InfoSoup Development Blog

LibraryThing live plus screencast

2009-05-12T16:36:00Z

LibraryThing has been alive and well in InfoSoup for about a week now. Hopefully, you noticed and have been enjoying it. If not, give it a try! I have loaded a new screencast on the InfoSoup blip.tv channel showing how to use LibraryThing in InfoSoup. Please take a look and share it with your patrons. Thanks, Beth

LibraryThing set up in Staging

2009-04-07T19:42:09Z

As was announced at the last AAC meeting, we will be adding LibraryThing to InfoSoup as a new enhancement. LibraryThing will only show on full record pages and will offer patrons a list of similar titles, a tag cloud, and links to other editions.

Evan and I have been tinkering with getting LibraryThing set up in the Staging version of InfoSoup and think we have a pretty good working example for you to take a look at. The data we're working with right now is from 2007, but as soon as Charles can get us a new set of data that will be updated to include all of our current titles. Try some searches of your own (not for new stuff at the moment) or try the following links. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page to find the LibraryThing info.

Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Population, 485 by Michael Perry
Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay

What do you think? Please post your thoughts and questions in the comments.

Thanks!
Beth and Evan

Permanent links to iSoup records

2009-04-07T19:32:27Z

In the live version of InfoSoup, on the full record pages, there is a link at the bottom of the page called "Permanent link to this record." See http://www.infosoup.org/record=b1638718~S77 for an example. When you click on the link, the URL in the address bar of the browser changes and becomes a stable URL that can be copied and used to link back to that record from an email, web site, blog, etc. It's a great way to get URLs when creating web bibliographies or blog posts that you want to link to specific records in the catalog. I'm proposing moving this link up on the page - I use it quite often and am frustrated by scrolling down, and I suspect other people might use it more if they knew what it was for. I have set up an example of what I propose in Staging and suggest posting it under the rating stars with a heading called "Share" and the link text being changed to "Link to this page." I also added a title for the link that shows when your cursor is over it, which says "Right click this link to copy a permanent URL for this page." See http://www.infosoup.org:2082/record=b1637558~S77 for an example. The positioning of the link isn't taking up screen real estate that was being used before, it was just white space. What do you think? Please add your thoughts in the comments, and we'll go from there. Thanks! Beth

Language Learning on InfoSoup

2009-03-17T16:54:28Z

Our contract with the TELL ME MORE (TMM) languages program ends on March 22nd. For a while we were planning on giving it a try for another year. After additional evaluation, however, we came to the conclusion that renewing TMM may not be our best choice. Usage was pretty low, and both patrons and library staff encountered numerous problems getting the program to work. Because of these issues, we have decided to try a new language program called Mango Languages. Mango's main strength is that is is very easy to use. Mango can be used with any relatively recent browser and on any operating system (Mac users could not use TMM). Users only need adobe flash version 9 or higher, which is very common application. Mango is not as comprehensive as TMM -- it does not have speech recognition or writing components, but we believe it's usability is more important. Mango focuses more on everyday conversation. Anyone who has listened to a Pimsleur language tape will recognize the similarity. With Mango we also gain three new languages, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. We do, however, lose Dutch (although only four people ever tried Dutch on TMM, and I think I was one of those four). There may also be additional languages added later this year. For ESL students, Mango has three programs for learning English for Spanish, Polish, and Brazilian Portuguese speakers. More ESL programs are also planned. Mango will be featured on the InfoSoup home page with a link to our Mango start page at http://info.infosoup.org/mango/ We will leave the TMM link up until the 22nd, with a note about why we are switching to Mango and with a link to Mango. To use Mango from outside a library one will need a valid library card # and PIN. One nice feature of Mango is that you can use it with our without signing up for an account (although you still need your card # & PIN). If you just want to take a quick look, or don't want to remember yet another password, there is a Skip Login option (once you are on the Mango Languages page, not on the InfoSoup Page) that allows you to use Mango anonymously. If you do sign up for a Mango account, it will keep track of your language lessons. If you have any questions or if your patrons have any questions, please let me know. I think most users will find Mango a lot easier to use. Thanks, Evan

Change in book covers & reviews

2009-03-16T19:02:36Z

We are going to be switching to a new vendor for book jackets and summaries. The switch should take place this afternoon. Once the change is in place here are the differences you will see.

