Virtual Bookshelf Appplication at University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh Wins Prize
By Lynn Blumenstein Jun 24, 2010Now academic library users are beginning to get the browsing functionality that users expect from consumer sites.
The Related Items Bookshelf (RIB) at the University of Wisconsin (UW), Oshkosh, a "browse-able, virtual bookshelf of related items embedded into the Voyager OPAC," has won Ex Libris's Elympics competition, which recognizes the best code extensions to Ex Libris products. There were 45 submissions.
The $5000 prize went to Maccabee Levine, emerging technologies librarian at UW.
The "browse this shelf" feature appears at the bottom of the page for each book in the Polk Library online catalog, and displays the books that are adjacent to the selected book on the actual library shelf, according to the UW Oshkosh Today.
Behind the concept
The basic idea was to mimic the discovery process found in a physical library or bookstore, Levine told LJ, where books are shelved next to others on the same subject. "Once you've found the first book on a topic, you see many others right next to it-'discovery' becomes automatic and even unavoidable. "It's hard to duplicate that [discovery] experience in an OPAC," he said.
Levine was inspired by online bookstores and movie sites (Amazon, Borders, Netflix) that added "virtual bookshelves" in a display of a row of cover images of related or recommended items. He describes the product as "a widget embedded into the bottom of a record page in Voyager WebVoyage. It displays cover images for the target book and those with similar call numbers in a scrollable, virtual bookshelf."
The RIB was designed specifically for easy installation onto a Voyager 7 OPAC, Levine told LJ, "with no additional software dependencies (unlike some other virtual bookshelf implementations that require a separate data store.)" It also was the first virtual bookshelf released under an open source license.
Features
Among the RIB features, detailed on the product web site, is the capacity to scroll left and right to see the same items that would be on the physical shelf. Users can "mouse" over an item for basic information (title, author, publication year); availability status and location; and links to Google Book Search info and preview pages where applicable. Users also can click an item to view its own WebVoyage record page.
A library using RIB may choose between Syndetics and Google Book Search cover images or, when no image is available, use fake cover mockup that displays the item's title and author. The bookshelf can be hidden on particular pages, if desired. Usage can be tracked anonymously and without identifying the items via Google Analytics.
Levine was inspired by the Virtual Shelf Browser tool offered at the University of Huddersfield, UK, library. "It's the first virtual bookshelf I've seen in a library," said Levine. Library Systems Manager and LJ 2009 Mover & Shaker Dave Pattern developed the concept.
Reaction
Levine believes that Koha, the open source ILS, does predate RIB and has a built-in shelf browsing widget, but he doesn't believe it's available as a separate piece of software. RIB "remains the first and only designed specifically for easy installation on Voyager," he noted.
More recently, since RIB's initial release in March, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, has open sourced its "browse shelf" tool as well. Levine also cites Stanford University's Socrates catalog as having a similar tool ("nearby items on shelf"), although without cover images.
Early reaction at UW Oshkosh and elsewhere has been very positive, said Levine. "It's just fun (and obviously useful) to visually browse the books on a subject that you're already interested in."
RIB beta tester and University of Texas Arlington systems librarian Michael Doran voiced his support on the Voyager-L discussion list: " a straightforward installation (with excellent instructions) and an immediate "WOW!" factor when people see it. This is way cool."
