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Next Generation Melvyl Pilot – July Update and News

July 18, 2008 Author: Ellen MeltzerCategories:

By Ellen Meltzer, CDL Information Services Manager

There are a number of recent developments in the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot:

  • The standalone Request function in the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot will be delayed until late fall, 2008.  Request will continue to be operational in Next Gen Melvyl as it is now, via the UC-eLinks button.
  • The findings of the usability tests conducted on advanced researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Irvine will be made available later this month.
  • All feedback from the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot is now coming directly to the CDL.  Previously, feedback sent by librarians or library employees went to OCLC, while all other (from patrons, students, library users or those not affiliated with a library) came to the CDL.  The reason for this change is that OCLC consulted so often with CDL on the meaning of UC practices, acronyms, and other contextual issues that it was more efficient to have these come directly to those familiar with the UC system.  The CDL continues to consult with OCLC on feedback issues when needed.
  • A joint UC-OCLC Large Serials Working Group including other academic library WorldCat Local (WCL) partners, Ohio State and the University of Washington, was formed to tackle the thorny technical and user interface issues pertaining to large serials retrievals.  The turnaround time for the group was 3 weeks. OCLC is considering launching similar working groups for areas such as special collections and music, and possibly others.

Article level metadata from the Modern Language Association (MLA) and H.W. Wilson indexes will be added in early 2009 to the more than 50 million articles indexed from NLM MEDLINE, the Department of Education’s ERIC database, the British Library Inside serials, the GPO Monthly Catalog and the OCLC ArticleFirst® database to expand access and discovery of authoritative content through WCL.

Among the improvements to the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot with OCLC’s July 14 installation
update to WCL:

  • Series display are enhanced and hyperlinked
  • Personal authors now display for eScholarship Repository items
  • Links for electronic resources (856 field) for each individual UC institution are displayed in the group (union) view
  • More complete physical description information for archival records is included
  • Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO) have been loaded

And…coming soon… Google Gadgets and Facebook Widgets.  Google Gadgets enable you to search Next Gen Melvyl from your iGoogle Homepage, Google Desktop, or virtually any other webpage you create.  A Facebook widget allows you to search the catalog directly from your Facebook account.