The covers will be a little larger.
When you click on the cover (either from the brief record or the full record) a summary page will open in a frame below. On the summary page you might see anything from a brief summary, publishers comments, book club guide, or a lengthy review from BookPage. Just click on "Back to Catalog" to return to the previous screen.
On the full record page, the Reviews & Summaries link will be replaced by and Additional Info link. This link will be the same as clicking on the cover.
We will no longer have Publishers Weekly or Library Journal reviews through Syndetics. These can usually be found on the Amazon page or by searching EBSCO from the links on the full record page. While we lose some convenience with this, our statistics show that the syndetics reviews were getting limited use.

You can see the new book covers on our development server at http://www.infosoup.org:2082 Here are a couple of examples http://www.infosoup.org:2082/record=b1703003~S77 (With Review) http://www.infosoup.org:2082/record=b1446333~S77 (Generic) We apologize for the short notice. We have been looking at this switch for a while, but we were uncertain until very recently that the new vendor (BookLetters) would have their product ready in time. Our contract with Syndetics has run out so we needed to move quickly. Why the switch? Two main reasons. One is that we believe BookLetters will provide a faster service. We have had numerous slowdown issues with syndetics over the years. This is something we will keep an eye on with the new service. The second is that we will be saving money which we hope to put toward other catalog enhancements. Please let me know if you have any questions or notice any problems. Thanks, Evan

Cover Art in InfoSoup (update)

2009-02-10T15:48:06Z

I just noticed that quality of the images (on my screens at least) varies quite a bit between IE 7 and Firefox 3. Anyone want to guess which one is clearer? Interestingly, Firefox 2 looks as bad as IE 7). I think this has lead to my back and forth opinion about image quality. On IE I find some the images to be very distracting, while on Firefox 3 it looks fine. Unfortunately we cannot require our patrons to use Firefox. Also, right now Bookletters does not have much coverage for DVDs and Music. For testing I have activated Syndetics Movie and Music content on the staging server http://www.infosoup.org:2082. Right now, if you the material type is book or audiobook, it should link to Bookletters and if the material type is dvd or cd it should link to Syndetics Video and Music content. I'm not sure of the cost, but technically it would be possible to subscribe to Syndetics for Video and Music and Bookletters for books. For the curious, I have a test page comparing a variety of cover images at http://info.infosoup.org/bookletters/test.html. I'm still hoping to convince bookletters to improve image quality. Thanks, Evan

Cover Art in InfoSoup

2009-02-09T17:07:24Z

I am working with Bookletters on getting their cover art and enhanced content working in the staging environment on InfoSoup. The full product is not up yet and they are still working on a number of issues. Before we go any further, however, I would like to get some feedback about the image quality. Rather than having different sized book cover images, Bookletters uses one medium sized image. To resize this image in InfoSoup, I need to give a forced image size. Doing this compromises image quality. Furthermore, the width of children's books and audio CD are different than standard books, which leads to more distortion. My first thought was that the image quality is unacceptable. Then I thought it is not really all that bad. Now I'm just not sure. If you have a chance, please take a look and let me know what you think http://www.infosoup.org:2082/ Try a variety of searches for adult, kids, books on cd and compare with syndetics cover art. You can click on the cover (in staging / 2082) to see the Bookletters content, but remember that this is not the final product. It will, however, give you an idea of how it will work - one click, no pop ups. If you go to the full record, I have left the image in it's original size for comparisons sake. Also, they are still working on cross referencing ISBN numbers so there are a lot of items that don't currently show jackets, but that will show. My question right now is whether the image quality is a deal breaker if they cannot improve it? Thanks, Evan

Saved searches screencast

2009-01-14T21:18:33Z

I have loaded a new screencast on the InfoSoup blip.tv channel showing how to use Saved Searches in InfoSoup. Please take a look and share it with your patrons. Thanks, Beth

