Spr06 MnIUG Custom Search Forms

Quick and Easy Forms Without HTML or JavaScript: 

Quick and Easy Forms Without HTML or JavaScript Eric Hinsdale, Library Technology Coordinator Galen Wetterling, Information Technology Assistant Gould Library Carleton College Northfield, Minnesota

Who We Are: 

Who We Are Eric Hinsdale ehinsdal@carleton.edu Galen Wetterling wetterlg@carleton.edu

What is “The Bridge”?: 

What is “The Bridge”? Consortium of St. Olaf College and Carleton College founded in 2003 Located in Northfield, Minnesota, about 1 mile apart Both had a long history of cooperating and sharing materials with each other Both schools previously had separate III catalogs. Now run a jointly managed OPAC

How Did This Project Get Started?: 

How Did This Project Get Started? The Need for a Single Custom Search Form http://blogs.carleton.edu/Media_Resources_Blog/?page_id=26 http://people.carleton.edu/~ehinsdal/dvdsearch.html The Anticipated Need for Future Custom Search Forms

Example:Searching for DVDs – OLD : 

Example: Searching for DVDs – OLD Making a browsable list of items in the media collection can be done directly through the library’s online catalog, The Bridge. Step 1: Get yourself to the advanced search page: http://bridge.carleton.edu/search/X. Step 2: Change the first search option to “Title contains:” and enter an asterisk (*) in the search field. In The Bridge, an asterisk acts as a “wildcard” character. Step 3: In the “Choose Limits” section, limit your search to the type of material you wish to browse. Change the collection you are searching to Videos/DVDs, change “Location” to Carleton Media, change “Material Type” to DVDs or Videocassettes, and change “Search and Sort” to Title. You may also choose to sort by date or limit your search to a range of years, but please note that dates for videos and DVDs will often be different from the original creation date of the film or program they contain–these dates refer to the date of publication of the video copy, not to the original creation date of the material. Step 4: Click “Search.”

Searching for DVDs – New : 

Searching for DVDs – New

What Next?: 

What Next? Eric: “Galen, would you mind doing the same thing for other people?” Galen: “Why don’t we just automate it?”

The Goal of The Project: 

The Goal of The Project Let users generate their own search forms Reference Librarians can use them on course resource pages Library users could use them to enter some parameters of commonly-performed searches No need to know HTML, JavaScript, or bother someone who does

The Result: 

The Result http://libdev.carleton.edu/generalsearch.html Intuitive - looks just like the III advanced search page in our online catalog Generates a URL that users can bookmark or link to on a web page All custom search pages are generated “on the fly” so the server doesn’t get cluttered with custom search forms and users don’t have to manage web pages

Example 1: 

Example 1 Cookery/cookbooks Go to http://libdev.carleton.edu/generalsearch.html, enter “Cookbooks” as title, change first parameter to “subject contains,” and enter “cookery” as a search term. The custom search form creates this url: http://libdev.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/customsearch.pl? d%3A%28cookery%29&searchscope=1&b=&l=&Da=&Db=&m=&SORT=D&ti=Cookbooks Go to the above url and enter “morels” as a search term. As a result you get cookbooks on morels.

Example 2: 

Example 2 World War II Propaganda Go to http://libdev.carleton.edu/generalsearch.html, enter “World War II” as title, change first parameter to “subject contains,” and enter “World War, 1939-1945” as a search term. The custom search form creates this url: http://libdev.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/customsearch.pl? d%3A%28world%20war%2C%201939-1945 %29&searchscope=1&b=&l=&Da=&Db=&m=&SORT=D&ti=World%20War%20II Go to the above url and enter “propaganda” as a search term. As a result you get items about propaganda in World War II.

Some More Examples: 

Some More Examples http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/library/find/guides/subject/?guide_id=127833 Link from Subject Research Guide page Search for scores http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/library/find/guides/courses/?guide_id=133572 Link from Course Research Guide page Search for titles in the World Bibliographical Series

Technical Info – Form Creation: 

Technical Info – Form Creation 1) To create the custom search form: The user goes to the Custom Search Generator page, http://libdev.carleton.edu/generalsearch.html. User fills out the form and sends the data to the server. A simple Perl script on the server encodes the data into a special URL, which it sends back to the user. generalsearch.html URL form data User Server libdev.carleton.edu

Technical Info – Searching: 

Technical Info – Searching 2) To use the custom search form: User activates the URL by clicking a link or a bookmark, which sends the encoded data to the server. A Perl script on the server, customsearch.pl, interprets the URL and builds the custom search form “on the fly.” c) The user fills out the custom form, which sends the search directly to the III search server. customized search form URL User Server libdev.carleton.edu III Search Server bridge.carleton.edu search criteria search results

Where Can I Get One Too?: 

Where Can I Get One Too? Get sample code and information at: http://libdev.carleton.edu/customsearch/

Other Projects: 

Other Projects Firefox Extensions Library searchbar: enter search terms to search the library catalog Search Extension: Right click on selected text to search keywords, authors, or titles

Questions/Ideas for Using This Tool: 

Questions/ Ideas for Using This Tool Eric Hinsdale ehinsdal@carleton.edu http://people.carleton.edu/hinsdale Galen Wetterling wetterlg@carleton.edu