[BLT] Blog for Library Technology

Just Go

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:49:11 -0500

Search is a hard problem. I take it for granted because I have things like Google and Lucene available to me. But it is a difficult problem, and it's made more difficult when you're not actually allowed to go around and index everything you want to search. Furthermore this difficulty is compounded when you want to repeat this search in multiple locations, and then combine the results.

Now, performing multiple searches is necessary when you want to provide easy searching over information indexed in multiple places. But when the number of indexes increases so does the wait time. To try to make this easier and more bearable, I've been working on a Database Finder, an MLibrary Labs project that tries to identify indexes relevant to a search based on the keywords you supply. So far I've included indexes indexed by Search Tools and some of MLibrary's digital collections hosted by DLPS.

Between the two main sources of databases, I have much more information about the databases from Search Tools. It's likely you'll see a great difference in the quality of search results from both, so keep that in mind when you use the DBFinder.

MLibrary Labs Proxy Bookmarklet

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:12:28 -0500

The proxy bookmarklet lets you reload a web page through the U-M Library's proxy server. If the page you are visiting is one that the library has a subscription for, and you're presently off-campus, then you should get you immediate access to the resource once you've logged in with your uniqname and Kerberos password and have been verified to have a valid library account.

Get the MLibrary Proxy bookmarklet

MLibrary Labs Project Summary

Thu, 22 May 2008 09:30:05 -0500

MLibrary Labs is the University Library's test bed and playground. Here's a summary of all the tools that have been released since we launched it in September 2007. We use the Labs to get user feedback and real-world experience with tools that are not quite ready for prime time. We encourage you to try them out and -- this is important! -- let us know what you think of them by sending an email to mlibrary-labs@umich.edu.

Library RSS Feed Browser

Want to stay current on what's going on in the Library? The RSS Feed Browser gathers many of the library's RSS feeds into a single location. Browse news, events, new items, and more. Try it out!

iGoogle Gadget

The MLibrary Search Gadget for iGoogle puts commonly used library search tools on your personalized Google portal page. iGoogle can be customized with various "gadgets" (a gadget is a module that performs some simple tasks -- displays news headlines, the local weather, how many email messages are waiting for you, etc.). MLibrary has a gadget that lets you search Mirlyn, Search Tools, and the library web site -- and includes a link to our "ask a librarian" service, Ask Us, as well -- so a reference librarian is a click away. Learn about and install the iGoogle MLibrary gadget.

Interactive Maps to UM Libraries

Find a U-M library on a map and see a picture of the building it's located in with our new Library Map application. Get directions to the library of your choice.

New and Updated Facebook Applications

The Facebook Mirlyn Search application lets you post Mirlyn items to your Facebook profile, add items to your Mirlyn "My Shelf" space, and share items with your Facebook friends.

The Facebook Library Hours application lets you add the hours for your favorite UM library to your profile so you can always see when your "home" library opens and closes.

Search Plug-Ins for Firefox & Internet Explorer

Search plug-ins allow you to add collections to the search box in the upper right of many web browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, and others). These plug-ins allow you to search Mirlyn, OAIster, or Deep Blue directly from your browser. Learn about and install these search plug-ins.

LibX Toolbar

Have you ever found the perfect book at Amazon and wanted to see if it was available through Mirlyn? Found an article citation on a web page and wanted to get a full-text copy? The LibX Toolbar is for Firefox only and will not work in Internet Explorer, Safari, or any other browser. Learn more or go get LibX.

WorldCat Search

Want to search across the world's libraries all at once for a particular item? Try the OCLC WorldCat search. It will search across thousands of libraries' catalogs, showing you those libraries that have the item you're looking for -- sorted by proximity to wherever you are.