Reference at Newman Library

Year: 2016

Help Write Custom Alerts in OneSearch

I need your help to improve the custom messages that appear above search results in OneSearch. This automated system of messages (known as “Adwords”) relies on us adding to the OneSearch backend a file with search terms that trigger alerts to the searcher. For example, if the user searches for “fines” because they are wondering about some of aspect overdue fines (payment options, amounts, etc.), they will see at the top of the search results a message that says “Looking for…information about fines and fees for overdue items?” that looks like this:

OneSearch--Adwords--fines

As noted at the last Tech Sharecase, analyses that I’ve done of the search query logs in OneSearch and other systems show that users sometimes search in the wrong places. Based on this analysis, I’ve been adding to the list of terms that we first set up in 2015 to trigger Adwords alerts. I’m looking for ideas from you for additional search terms that will trigger similar alerts.

Please take a look at this editable Google Doc to see what kind of messages are in Adwords now (or will be soon) and add your own suggestions (be aware that the Adwords system already has triggers set up for each of our library database names).

The syntax of the messages and the layout are not very flexible. They all must begin with the phrase “Looking for..” and then are followed by a unique short message of 5-10 words in which the last 1-4 words are hyperlinks to some relevant web page. Any suggestions you have can be shared with me in whatever way is easiest for you:

  • add it to the bottom of the Google Doc
  • email me, call me, etc.

I need to finalize this project by next Monday (May 23), so any suggestions you can get to me by then will be greatly appreciated.

Tweaks to OneSearch Interface

There have been a handful of notable tweaks to the OneSearch interface that were decided on by the Public Services Committee (each CUNY library has one representative) and are now live.

 

Redesign of “View Online” button

  • Relabeled to “View Now”
  • Added green shading to button

OneSearch--new View Now button

 

Tool tips for tabs

  • When you mouse over a tab, you will see a customized tool tip with more info about what that tab does

OneSearch--new tool tips

 

“Source” to be changed to “Provider”

  • If you click the “Details” tab or click the title of a record, you’ll see a detailed record of that item with a section labeled “Source” that indicates who created the record. That will soon be relabeled as “Provider.”

OneSearch--source

 

New resource type for “research guides”

  • To help spotlight our LibGuides that are findable in OneSearch, the resource type they are assigned will change from “Web Sites” to “Research Guides.”

OneSearch--research guides

MRI+ Mediamark Reporter Is Now Called GfK MRI University Reporter

If you go to MRI+ Mediamark Reporter, you’ll see that it has a new interface and new branding as GfK MRI University Report. Following feedback from some of our colleagues, Mike and I have decided to update the database links as follows:

  • The link labeled “MRI+ Mediamark Reporter” has been relabeled to “GfK MRI University Reporter (formerly MRI+ Mediamark Reporter)”. This link is now found on the G-H tab of the databases page. At the end of the year, this link will be shortened to just “GfK MRI University Reporter.”
  • A new link labeled “MRI+ Mediamark Reporter” has been added to the M-N tab of the databases page. At the end of this year, this link will be removed.

Dismal Scientist To Be Renamed as Economy.com

On April 25, Dismal Scientist will be renamed Economy.com. I’ve updated the label for the existing Dismal Scientist link on the databases page so that it now says “Economy.com (formerly Dismal Scientist)” and moved that to the E-F tab of the databases page. If your research guide has been using the Dismal Scientist database link, it should have been automatically renamed by the change I made.

For those students and faculty used to looking on the A-Z list for the link to “Dismal Scientist,” I’ve added a new temporary listing on the C-D tab of the database page for “Dismal Scientist is now called Economy.com.” That link also takes to you to the correct place.

By the end of the summer, I’ll remove this pointer listing for “Dismal Scientist is now called Economy.com.” At the end of the year, I’ll relabel the “Economy.com (formerly Dismal Scientist)” to just “Economy.com.”

If you run into any access problems, please let Mike or me know right away.

Database Trial: Historical Statistical Abstracts of the US (ProQuest Statistical Insight)

Database description (from the vendor)

Built to find and retrieve statistical content, ProQuest Statistical Insight spans more than 600,000 published tables a year on thousands of different topics. It provides fast and easy access to statistical information produced by U.S. Federal agencies, states, private organizations, and major intergovernmental organizations.

Trial ends

11 May 2016

Access

On and off campus access.

Feedback

Please share with any faculty who might be interested and recommend they use the trial feedback form (also linked to on the Trials tab on the databases page)

New Databases: American Fiction 1774-1920 and LGBT History and Culture

We purchased two new databases from Gale:

American Fiction, 1774-1920

  • Full text of novels, short stories, romances, fictitious biographies, travel accounts, allegories, and tract-like tales.
  • Links found on
    • A-Z database page
    • English – Databases page

LGBT History and Culture

  • From the vendor: “With material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups, the documents in the Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940 present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. The archive illuminates the experiences not just of the LGBTQ community as a whole, but of individuals of different races, ethnicities, ages, religions, political orientations, and geographical locations that constitute this community. Historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals are featured, as well as publications by and for lesbians and gays, and extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis. The archive also contains personal correspondence and interviews with numerous LGBTQ individuals, among others. The archive includes gay and lesbian newspapers from more than 35 countries, reports, policy statements, and other documents related to gay rights and health, including the worldwide impact of AIDS, materials tracing LGBTQ activism in Britain from 1950 through 1980, and more.”
  • Links found on:
    • A-Z database page
    • History – Databases page
    • Women’s Studies – Databases page

If there are other subject database pages that we should add links to, please let Mike or me know.

Solution Found for Problem with Library Website within Blackboard

The problem reported on March 10 with library searches not working when the library website was viewed within the Blackboard frame has been fixed. Now, if students are logged into Blackboard and have clicked the “Baruch Library” link in the Blackboard navigation, they’ll get a message in Blackboard telling them that the library website will open up in a separate tab. If the browser settings are set to block block pop ups, they’ll have to change that or just copy and paste the library website URL that appears in the message that Blackboard now displays.

Here is a screenshot of that Blackboard message about the library website:

Blackboard--message when Baruch Library link is clicked