Browse Use Cases
Call Number and Subject browse seem to be a highly anticipated functionality by catalogers but before the can development starts it would be helpful to gather most common use cases. Please provide information about expected data displayed on the results page, sorting, filtering and navigation:.
Contents
Call number browse - Holdings level
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | We have some locations where all or part of the collection do not have item records, which means they are left completely out of browse. We never use the call number portion of the item records, so essentially all of our call numbers are holdings level anyway. | Medium | |
Call number browse - Bibliographic level
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Series
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A series often needs consistent descriptive treatment, involving careful attention to numbering, etc. A series browse is an efficient means of answering two questions that are important for our quality control: 1) What are the consistent practices for this series at our institution? 2) What are the inconsistencies/outliers within a given series that need to be investigated and/or corrected? | ||
| 2 | Series title browse has implications for acquisitions work as well as cataloging. Acq staff require a series title browse to verify volume numbers and troubleshoot series name changes or errors so that the right title is ordered in the first place, and also for determining whether an order should be attached to an existing set or given its own independent bib record. These decisions of course have logistical implications for cataloging downstream. |
Title
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Titles can be hard to find via keyword, either because of a typo in the record or because, for some pieces, it is difficult to determine what the title is. It is very helpful to be able to type in the first part of a title and scan for the title I am looking for. | ||
| 2 | 1) Browsing by title index is useful for shelflisting purposes: when an LC call number needs a cutter for work title, it can be helpful to browse a title index first. 2) Browsing by title authorized access points (e.g. 130, 630, 730, 830, etc., perhaps browsing these fields as a part of a general title index) can be useful for navigating the collection on the basis of related titles (Work & Expression in RDA). |
Genre/form
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The ability to browse genre/form headings helps us stay informed about their application in our catalog and, as with a browse search of any index, helps us to build and maintain our expertise in specific collection areas, and to interrogate the history of descriptive practice at our institution. Insofar as the widespread application of genre/form terms, taken from thesauri specifically designed for that purpose, is a fairly recent development in the history of cataloging in the U.S., a browse search aids in the identification of underused genre/form headings, thereby supporting the development of retrospective projects to add useful genre/form headings to records that lack them. | ||
| 2 | I have an ongoing project of converting subject headings to genre headings (using lcgft). It would save a lot of time if I knew when doing a subject browse that all of the hits were subjects and when doing a genre browse all of the hits were genres. It would also be very helpful to have a tenant level setting that would allow an institution to only index certain thesauri (based on 2nd indicator or $2). | High | |
Call number browse - Item level SUPPORTED
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I want to be able to shelflist the items I am cataloging. I would expect to be able to choose the browse based on call number type (LC, Dewey, Local, etc.). I would expect the results list to be the effective call number string. The filters would be the normal Folio filters. Sorting would be based on rules for that classification scheme (e.g. LC sorts as whole numbers; Dewey sorts digit by digit). | Very high | Raegan Wiechert |
| 2 | I want to browse effective call numbers in their appropriate order based on classification scheme (LC, SUDOC, etc.). I want to be able to browse and identify existing call numbers as well as identify the absence of a particular call number search (e.g. searching on an LC class and cutter and, if finding no match, seeing where the match would fall in the shelflisting if it did exist, which would enable accurate call number assignment by catalogers - ensuring that we're adding to the existing shelflisting in the appropriate order). If a known call number search does not match an effective call number, it's crucial to be able to see the search string in the context of where it would fall in the shelflisting if it did exist. | Very high | Joshua Barton |
| 3 | From reference librarians: I use call number browsing to discover sources related to titles I already know about, to find titles that don't show up in keyword or subject searches but are classed in a specific known area, to browse a classification area when other searches produce too many results to go through, to find alternatives when the title I am looking for is checked out, we are in a consortium so I use it to see what the other members have under that call number, when creating bibliographies and book lists, weeding and planning for new purchases, to compare subject coverage in different locations, creating shelf lists for student shelf reading tasks, to find items that were never barcoded but I know the call number is unique. (From me as a cataloger this last one is especially important because we assign unique all numbers to every title. Filtering by location is the most important feature.) | Very high | Timothy Watters |
| 4 | I want to be able to use call number browse for record maintenance. Use cases include: - Identifying and updating records with incorrect call numbers or class schemes making it so the call numbers sort incorrectly. - Using the call number to browse a group of analyzed titles to enter and update multiple records, rather than searching by series or individual title. - Verification of holdings for serials and sets that are analyzed. It would be nice to have the option to browse across all locations and to filter to a single location. | high | |
| 5 | Collection management. The call number index can be used to:
| Felix Hemme on behalf of the German MM group | |
| 6 | Manage multipart monographs and series. I can tell from the standing order that a volume with a certain number has been received. As a cataloger, the quickest way to find out whether this volume or its immediate predecessors have already been cataloged is to use the call number index. This avoids the need to determine the individual title. (No series linking in some German library networks). In the case of complicated multi-part monographs, browsing the call number index helps to determine the correct structure of the volume appendix. | Felix Hemme on behalf of the German MM group | |
| 7 | Bound-with record management. All bound-with items share the same call number. Browsing the call number index should display all records that belong togehter. Selecting the entry for the shared bound-with call number should display the records so the librarian can start linking them with the bound-with mechanism that is going to be developed (see UXPROD-3080 for details). | Felix Hemme on behalf of the German MM group |
Subject SUPPORTED
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I want to be able to scan a list of subjects, including subdivisions, to see what our catalog has used in the past and to see subdivisions that hadn’t occurred to me. I want to be able to click on a subject, or subject with subdivision, and get a list of records so I can scan the titles and can click on an individual record to get ideas for a call number or related subjects. | high | |
| 2 | In cataloging, subject browsing is vital for learning about descriptive practices in unfamiliar subject areas, and maintaining consistent descriptive practices among works on similar topics. In collection development and public services, a subject browse that includes geographic subdivision is a valuable means of getting a quick snapshot of the geographic range of our local holdings in a given subject. |
Contributors SUPPORTED
| Use Case | Priority | Submitted By | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Author browsing is especially helpful for troubleshooting when a known-item search fails: "Why is this known item not being collocated with other resources by the same author?" An author browse undertaken in the service of troubleshooting and other quality-control tasks is a valuable means of identifying cataloging errors that need to be corrected. | ||
| 2 | I want to be able to type in an author's last name and some part of the first name to see what form(s) are used in our catalog. In addition to correcting errors (see Tim's point above), this can be very helpful in cataloging, when deciding which of several possibilities is the correct author. I want to be able to see titles associated with each author, either in the initial search result or by clicking on the author, so that I can see the subject area for that author. | ||
| 3 | Browsing by author is especially important for classification of works in the M, N, and P schedules, where authors (and artists and composers) are assigned a custom class and/or extending cutter number that serves as their home address, as it were. An author browse is a starting point for several decisions when cataloging such works. First, it helps a cataloger quickly determine what titles we already hold, if any, and how they have been classed in our local catalog. It's also a shortcut into the appropriate range of the schedules, without having to scroll through the entire M or P schedules in ClassWeb. Finally, it's a way to identify creators who still need literary or artistic numbers established, and where they should slot in alphabetically. |