one counter argument that i would make to this is that we consistently 
hear from faculty that they absolutely adore browsing the stacks--there 
is something that they have learned to love about the experience 
regardless of whether they understand that it is made possible by the 
work of catalogers assigning call numbers and then using them for 
ordering the stacks.

at uw-madison we have a faculty lecture series where we invite 
professors to talk about their use of library materials and their 
research and one historian said outright, the one thing that is missing 
in the online environment is the experience of browsing the stacks. he 
seemed to understand that with all the mass digitization efforts, we 
could be on the edge of accomplishing it.

that said, i agree that we should do what you say also, just that we 
should not throw the baby out w/ the bath water. if faculty somehow 
understand that browsing the stacks is a good experience then we can use 
it as a metaphor in the online environment. in an unofficial project i 
have experimented w/ primitive interface tests using both subject 
heading 'more like this' and a link to a stack browse based on a call 
number sort:

http://j2ee-dev.library.wisc.edu/sanecat/item.html?resourceId=951506

(please, ignore the sloppy import problems, i just didn't care that much 
for the interface test)

as for the original question, this has about a million records and 
900,000 w/ item numbers and a simple btree index in the database sorts 
at an acceptable speed for a development test.

-sm

Walker, David wrote:
>> a decent UI is probably going to be a bigger job
> 
> I've always felt that the call number browse was a really useful option, but the most disastrously implemented feature in most ILS catalog interfaces.
> 
> I think the problem is that we're focusing on the task -- browsing the shelf -- as opposed to the *goal*, which is, I think, simply to show users books that are related to the one they are looking at.
> 
> If you treat it like that (here are books that are related to this book) and dispense with the notion of call numbers and shelves in the interface (even if what you're doing behind the scenes is in fact a call number browse) then I think you can arrive at a much simpler and straight-forward UI for users.  I would treat it little different than Amazon's recommendations feature, for example.
> 
> --Dave
> 
> ==================
> David Walker
> Library Web Services Manager
> California State University
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu
> ________________________________________
> From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stephens, Owen [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 9:17 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] creating call number browse
> 
> I'm not sure, but my guess would be that the example you give isn't
> really a 'browse index' function, but rather creates a search result set
> and presents it in a specific way (i.e. via cover images) sorted by call
> number (by the look of it, it has an ID of the bib record as input, and
> it displays this book and 10 before it, and 10 after it, in call number
> order.
> 
> Whether this is how bibliocommons achieves it or not is perhaps besides
> the point - this is how I think I would approach it. I'm winging it
> here, but if I was doing some quick and very dirty here:
> 
> A simple db table with fields:
> 
> Database ID (numeric counter auto-increment)
> Bib record ID
> URIs to book covers (or more likely the relevant information to create
> the URIs such as ISBN)
> Call number
> 
> To start, get a report from your ILS with this info in it, sorted by
> Call Number. To populate the table, import your data (sorted in Call
> Number order). The Database ID will be created on import, automatically
> in call number order (there are other, almost certainly better, ways of
> handling this, but this is simple I think)
> 
> To create your shelf browse given a Bib ID select that record and get
> the database ID. Then requery selecting all records which have database
> IDs +-10 of the one you have just retrieved.
> 
> Output results in appropriate format (e.g. html) using book cover URIs
> to display the images.
> 
> Obviously with this approach, you'd need to recreate your data table
> regularly to keep it up to date (resetting your Database ID if you
> want).
> 
> Well - just how I'd do it if I wanted something up and running quickly.
> As Andy notes, a decent UI is probably going to be a bigger job ;)
> 
> 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: 17 September 2008 16:46
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: [CODE4LIB] creating call number browse
>>
>> 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]

-- 
Stephen Meyer
Library Application Developer
UW-Madison Libraries
312F Memorial Library
728 State St.
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