- Easy and usable search facility that generates returns to students who don't know full title/author names. Predictive text searching..

The system preferences that libraries can use to alter the search function are:

QueryAutoTruncate: This enables wildcard searching, where the search looks for the exact term entered and various possible endings to the search term.

QueryFuzzy: This enables the search to find the exact term used as well as similarly spelled words.

QueryStemming: This enables the search to find the exact term entered as well as other words which start the same.

One, some or all of these system preferences can be enabled. Many sites use different combinations of all three. While there is no single, definitive combination of settings to achieve the best results, as this would depend on the needs and expectations of different sites, the following is some advice for what tends to be most effective.

The potential downside to turning on all of these system preferences is the search will be too broad. This can mean patrons return an overwhelming amount of items that might only be tangentially related to the search. However on relatively small databases there should not be an overwhelming number of results.

The system preferences that supply the greatest contrast between being turned on and off are QueryAutoTruncate and QueryFuzzy.

QueryAutoTruncate has two settings:

Perform wildcard searching (where, for example, Har would match Harry and harp) automatically. 

And Perform wildcard searching (where, for example, Har would match Harry and harp) only if * is added.

We generally advise setting this system preference to only if * is added, as setting this feature to perform automatically can be very resource intensive. When the system preference is set to only if * is added, the student can choose to add “*” to the end of a word, rather than the actual ending. The asterix acts as a wildcard and the search will complete by looking for all possible endings to the word.

Setting this query to only if * is added can be an effective way of getting the benefit from the feature, without overwhelming the system. This also makes the searching process more personalised and transparent for the student who is searching.

In addition to the system preferences which allow staff to alter the way the search functions, it is also possible to alter how the results are displayed. These system preferences allow the search results to display by the title, author etc. as well as in alphabetic or reverse alphabetical order.

OPACdefaultSortField

OPACdefaultSortOrder

You can change these settings to test the various outcomes. The change takes effect immediately on saving the system preference.

- Search results displayed by relevancy ranking

It is possible to configure the search option to sort results by relevance, however, this is usually not the preferred set up. 

This feature uses a relevance algorithm which allows results to be sorted by how relevant they are to the search. However, the process that sorts results by relevance is not particularly transparent nor is it changeable. In practice, this means that what a student may deem as relevant may not match what the relevance process considers to be relevant, so satisfaction with the results may vary. 

- Coverflow. Librarian control on what titles display - currently showing dated titles in somc cases

There are instructions for enabling the coverflow on our Help Centre:

https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/how-to-install-and-configure-the-coverflow-plugin-on-koha

Most coverflows are initially set up with a report that will bring back records added to the site in a set number of days previously, however, there is no reason that schools cannot change this.

Coverflow can display essentially any combination of covers, so schools should work directly with Interleaf to create a report that will provide the display they want.

- Clear guidelines on where to access and run the Holds Report

Instructions for running holds reports can be found here:

https://bywatersolutions.com/news/koha-holds-queue

- Favourite reads carousel with click borrowing facility with notification sent to librarian

In addition to being able to set the coverflow to display covers of items with the most checkouts, the system preference OpacTopissue can be set so students can report on the most checked out items from the OPAC. When this is initially enabled, the resulting button can be hard to see, due to the customisations already on the OPAC. This button can be made more visible by being highlighted in a different colour at the request of the school.

- A look and feel that is attractive to teens.

The current system was designed using Google “Material” design language which was a conscious decision taken to avoid the site appearing too juvenile.

If a site has specific ideas about making changes to the aesthetics of the site, they can contact us individually, however, they should be aware there may be a charge associated with such changes.

- Editable interface to enable personalisation by each library e.g recommended reads, Twitter feed, etc.

Staff have some options for editing the OPAC. Instructions for these options can be found on our Help Centre:

News FAQ: https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/creating-news-items

Quote of the day: https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/quote-of-the-day-7-8-2020

Instructions for adding a Twitter feed can be found here:

Twitter feed: https://bywatersolutions.com/education/monday-minutes-adding-a-twitter-feed-to-the-opac

There is also a system preference called OpacMainUserBlock which can be used to add information to display in the center of the OPAC homepage. This requires reasonable competence with HTML, so may not be usable by everyone. 

Interleaf Technology can provide instructions for editing this system preference and general assistance on these tasks.

- OPAC app

There isn’t an app for the Scooter OPAC. As the underlying system uses responsive design principles, it will adapt and scale to the device the student will access it with. 

A “desktop” link/shortcut can be created on individual phones by accessing the Scooter OPAC site and then adding it to the phone’s home-screen. 

General structure of the OPAC link will be https://xxx.interleaf.ie where “XXX” is the three letter code associated with the library. 

- Withdrawn items should be hidden in the search result

- Items with a last seen date over X amount of years hidden from OPAC search results

It is possible to hide both item and bibliographic records from searching. Details for these options can be found on our Help Centre:

Instructions for how to suppress item records:

https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/opac-hidden-items

Instructions for how to suppress bibliographic records using the system preferences :

https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/suppress-bibliographic-record

- Easy to use interface for students to operate. Could we have a Send Request option that would let a student type their name when requesting a book - as many students do not have school email addresses.

There is a plugin called Ask a librarian which allows a student to submit queries and comments to the staff side. Staff can then run a report which shows these comments. However, this plugin requires emails to be enabled on the Scooter site and it also requires the student to provide an email address they can be contacted at when they submit a query or comment. These reasons, along with the work of configuring the plugin, may mean this is not a suitable solution for many libraries.

There are a few options that don’t rely on email that allow students to communicate through the OPAC.

Comments - https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/how-to-approve-a-comment-from-the-opac 

Star Ratings - https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/how-to-use-a-star-rating-on-the-opac

Emails

For Holds to work most efficiently, emails need to be activated on the system.

In the situation where there is a standard rule in the school for creating the email address (eg firstname.surname@school.ie or vswarenumber@school.ie we can create a script to build the email address from information in the borrower record. Where the school uses personal email addresses, then the only option is to manually enter the address as the student requests access to the Holds function.

There is a modest additional charge to implement and maintain the email service.

- Ability to automatically send returned items to a status of 'Quarantined' for a period of 72 hours.

There are instructions for this process on our Help Centre:

https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/setting-a-quarantined-shelving-location-for-items-at-check-in

- Ability to place holds on books with a status of 'In' - as no browsing allowed at the moment.

On shelf holds allowed

There are instructions for the different configuration options for holds available on our Help Centre:

https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/en-gb/kb/articles/holds-for

Version History 

Version

Date

Detail

Author

1.0

18/09/20

Document created

Holly Cooper

1.1

21/09/20

Minor Edits

Holly Cooper

Charles Quain

1.2

01/10/20

Final Edits - Kathleen Moran reviewed and okayed contents

Holly Cooper 

Charles Quain

Retention Policy

Permanent

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