Hi Chris,
I like it. We've been playing with something similar.
We start with keyword (instead of the the left-anchored search)
and then list the book titles along with the subject headings attached
to them. THEN we gather up all the subject headings and re-display
them.
We're finding this list of SH's to be too long, so we are playing with
gathering
up only the most "popular" title's and limiting our gathering up of
subject headings
to only those most popular books.
Popularity is a number based on Holds, Circs, Copies, Media types
purchased. ( and
date(s) purchased?)
We've only just started playing with this, it was nice to be able to
play with
yours and see that others are thinking along the same lines.
Kevin
--
Kevin Kierans
Director of Libraries
Thompson-Nicola Regional District
300 - 465 Victoria Street
Kamloops, British Columbia V2C 2A9
Voice: (250) 374-8866 Fax: (250) 374-8355
-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Chris Gray
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 7:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Exploring OPAC Subject Headings
I wrote a bit of code today that I think is kinda nifty. I was trying
to illustrate some ideas that I've been kicking around for a while.
In the tables underlying our OPAC (Oracle under Voyager), there is a
table linking subject heading IDs to bib record IDs. Starting with some
subject headings, I look up all the bib IDs linked to them. Then I go
back the other direction and grab _all_ the heading IDs linked to those
bib IDs, so most of the time new headings are picked up.
Then the user can select from the returned headings and go around again,
widening and narrowing the search each time. At each stop along the
way, every subject heading is linked to a canned search of the OPAC.
So far I've found it a much more natural and powerful way to find things
by subject than the OPAC itself. It's a single, straightforward
ColdFusion page. Most of the few hours it took to cook up went into
getting the SQL right.
I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone who'd like to take a kick at the
tires. You can try it out at
<http://testtube.uwaterloo.ca/cpgray/sl/subject.cfm>.
Chris Gray
Systems Analyst
University of Waterloo Library
"The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up
in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office." -Robert
Frost
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