.
Right-Click (or Option-Click) on the RSS icon to copy the feed URL. Click Copy Shortcut (or its equivalent–see below).
We have to add that feed URL to an RSS reader (also called an aggregator). I use Google Reader, so I’ll demonstrate with that. Feel free to substitute your aggregator of choice, or use your browser’s built-in feed subscription feature.
In Google Reader, click “Add subscription,” paste in the feed URL you copied from the catalog, and click “Add”.
Now that you have subscribed, any time an item is added to the catalog that matches what you were looking for (in this case, feature film DVDs at Lilly Library) the item will appear in your reader, just like new blog posts and news articles, with a link that will take you to the item in the catalog interface.
This is a great way to find out quickly and effortlessly about new additions to the catalog that match your interests.
Other uses of RSS feeds from the Catalog
Beyond delivering notices to your personal reader, you can use a feed from the catalog to generate a linked list of new additions that match a particular interest, and embed that in another web site. You could add a list to a blog, your Facebook profile, a course or departmental web site, or someplace else. The steps to do this will differ depending on which site, widget, or application you’re using, but use the same technique as above to get the feed URL.
RSS at Duke University Libraries
There are many other RSS feeds from Duke Libraries beyond the catalog. Subscribe to get library news, see job postings, or to read posts from Library Hacks or one of our several other blogs:
http://library.duke.edu/rss/index.html
Related resources
- New Library Catalog
— [Help its development by submitting feedback] - Duke Center for Instructional Technology page on RSS Aggregators
- Google Reader
New Catalog Interface July 9, 2008
Posted by Debra in : Catalog Tip , 3commentsThe Library has published a new interface to the catalog that performs faster and is easier to navigate thanks to a faceted browsing feature similar to those found on retail sites such as Amazon and Home Depot.
Things to keep in mind:
- When you search the form in the “Search Our Resources” box results will display in the new catalog interface with the exception of GoogleScholar and E-Journals. The latter will continue to load in the (old interface) Resource Finder due to system limitations.
- All links to library.duke.edu/catalog will be redirected to the new catalog interface but catalog.library.duke.edu will continue to display the classic search screen.
- There will be links to the Classic Catalog from new catalog interface and from the Libraries’ homepage.
- There will be a link from new catalog interface to a comments/suggestions form by the end of the week.
A feedback form will be linked to from the new interface by the end of the week. Try it out now (find.library.duke.edu) and let us know what you think.