Survey being added to InfoSoup

2009-01-07T17:36:40Z

Part of the LSTA grant that OWLS received for our "Enhancing Library Services via Podcasts, Screencasts, and Vodcasts" project requires that we survey InfoSoup users about the usefulness of the screencasts created with the grant purchased equipment. I have put together a survey that I will be posting on InfoSoup on Friday, and thought you might like a heads up. The survey includes questions relating to the What's Simmering blog, as well, and an open comment box for people to make suggestions, complaints, compliments, etc. Feel free to take a look at the survey before Friday and let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Beth

Jobs Page and Learn a Test

2009-01-06T19:50:38Z

When we pulled the plug on Cooler by the Lake a number of libraries asked that we continue to provide a page of links to often requested job search sites. The resulting Job and Career Resources @ your Library page has become out of date and out of place on the old owls domain. We have updated and incorporated the site into a new InfoSoup Job & Career Resources page http://info.infosoup.org/jobs.asp. A link to this page will be on our Research Tools Page below Learn a Test under a new and ever growing heading Language, Test, Study Skills, and Jobs. The old OWLS page will redirect to the new InfoSoup page. One thing to note about the page is that the Wisconsin JobNet site is being replaced by a new JobCenterofWisconsin.com job search. The JobNet site, so I have been told, will go away sometime after February 1, 2009. Also, it is very likely that NFLS will be subscribing to Learn a Test in 2009. If they do subscribe we will be able to do a much better job of promoting the resource. Learn a Test will also be coming out with a new and much needed redesign of their site. I have seen a preview, and it looks much better. They plan to release the new version at ALA in January and I hope it will be available for us soon after. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about the jobs page or about Learn a Test.

My Lists added to InfoSoup

2008-11-14T18:55:47Z

A new feature has been added to InfoSoup, and its name is "My Lists." This feature allows you to save materials to lists that you name and describe, and then allows you to manipulate your lists via sorting, deleting titles, or creating new lists. View the screencast for a quick demo of how it works and give it a try today.

Feel free to post your comments or questions about My Lists here.

Thanks! Beth

Forgot your PIN? Live!

2008-10-22T18:25:59Z

The "Forgot Your PIN?" feature has officially been added to InfoSoup. Patrons can now reset their own PINs if they have an email address associated with their patron account. View the screencast for a quick demo of how it all works or try it for yourself on the My Account page in InfoSoup. Feel free to post your comments or questions about this feature here. Thanks, Beth

Scoping changes in InfoSoup

2008-09-25T15:15:20Z

Based on our discussion at the AAC meeting, the following changes have been made to the scopes in InfoSoup:

Audiobooks changed to Audiobooks (all formats)
Audiobooks MP3 changed to Audiobooks on CD MP3
Audiobooks overdrive changed to Audiobooks Overdrive WMA
Music on CD & cassette changed to Music (all formats)
Music overdrive changed to Music Overdrive WMA
Videogames and software added

Limit to titles not in reading history

2008-09-19T18:07:34Z

There is a new option for search limiting that may be helpful to patrons using the Reading History feature in their patron accounts. Once you perform a search (when you're logged into your account) you'll see a new limit box in the search widget at the top of the page that says "Limit to titles which aren't in my Reading History." When you check that box and re-execute your search, it removes titles that appear in your Reading History from the search results. This could be handy if you have a favorite author, for example, and you'd like to only see those titles you haven't already read in your search results. The consensus at AAC was that this is a nice feature and we should add it to InfoSoup. For those of you who weren't at the meeting, what do you think? Please look at it in staging and post your thoughts in the comments. Thanks, Beth

PIN retrieval update

2008-09-19T17:54:43Z

We discussed the PIN retrieval feature I mentioned in this post at the AAC meeting today. Innovative has not responded to the call we put out at the beginning of September. The consensus at AAC was that this feature is important to us and our patrons, so we should implement it regardless of the problems that exist with it (mainly with display problems). I will add some requested text to the form and will remove duplicated buttons and text (a temporary fix I came up with) as discussed. For those of you who weren't at AAC today, please take a look at it again in staging on the My Account page and let me know what you think. If you don't see any problems with using it as is, I'll make it live in the next few weeks. Thanks, Beth