Comprehensive Guide to AquaBrowser Library
This document describes how Aquabrowser works. It shows you different search strategies, and explains some of the logic behind them.
This document and its contents may be used for instruction purposes, and may be copied and distributed as necessary.
Authors:
· Anthony Hodge, manager marketing and communications
· Abi Sutherland, test & QA manager
Created: October 25, 2005
Last revised: September 11, 2007
Version: 1.1
Table of Contents
Introduction : What is AquaBrowser Library?
What does AquaBrowser Library do?
How to start using AquaBrowser Library
Search
Discover
Refine
My Discoveries
Introduction – What is AquaBrowser Library?
AquaBrowser Library® is a revolutionary library catalog search solution that enables the user to perform high-quality searches easily. It offers the best graphic interface to make searching in the library a fun experience. AquaBrowser Library is as easy to use as the simplest Internet search tool; however, it also provides the user with ability to virtually ‘browse’ the shelves – which is something no other library search solution can do.
(Fig. 1 – AquaBrowser Library)
By instantly assembling word associations relevant to the term(s) a user has entered, AquaBrowser Library offers suggestions in a similar way to many reference providers, but with much broader choice in a single search. In addition, a user may be offered terms they did not know were associated with their original search term(s). This not only makes the patron more independent, it also enables them to view the library’s information in an entirely new light by incorporating previously overlooked information into the initial search.
The AquaBrowser Library search methodology has been developed through many years of research and technical development. The built in user feedback helps the development team to better understand how people are using their libraries, searching in the catalog, and even searching on the Internet.
One key concern during the development of AquaBrowser Library was the desire to eliminate the most common problem in performing a search: reaching a dead end with zero results. This is why the visual word cloud exists – to give the user choices that they did not initially consider or associate with the original topic of their search. AquaBrowser Library offers the kind of assistance given in a reference interview, yet still manages to make the librarian’s job easier and not take away from their importance.
What does AquaBrowser Library do?
AquaBrowser Library integrates with a library’s online catalogs and acts as a search tool and interface to them. It connects to the library’s own catalog, sources the library subscribes to, and those shares with other organizations. Users can enter search term(s) as easily as they do in an Internet search engine to access these sources all together. AquaBrowser widens the scope of a typical catalog search by incorporating three distinct design principles, known as Search, Discover and Refine. These principles are introduced below, but will be discussed more extensively in subsequent pages.
Search
The Search function, located in the center pane of the screen, displays a relevance-ranked result list that works similarly to any search engine. Once you select a title from the list, the center pane then gives the user all the details from the catalog about that item.
(Fig. 2 – Example of search results list)
Discover
Discover refers to the word cloud located in the left pane of the screen. It is a starburst of suggestions that AquaBrowser has found to be associated with the term that the user has searched for. This dynamic word cloud allows users to select from the associations and hone their query. It also builds a trail that offers still more results. These suggestions help the user ask the best possible question to find the results that they ultimately desire.
(Fig.3 – Example of the word cloud)
Refine
Refine, located in the right pane, provides a breakdown of the number of items found in various dimensions and categories (e.g. Author, Subject, etc.). This helps the user understand the search results. A user can utilize this information to filter the search results, knowing that the results shown are in the library’s holdings. Refining the query also builds a breadcrumb trail at the top of the results panel, giving the user a visual history of the ways they have narrowed their original results.
(Fig. 4 – Refine menu)
How to start using AquaBrowser Library
Searching is easy and straightforward with AquaBrowser Library. The user enters a search term into the query box and presses “Enter” or selects the “Search” button.
(Fig 5 – search box)
Instantly, search results will appear in a list ranked by relevance to the term(s) entered. The search results are actual item records from the library’s catalog, complete with the annotation and an image of the item, where applicable.
Search
In order to best understand how AquaBrowser Library works, it is necessary to analyze each of the three design principles. The first and most significant is Search.
(Fig. 6 – search for ‘queen’)
In the Search above, the term “queen” has been entered. AquaBrowser Library displays the number of items found and provides a listing of the library’s titles in the center pane. The ranking is automatically set by relevance; however, the drop down menu, entitled “sorted by” gives the user the options of re-sorting the results by year, title, and author.
AquaBrowser Library uses relevance as the default setting because users have become accustomed to Internet search engines that also sort in this way. The user expects to find what he is looking for on the first page of results and is not likely to review subsequent pages. By placing the most relevant results at the top of the list, the user is much more likely to find the item instantly.
The AquaBrowser search engine holds an index of the full catalog. By selecting one of the titles in the result list, the user opens the item record from the library’s catalog. Depending on the library’s chosen configuration, the record page can offer the same functional information that the user is used to seeing, including the item status (checked in, checked out, on hold) the item location (branch, floor, shelf), etc.
In the example above, the user entered “queen” but did not specify what it was he was looking for. In a typical catalog search, the user knows what he wants, but the system does not. AquaBrowser Library offers an array of word associations in the left panel to aid the user along if he did not enter the best possible search criteria, or simply did not find what he was looking for in the first page of search results.
