Next Generation Melvyl Pilot – February Enhancements

By Ellen Meltzer, CDL Information Services Manager

The February install updates applied to WorldCat, including the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot supported by WorldCat Local (WCL), were written by OCLC staff members Cheryl Snowdon, Bob Robertson-Boyd, Laura Endress, and Bob Schulz (with some clarifications added).  The updates are described below.

Enhancement:  Relevancy algorithm revised for the brief list of results
What it means for the user

This change

• boosts matches in Title and Author fields higher in the results
• demotes matches that don’t have the search query in the title but have large number of holdings – will keep irrelevant articles from journals with large number of holdings from being highly ranked
• boosts the importance of matches in the WorldCat database over other database matches – will also help keep irrelevant articles from being highly ranked
• improves search results for single word titles (Science, Nature) and classic works (Tom Sawyer)

Enhancement:  Search for articles within journals
Added “Journal/Magazine” field to Advanced Search after a user first selects the format “Article”.  [Note: users can already do this in another way: after searching for and retrieving a journal title, users then find a search box on the details page labeled “Search for articles in this publication”.]

What it means for the user
The user can more easily find an article of interest within a specific journal.

Example:

Enhancement:  Change to OpenURL resolver link for eBooks (installed on 1/20)
OCLC revised the OpenURL links to include ISBN and genre=book for all eBook links. This fix should ensure that OpenURLs received by SFX (UC-eLinks) always include at least one unique identifier and should not be diverted to the SFX MOM (multi-object menu).

What it means for the user
The user is more likely to get linked to the specific item in the OpenURL resolver for eBooks.

Example:

Enhancement:  Collapse multiple author display on detailed record
Items with many authors will now display the first line of authors with the rest collapsed under a “View all authors” selector.

What it means for the user
More compact display for items with many authors and contributors.

Example:

Enhancement:  More item purchase options
Added links to purchase items from Barnes & Noble and Better World Books.

What it means for the user
More options to obtain items for purchase; ability to compare prices amongst several booksellers.

Example:

Enhancement:  Tag Clouds in Item Pages
What it is
OCLC is now showing item tags as clouds so users can view tags as a list or a cloud. (See, for an example, the tags on a Harry Potter book.)

What it means for the user
This gives users more browse options.

Example:

Enhancement:  Tag Clouds on Lists
What it is
Tag clouds show all of the tags that have been used on all of the items in a list.  If a list has 10 items, the tag cloud for the list would include all of the tags that have been applied to each of the 10 items.

What it means for the user
The tag cloud on a list will give users a sense of the content of the list, and overview, from a folksonomy view, of what the list is about.  It also provides another browse option.

Example: