Each of these work in Innovative’s Millennium OPAC. I have not had a chance to check whether this will work in other systems, but would greatly enjoy hearing whether or not it works for others.

The key to this is the MARC 970 field, using the subfield |t, which is used for Table of Contents display information. It was observed that the contents of the field were passed along to the browser, and that html code could be passed to the bibliographic display.

It works well, and is a perfect example of a “hack”, utilizing existing functionality in new and creative ways. To date, there are six ways to extend the OPAC.

To try out these examples, simply copy the html code, starting with the |t, and paste it into a 970 field in a bibliographic record. Each of the examples should work as is; some information about how to modify the code, as well as a screenshot of the example is provided.

Displaying an Image:
This is fairly straightforward insertion of an image stored on Flickr. Change the URLs to whatever you need, adjust the pixel height and width, and this will serve you well.

|t<center><object data="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3433/3694927599_039309b2e6_o.jpg" type="image/jpg" width="400" height="600"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3433/3694927599_039309b2e6_o.jpg"></img></object></center>

Image Screenshot

Embedding a Search Form:
This code embeds a search form for OpenLibrary, including a selector check box and link to an advanced search page. Search forms can be tricky, and it can be very challenging to get even basic search functionality for some services.

|t<br />Search OpenLibrary:<form method="get" action="http://www.openlibrary.org/search"><input border: 1px solid #ccc; width: 100%" type="text" name="q" value="" title="type_search." /><button class="go" type="submit">Go</button><br /><input tabindex="9" type="checkbox" value="mhsncqbxgkup" name="ftokens">Scanned books only<br /><a href="http://www.openlibrary.org/advanced" style="text-decoration: underline">OpenLibrary Advanced Search Page</a></form>

Search Box Screenshot

Embedding a Video:
This example embeds a YouTube video, specifically the preview for the film “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Previews of videos available in the library, library instructional videos, and author interviews are examples of the types of embedded video that add can value to your OPAC.

The embedding information comes from the “Embed” information from the YouTube result page. You can also simply replace the URL information in the code below:

|t<center><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ilW32IKJoM0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="720" height="578"></embed></center>

Embedded Video Screenshot

Streaming Audio:
This example uses a third-party service called Odeo to stream the MP3 audio of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The audio file lives on the Internet Archive.

|tTo listen to the speech, click the "Play" button:<br /><center><embed src= "http://www.odeo.com/flash/audio_player_standard_gray.swf" quality="high" width="300" height="52" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars= "valid_sample_rate=true&external_url=http://www.archive.org/download/MLKDream/MLKDream_64kb.mp3" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></center>

Streaming Audio Screenshot

Journal Table of Contents
This example utilizes two separate third-party services. First, the ticTOCs Journal Tables of Contents service is used to locate an RSS feed for a table of contents, in this case “Educational Research“.

After this, the feed URL is entered into the Feed2js service, which generates the code. To display any RSS feed, simply use the Feed2js service with a feed’s URL.

|t<script language="JavaScript" src="http://feed2js.org//feed2js.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.informaworld.com%2Fampp%2Frss%7Econtent%3D0013-1881&chan=y&tz=-5&targ=y&utf=y&html=a" charset="UTF-8" type="text/javascript"></script> <noscript> <a href="http://feed2js.org//feed2js.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.informaworld.com%2Fampp%2Frss%7Econtent%3D0013-1881&chan=y&tz=-5&targ=y&utf=y&html=y">View RSS feed</a> </noscript>

Journal Table of Contents Screenshot

Virtual Bookplate
This example is simply a proof of concept, but I especially enjoyed putting this one together and hope to create a more polished version in the future. It uses a background image of an open book with blank pages (credit to happysweetmama via Flickr), and then applies Relative Positioning to place text on top of the image.

The text position, font, size, and content are all able to be controlled for each record. This can be a great way to honor those who add to a collection, or to highlight items from a particular collection.

|t<center><object data="http://www.libology.com/capital/OpenBook500.jpg" type="image/jpg" width="500" height="364"> <img src="http://www.libology.com/capital/OpenBook500.jpg" width="500" height="364"></img> </object><div style="position: relative; top:-225px; left:-125px"><font size="+1" font-family:"Times New Roman",Georgia,Serif;>A Gift from:</font></div><div style="position: relative; top:-260px; left:125px"><font size="+2" font-family:"Times New Roman",Georgia,Serif;>Josiah H.<br />Blackmore II</font></div></center>

Virtual Bookplate Screenshot

There are, I am sure, dozens of ways that one can use this hack to enhance the OPAC… these are just a start.

The modern re-birth of the term appears to begin around 1994.

Their current article, Accent Folding, greatly impacts library data in general, and library catalogs in particular.  It deals with the issue of Unicode and pattern recognition, namely how one creates search tools that allow for variations in how words containing accents, stress marks, and other non-ascii characters.  The most succinct example:

There is no excuse for your software to play dumb when the user types “cafe” instead of “café.”

The article presents methods of “normalizing” text to allow for proper matching, and should be read by anyone who gets to deal with library data for reports and searching aids.  If you know how to use regular expressions, you will likely be in for a treat.

The other example they present, this time to demonstrate the limitations of accent folding, uses Japanese to illustrate just how differently the same data can be presented:

These four sentences all say “Children like to watch television” in Japanese:

• Kanji: 子供はテレビを見るのが好きです。
• Hiragana: こども は てれび を みる の が すき です 。
• Romaji: kodomo wa terebi o miru noga suki desu.
• Cyrillic: кодомо ва тэрэби о миру нога суки дэсу.

Even if you don’t end up applying this directly to your work, the information in this article will help your appreciation for the challenges contained within your data, and how tough it can be to make it “just work” sometimes.

Time to Update? by David Lee King.

Check the web sites that your library presents to the world.  If you see messages like those highlighted by David, start talking to people about getting them up to date (or better yet, getting rid of them, since a good standards-designed site will work well across browsers and browser versions).

The reality of the idea is, shall we say, a different matter.  The process is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and usually falls short in the relevance category.

Springo may be the reality that falls closer to the ideal.  Focusing on topic-based searches, they provide results that reflect sites that people most use when they are seeking solutions to more generalized questions, such as e-mail software, movie reviews, or open source software.

The results aren’t perfect, but they do appear relevant.  Most of what I notice are the sites I would expect to be top-tier, but aren’t.  It is a great resource, especially for those who might otherwise find it challenging to wade through several dozen results to find what they need.

My other observation is that I almost immediately began to use the URL to form my search strings, rather than use the provided interface.  It just seems faster and easier to do so.  Plus, it would be nice to be able to right-click (Windows-centric) in order to open results in a new tab.  Minor quibbles, though, for an effective tool that has been a long time coming.

found via Library Journal (print edition, 1 November 2009)

What it does is fairly straightforward:  you upload your .png image file to their site, their algorithm examines the file and determines what can be done to make the file smaller without sacrificing image quality, and offers you the file as a download.

I tried it, and got as much as a 48% reduction in file size, without any visible loss of quality.  Even if all you get is a 10% reduction in file size, it means that your web sites, presentations, etc. will load and run faster.  For a busy web site, like Google or WorldCat, every reduction in the data needed to be sent to each user can add up to large savings in time, energy, and ultimately money.

found via SitePoint

You may notice that I have followed her advice and have added the Add to Any service to this blog, visible at the bottom of every post (and checked to ensure it validates against XHTML and CSS standards, of course; a requirement I have for any add-on).

• Zotero – One of the best Firefox add-ons available, this should be taught to every college freshman as an aid to research.
• Omeka – Designed as a platform to create online exhibits and collections, this tool appears to be a great option for digital collection projects.
• ScholarPress – A collection of WordPress add-ons geared towards educational use, including Courseware, which offers an array of tools for instructors to connect with their students (although it would serve well for library instruction, I suspect).
• Syllabus Finder – Nearly two million syllabi can be searched and viewed through this site.
• ECHO – a directory of over 5,000 websites “concerning the history of science, technology, and industry.”

These are just a portion of the resources under their Research + Tools tab.  When you consider their offerings under the Teaching + Learning and Collecting + Exhibiting tabs as well, you can see that it would take hours to properly sample the useful items in this site.  Take some time to see what they can offer to help your projects.

• An item with a Virtual Bookplate from the University of Florida Smathers Libraries, which utilizes an 856 MARC field link to the virtual bookplate.
• A search box on their Donor web page gives donors (and others) an easy way to locate the donated items.
• The virtual bookplate for the item.
• A presentation on Slideshare (14 slides) providing an overview of their process.

This strikes me as an especially effective way to both recognize and promote donors.  The only real technical requirements are graphics software to create and edit the bookplate design, and the web space to store the finished graphics.  Neither should be a problem for any library willing to spend the time required to get the project rolling.

The people who created the above-linked presentation are conducting a survey on library practices on bookplates.

found via AcqNet-L

Talon was created to work with online image editor Aviary, which is also well worth exploring!

Want to grab that web page screenshot without installing Talon?  Simply add Aviary.com/ to the beginning of the URL you wish to copy.  Example:  Aviary.com/http://saveohiolibraries.com/

found via TechCrunch, nearly a month ago