Rules of Search
The original search term remains part of the search until the user manually enters a new search term (or multiple terms, or phrase) into the query box, or clicks on a link (such as an author name) that starts a fresh search. By default, search results are organized by relevance. By selecting the title link, the user will be able to view the record within the library’s native integrated library system.
Manipulating Search Results
The user can navigate the results pages one at a time by simply selecting either ‘Previous’ or ‘Next’ at the top and bottom of the Search pane. The user can navigate to the first or last result page by selecting either ‘First’ or ‘Last’, or jump to a specific page by selecting one of the displayed page numbers.
(Fig 7 – paging buttons)
Sort Options
At the top of the results panel is a drop-down menu with sort options.
(Fig. 8 – drop-down sorting menu)
The sort function allows the user to sort the results by the following criteria:
· Relevance – this is the default, since the primary purpose of AquaBrowser Library is to show the user the results most relevant to the original query. Relevance is defined by the number of exact matches, non-exact matches (which are derivations of or variations on the query term), and search history.
· Year – This allows the user to sort results by publication year. The newest results are shown first.
· Author – This allows the user to sort results alphabetically by author.
· Title – This allows the user to sort results by alphabetically by title.
User Feedback
The library can choose to enter helpful hints using the Control Panel (see AquaBrowser Library Administration Guide for full description of this feature). These will be displayed whenever a user enters a particular search term. For example, if the user enters “davinci”, as shown in Fig. 9 below, a pre-entered hint will appear under the search box.
(Fig. 9 – Search hints)
AquaBrowser Library will also display “Did you mean…?” as another hint when the user enters a term that AquaBrowser library does not have results for. This hint will only appear when a user is faced with few or no immediate search results, and where the system can find similar searches that do have matches.
(Fig. 10 – Did you mean…?)
Help Link
(Fig.11 – Help link)
By selecting the ‘Help’ link located to the right of the search button, the user will be shown basic instructions on using AquaBrowser Library, including simple examples and an explanation of the page components.
(Fig. 12 – Search Help screen)
Discover
Many common search terms have different meanings in different contexts. Does a user who searches for “mercury” want to find items about the planet, the Roman god, the chemical element, or the record label? AquaBrowser Library uses the Discover word cloud to help them browse among related terms for the different meanings of the search item they entered.
(Fig.13 – Word cloud “shell”)
When the user who searched for “shell” looks at the Discover word cloud, they will see various suggestions such as “shock”, “fish”, and “Multinationals”. How did AquaBrowser Library associate these terms with the search term “shell”? Royal Dutch Shell is a large multinational corporation. Many books about World War I refer to shell shock. And shellfish are referenced in zoology and cooking books.
AquaBrowser Library is able to find the relationship between these three terms (and many others) even when the user is not, because this is not what the user was specifically looking for when he entered the search. The user might not know that shell could be associated with these terms, and now he has discovered new information. Of course “shell” may appear with hundreds, even thousands of other terms in the library’s catalog, but AquaBrowser Library is designed to list only those results that appear most closely in proximity to the searched term.
Further analysis of the word cloud in the search for “shell” shows approximately 25 more associations. The word cloud was meticulously designed to give the most information that a typical searcher could handle in an instant, so as not to slow down the search process.
Size and proximity in the word cloud
(Fig. 14 – search for “shell”)
The term “shell” sits at the center of the word cloud, with the associations surrounding it at various distances and in different sizes. All the terms appear because they are relevant to the center word. Words which occur more often near to the searched term appear in bold and are chosen through a built-in algorithm. Actual relevance of these words to the original search term is completely dependent on the individual searching.
The distance of a term from the center term has no meaning. The words are randomly scattered around the search term to give the user the full-view of all associated terms. The purpose of this scattering versus a list is to portray the terms without giving an impression of priority to one over another.
Layout of the word cloud
(Fig. 15 – A close up view of the word cloud)
As mentioned previously, the word cloud was developed with the comprehension of the user in mind. This is why only a limited number of associated terms will appear in the word cloud. The purpose of portraying the associations in this way is simple. What is relevant to one user may not be relevant to another. Therefore, portraying the associations in a list could convey that one term was of higher relevance to a user than another. Since the system cannot derive the user’s ultimate goal, the terms are scattered, so as not to convey any order of priority, and to allow the user to see a flat view of the associations.
Selecting from the word cloud
(Fig. 16 – After clicking on a term in the word cloud)
All of the terms in the word cloud are links. If the user who searched for “shell” selects “bomb”, as in the figure above, AquaBrowser Library will perform another search for “bomb”, while keeping “shell” in the backdrop of the search. In the word cloud, this is shown by the movement of the terms to shift “bomb” to the center (as it is now priority) while all the surrounding words now change based on “bomb” as the new searched term. The term “shell” appears in blue because it is now in the search history (called the discovery trail).
This process can continue virtually endlessly if the user so desires. The previous search terms and all the selected links are retained in the discovery trail and incorporated into the overall search, however the most recent terms selected are given the most weight.