Yes, and I think the Alliance is spot on in not framing Encore to mimic the classic, it's a "google-like" search and that type of Search is keyword. It is not supposed to act like a "library catalog", is it?

Douglas.
Head of Access (Access Circulation, ILL/DocDel, PASCAL)
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | 303-724-2139
Health Sciences Library | http://hslibrary.ucdenver.edu/<http://hsclibrary.uchsc.edu/>  UC Denver, Aurora Colorado



From: The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries List ALLIANCE-L [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rose Nelson
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 9:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: New Prospector Discovery Interface Released

Hi Laura,

Yes, this is how it is supposed to work.  Currently, Encore only supports keyword searching.  However if you search by a specific journal title or book title, it's sophisticated enough to present these results first.  So you can use keyword searching for known titles and authors.  However, we have kept all of the other indexes-author, title, number searches, etc so that you can still search these indexes, even though they are only available in the classic interface.  We need to  continue to support functionality that is only available in the classic interface and this is why if search terms other than keyword, you will return to the classic Prospector page.

Rose

Rose Nelson
Systems Librarian
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries
http://www.coalliance.org
303-759-3399 X103 fax 303-759-3363

From: The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries List ALLIANCE-L [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Laura Guy
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 9:02 AM
To: alliance-l
Subject: Re: New Prospector Discovery Interface Released

I'm embarrassed to admit I've not tested this.

Is this the way it is supposed to work?  I put in (for example)  oliver, Jamie and then select "Author" - it then presents me with the OLD prospector results screen?  Do I need to clear my cache or something?

Laura Guy
Colorado School of Mines

From: The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries List ALLIANCE-L [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of George Machovec
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 8:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: New Prospector Discovery Interface Released

We are pleased to announce that the new Prospector Encore discovery interface has launched this morning.  Below is FAQ that was sent last week.  Please share this with your staff as appropriate.

George



New Prospector Discovery Interface

For more information contact George Machovec ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) or Rose Nelson ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>)


The new discovery interface for Prospector has been released.  It is using the Encore software from Innovative Interfaces Inc. and will allow users a new and improved searching experience with Prospector.  The old Prospector interface will also remain in place and you will have a choice of how you may want to link from your local WebPAC to Prospector.  If your library is running its own local discovery interface (e.g. Encore, AquaBrowser, VuFind) you will most certainly want to offer pass through searching to the new Prospector Encore interface.  However, if you are running a classic WebPAC you can choose where you want Prospector pass through searches to go - either classic Prospector WebPAC or the new Prospector interface.



Below is an FAQ to answer some of the most common questions.  However, please feel free to ask additional questions if they are not covered below or additional clarification is needed.



1.       What is URL of the new Prospector Discovery service?



http://www.coalliance.org/prospector  This is the new Prospector launch page and we recommend that you use this address for linking to the "top" of Prospector (i.e. not pass through searches).



2.       Will the old Prospector service still be available?



Yes the old Prospector WebPAC is still fully supported and will not change.  However, after August 18th we will redirect users who go to the http://prospector.coalliance.org to the new launch page.  To go to the old Prospector start page use http://prospector.coalliance.org/search~S0



3.       What will happen if the local library does nothing on August 18th?



Your pass through searches from your local OPAC will continue to work as they always have.  However, any links to the current top Prospector homepage will be redirected to the new launch page.



4.       We are running a local instance of Encore for our library.  How do we pass through searches to the new Prospector Encore discovery layer?



Contact Innovative Interfaces Inc (III) and they can change your pass through searches from your local Encore to the Prospector Encore discovery layer.



5.       Where do the book jackets come from in the new interface and why do many not appear?


The book jackets are pulled from Amazon.com.  It should be noted that Prospector has many older materials and many specialized editions of materials (e.g. paperback, hardback, large print, audio, video) so that book jackets often do not appear.  However, we will show them when possible.  We will look at other sources for enhanced book jacket art but at the present we do not have money in the budget for a commercial service such as Syndetics or Content Café.


 1.  Where can I get the new Prospector graphics?
Feel free to copy and reuse any of the new graphics from Prospector for linking purposes from your local site.  We also have clean .jpgs that we can send if you prefer, contact Rose Nelson at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>



7.       Summarize some of the advantages of the new interface we can tout to our staff and users.



ˇ         A clean modern interface with an improved look and feel

ˇ         New facets allow searches to be filtered by format, language, year, location and other elements.  The old system did not support filtering by format and the other filters were difficult to find and use.

ˇ         Better relevance ranking and "Did you mean?" functionality

ˇ         The user does not need to pick a search field as authors, titles and other keywords all work very nicely in the single search box

ˇ         Serials are very easy to find since the relevance algorithm pushes them to the top of the search results



8.       When should I use the old interface and what are key missing features in the new environment?



ˇ         If you want to do advanced Boolean searches, specialized number searches or specific fielded browses (e.g. subject headings browse, title browse) the old system should be used

ˇ         The "Find More Resources" button in the old system which links out to WorldCat, Google Books and eCommerce sites is only available in Prospector classic at this time

ˇ         The "Request Article" button that directs users to link resolvers or article finder forms  at local sites is only available in Prospector classic at this time





9.       On the new Prospector launch page there is a pull down box with many different kinds of searches; why do some go to the new discovery interface and others go to Prospector classic?



The "keyword" search in the new launch page initiates a search in the new discovery interface.  It is optimized to handle title, author, subject and other key terms in a highly-efficient single-index search and display algorithm.  However, all of the other searches in the launch page go to specific indexes in the classic Prospector system.  By putting them all on the launch page, experienced users can start whatever type of search they want without having to find the old system.  Only the "keyword" search launches the new discovery interface.



10.   Why does Requesting an item go to Prospector Classic?



Once an item has been found in the new Prospector discovery layer and the user wants to request it, the user will be routed to Prospector classic to complete their request.  The request process will take place in a new smaller window so that the person can easily go back to the discovery layer.  We hope that there may be some future enhancement from Innovative to keep the user in the Encore environment for the full request process.  But this is not now the case.



11.   We are running on a non-Innovative discovery layer for our local system (e.g. AquaBrowser, VuFind, locally developed Drupal) or we want to pass searches from our classic WebPAC to the Prospector Encore discovery layer.  How can we construct stable URLs for pass through searches to Prospector Encore?


a.  Passing in a search term:
Use Prospector Encore server domain (e.g. encore.coalliance.org)
Replace {INSERT SEARCH TERM HERE} with your search term (e.g. art%20history where %20 is encoding for a space; or you can also use a plus sign)
http://{encore.coalliance.org<http://%7bencore.coalliance.org> /iii/encore/search}/C|S{INSERT SEARCH TERM HERE}|Orightresult|U1?lang=eng
b.  Going directly to a record:
Use Prospector Encore server domain (e.g. encore.coalliance.org)
Replace {INSERT RECORD NUMBER HERE} with the record number, starting with the record type indicator (e.g. b1401495 for a bib record, e1001265 for a resource record)
http://{encore.coalliance.org<http://%7bencore.coalliance.org> /iii/encore/record/C|R{INSERT RECORD NUMBER HERE}
                c.  Examples:
http://encore.coalliance.org/iii/encore/search/C|Sart+history|Orightresult|U1?lang=eng (launches a keyword search)
http://encore.coalliance.org/iii/encore/record/C|Rb10658092 (goes to a particular record)


George Machovec
Associate Director
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries
3801 E. Florida, Suite 515
Denver, CO  80210
(303) 759-3399 x.101
(303) 759-3363 (fax)
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
http://www.coalliance.org