It just seems like if you've got Endeca doing the heavy lifting already, then building something separate just to allow you to enter a specific point in a sorted results list sounds like hard work?

Two possible approaches that occur to me (and of course not knowing Endeca they may be well off base I guess).

Can Endeca retrieve all records with a call number, and drop the user into a specific point in the sorted results set? I'm guessing not, otherwise you probably wouldn't be looking for alternative approaches. Is the problem dropping the user in at the right point in the sorted results set, or in the size of the results set generated?

An alternative approach possibly? If Endeca can retrieve results and display them in Call Number order, then could you not submit a search that retrieves a 'shelf' of books at a time? That is, take a Call Number as an input, calculate a range around the call number to search and pass this to Endeca? This allows you to control the set size, but still there is a question of whether Endeca can drop the user into a specific point within a sorted results set. If not, then can it return records in a format that you can then manipulate (e.g. XML)? With a small, pre-sorted, results set, it should be relatively easy to build something that drops the user into the correct point based on their search?

Owen

Owen Stephens
Assistant Director: eStrategy and Information Resources
Central Library
Imperial College London
South Kensington Campus
London
SW7 2AZ
 
t: +44 (0)20 7594 8829
e: [log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Emily Lynema
> Sent: 21 September 2008 16:38
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] creating call number browse
> 
> Well, we're using LC and SUDOC here. What I really want is something
> that is both searchable and browsable, so that users can type in a call
> number and then browse backward and forward as much as they want in
> call
> number order.
> 
> We have Endeca here, so my patrons can browse into the LC scheme and
> then sort the results in call number order, but I don't have a way to
> browse forward and backward starting with a specific call number (like
> you would if you were browsing the shelves physically).
> 
> -emily
> 
> Keith Jenkins wrote:
> > Emily,
> >
> > Are you using LC or Dewey?
> >
> > A while back, I wanted to generate browsable lists of new books,
> > organized by topic.  I ended up using the LC call number to group the
> > titles into manageable groups.  Here's an example:
> >     http://supportingcast.mannlib.cornell.edu/newbooks/?loc=mann
> >
> > Titles are sorted by call number, and also grouped by the initial
> > letters of the LC classification, such as "Q" or "QL".  For monthly
> > lists of new books, most groupings usually have less than 20 titles,
> > which makes for easy browsing of titles within someone's general
> > subject of interest.  The Table of Contents at the top of the page
> > only lists those classifications that are present in the set of
> titles
> > currently being viewed.  (In an earlier version, Q would only be
> split
> > into QA, QB, etc. if there were more than 20 items with Q call
> > numbers.)
> >
> > Things do tend to get a bit out of control in some of the
> > classifications for literature... no one wants to scan through a list
> > of 452 titles:
> >     http://supportingcast.mannlib.cornell.edu/newbooks/?class=PL
> >
> > So for entire collections, a lot more work would be needed to create
> > finer subgroups, since each classification is uniquely complex.  For
> > example:
> >   PL1-8844 : Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
> >       PL1-481 : Ural-Altaic languages
> >           PL21-396 : Turkic languages
> >           PL400-431 : Mongolian languages
> >           PL450-481 : Tungus Manchu languages
> >
> > (An idea... maybe it would work to simply forget about pre-
> determined,
> > named call number ranges and look for "natural breaks" in the call
> > numbers, rather than trying to model the intricate details of each
> > individual classification schedule.)
> >
> > The site runs on a set of MARC records extracted from the catalog.
> > Users can also subscribe to RSS feeds for any combination of
> location,
> > language, or classification group.
> >
> > I did some early experimentation to include cover images, but never
> > seemed to get enough matches to make that worthwhile.
> >
> > Keith
> >
> > Keith Jenkins
> > GIS/Geospatial Applications Librarian
> > Mann Library, Cornell University
> > Ithaca, New York 14853
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 11:46 AM, Emily Lynema
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >> Hey all,
> >>
> >> I would love to tackle the issue of creating a really cool call
> number
> >> browse tool that utilizes book covers, etc. However, I'd like to do
> this
> >> outside of my ILS/OPAC. What I don't know is whether there are any
> indexing
> >> / SQL / query techniques that could be used to browse forward and
> backword
> >> in an index like this.
> >>
> >> Has anyone else worked on developing a tool like this outside of the
> OPAC? I
> >> guess I would be perfectly happy even if it was something I could
> build
> >> directly on top of the ILS database and its indexes (we use
> SirsiDynix
> >> Unicorn).
> >>
> >> I wanted to throw a feeler out there before trying to dream up some
> wild
> >> scheme on my own.
> >>
> >> -emily
> >>
> >> P.S. The version of BiblioCommons released at Oakville Public
> Library has a
> >> sweet call number browse function accessible from the full record
> page. I
> >> would love to know know how that was accomplished.
> >>
> >> http://opl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1413841_mars
> >>
> >> --
> >> Emily Lynema
> >> Systems Librarian for Digital Projects
> >> Information Technology, NCSU Libraries
> >> 919-513-8031
> >> [log in to unmask]
> >>
> 
> --
> Emily Lynema
> Systems Librarian for Digital Projects
> Information Technology, NCSU Libraries
> 919-513-8031
> [log in to unmask]