1. Nicole Branch
Librarian for Research and Digitization
Paul J. Cushing Library, Holy Names University

2. All Search is Local
 Holy Names University: A small local
academic institution
 WorldCat Local: HNU’s local search
engine
 Maximizing Discovery: HNU library wish
list

3. Holy Names University
 Located in Oakland, California
 1,300 enrolled students
 Degrees: Graduate, adult degree
completion, traditional undergraduate
 Programs: Nursing, Business,
Education, Psychology, Liberal Arts,
Religion/Spirituality
 Social justice focus

4. Students & Faculty
 Diverse student body
 First generation college students (more
than 50%), working adults, international
students
 Dedicated to teaching
 Professional degree orientation
 Strong ties to the local community

5. Student and Faculty Research
Skills
 Reliant on Google (students)
 Used to traditional ILS/card catalogs
(faculty)
 Local public high schools do not have
strong library cultures
 Beginning-level information search skills
 Very budget conscious

6. Library Transformation
 Leadership
 Staffing
 Services
 Technology

7. Instruction
 Approximately 70 research workshops
between August 2011-June 2012
 Most instruction sessions are 75 minutes
long
 Attended by over 1,000 students in 2011-
2012 (duplicated and unduplicated)
 Important for faculty awareness

8. Research Help
 Spring semester 2012
 Librarians responded to 585 inquiries at the
research help desk
 402 of these inquiries were “research”
question (i.e. not technology, directional or
circulation)

9. Library Services
 Collection
management
 E-Theses
 E-Learning
 Liaison
program
 Environment
 Events

10. Materials Budget
HNU Materials Budget
Print
e-Resrouces

11. Materials Budget
 Print budget static for the past decade
 8% increase in e-resources budget
annually

12. WorldCat Local at HNU
 Launched in September 2011
 ILS implemented in 2004
 Circulating online July 2009
 OCLC December 2009
 WorldCat Resource Sharing (ILL) and OCLC
Navigator July 2010
 Resolving a cataloging backlog

13. Usage Impact
 Comparing spring 2011 usage to spring
2012:
○ Examined 29 individual databases (articles,
video/music, eBooks, reference)
○ 14 databases declined in usage
○ 15 databases increased in usage

14. Usage Trends
○ Overall usage increased by over 32%
○ Individual database decreases ranged from
just under 9% to around 97%
○ Individual database increases ranged from
25% to 1596%
○ 8 individual databases increased in the range
of 100-300%

15. Circulation Trends
 Spring 2011 Total Checkouts: 2,553
 Spring 2012 Total Checkouts: 3,394
Increase of 33%

16. Implications for Selection
 Usage
 Usage is the local “mayor”
 Analyze library and non-library factors
impacting usage
 Visibility
 Makes visible materials that are desired
(even if they are not currently available)
 Requests rule

17. HNU WorldCat Wish List
 Enriched data
 MARC records
 Records management
 Central indexing

18. Enriched Data
 Users expect an enriched search
experience
 Abstracts
 Table of Contents
 Jackets and cover art
 “Enriched” doesn’t generally include
advanced search for users

19. Google & Search
Expectation
#1 Websites based on traffic rank.
Image courtesy of webempires.com

20. Familiar Search Experience

21. Information Evaluation
 Abstracts, table of contents, related subjects

22. Visual Display of
Information
 Configuration makes it easy to present
“nice” eBooks

23. Database/Format
Awareness
 Ability to distinguish between different
databases and types of formats

24. Preparing Lifelong Scholars
 Academic alternative to Google
 Developing new “familiars”
 Support skills that cut across platforms
and institutions

25. MARC Records
 Give us records
 Let them be of high quality
 No need to manipulate records in-house
 Good records-- including abstracts
(500/520)-- are crucial for discovery

26. eBook Records
 Don’t treat eBook records as an
afterthought- they reign eBook discovery
 Records and the interface for downloading
 Clash of the ISBNs
 When not unique, records conflict

27. Quality Assurance
 Have a quality assurance plan in place
 If you aren’t sure, ask your users
 Search the AUTOCAT mailing list for your
company name and look for grumbling

28. Record Management
 Complete and comprehensive sets of
records
 Easy way to load/reload
 Clear distinctions for what is new or
updated
 Adding and changing proxy server prefix
(global edit)
 Dynamic and universal changes (no wait
time)
 Intuitive admin pages

29. Central Indexing
 Impacts visibility
 Supports understanding of database
content
 Can dramatically impact usage

30. The Case of MAS Ultra
 Centrally indexed
 Not demonstrated through instruction
 Generally not a targeted
recommendation during research help

31. MAS Ultra Usage
Comparison
 Spring 2011 usage (full text): 55
 Spring 2012 usage: 933
Increase of 1596%

32. Closing
 WorldCat Local makes searching local
 Users expect centralized and enriched
search experiences
 Don’t neglect records
 Make discovery easy with central
indexing and easily manageable records