K-State Libraries: SFX Documentation

Declaring shenanigans on resized SFX menus

Let's begin with an ancient history lesson. When I took up the reins of SFX nearly (gasp) 2 years ago, I inherited menus that automatically opened in new windows sized at 500 x 680. While this isn't inherently evil behavior and does have a purpose, those of you who have done your usability homework (particularly here and here) know that it's considered bad form to force a browser window to behave in a way that overrides the user's own browser settings.  I knew this and yet lived with the resized menus because a) I didn't know enough about SFX to change them and b) I didn't have an opportune occasion to do so.

Implementing the simplified SFX menu has become that opportune occasion (and I know more now than I did 2 years ago). Today I declared shenanigans on those resizing menus and their resulting target windows. Tomorrow when SFX's test instance rolls to production, you'll see Get It menus and target windows resulting from those menus open at 800 x 600.

SFX Menu: Shrinking Pains

Last week I posted that I was rolling the simplified SFX menu into production. I did so expecting to eventually update you with the minor, easily repaired bugs found over the summer by our staff and users. Shows what I know. Instead, I'm back to report the weirdness we've already found and to plea for advice from fellow Simplified Menu crusaders who may have already solved similar problems.

This post's alternate title is "What to Expect when You're Expecting a Simplified SFX Menu."

SFX Menu, stripped down

Some of you know that I've been messing around with a redesign of our SFX menu, à la David Walker's presentation, "Improving the SFX menu". If you didn't know that I've been working on the menu, I highly recommend you watch David's presentation before reading further. It'll be 20 or so well-spent minutes of your work life. Be aware that it takes a little time to get started.

Because we had already customized many of the files that create the SFX menu, this project turned into my albatross - always waiting for me; difficult; boring; inspiring crankiness. That statement isn't any kind of criticism of David's great analysis of the menu or his generosity in offering ready-modified templates. Rather, it's a small explanation as to why it's taken me so freakin' long to make this menu redesign happen.

Fortunately for the project, Ex Libris came to the rescue with the March 2008 software update and a simplified SFX menu template. The template can be configured entirely from SFX Admin. Over the past few months I've been testing the results with LIT. To LIT and to me, this menu seems ready for you so tonight it will roll over to production. Tomorrow you'll see a new look for the faithful Get It menu. Since summer is best for beta testing, this new look is subject to change as you ferret out its problems. Read on for details.

IEEE Xplore Journals & issue-level linking

Thanks to a problem Laura reported earlier this week, I've temporarily turned off CrossRef lookups between SFX and IEEE Xplore Journals. This means that until I turn it back on, this target will only resolve to the issue level, no matter how much article-level data you give it.

To understand why on earth I'd do this, you need a little backstory.

Relating to SFX

Effective with the December 2007 software update, SFX has implemented a way to link between "related" journal titles. SFX's definition of a "related" title is broad, and includes most variations on the serials librarian's favorite theme, "Title Change".

I've already blogged a user-friendly description of this service. This post describes some of the esoteric data logic things the service does, for good and ill. Examples are included; follow along in a separate tab or window.

Improving A-Z List "Improvements"

Over the summer and early fall I committed a number of experimental "improvements" to the A-Z list. Last week, Donna and I attended a GenRef Meeting to obtain feedback on these changes. After a very interesting discussion, the response was overwhelming:

A-Z List: Now with holdings!

A browse of journal titles in the A-Z List now shows you some holdings information. Think of it as the e-journals version of an anticipated movie's teaser trailer - simultaneously gratifying and frustrating.

Distinct Electronic Journals

A manual re-index of the A-Z list reveals the current number of distinct electronic journals:

23,864

You'll note this is about 2,000 more titles than the previous re-index at the end of May.

2,000 more titles in 5 months doesn't necessarily mean we've purchased this many new titles in such a short time. It does mean that, whether aggregated, newly purchased, or just recently unearthed, 2,000 more individual titles are available via Get It now than this past summer. That's pretty happy stuff.

A-Z List URL redirect

Forget about updating all your old browser bookmarks to the A-Z List. SFX will now take care of it for you.

I've implemented an SFX Apache redirect that automagically sends you from any old A-Z list URL to the  List's current, preferred version. Call it the E-Journals List if you like - you'll still land on the same page.

Any of the following versions of this URL will work:
http://getit.lib.ksu.edu/sfxlcl3/a-z/default
http://getit.lib.ksu.edu/sfxlcl3/azlist/default
http://getit.lib.ksu.edu/sfxlcl3/az/default

And if your URL contains something really old-school like:
pulsar.lib.ksu.edu:3210...
or
catalog.lib.ksu.edu:3210...
that's okay. It will still work.

Let us now sing a hymn in praise of Apache redirects.

A-Z List: The hits just keep coming

On the very heels of the most recent A-Z List improvement comes yet another enhancement. As part of the September 2006 software update, Ex Libris released an AJAX autocomplete option that assists with journal title searches in the A-Z List.