Linking location and shelf mapping from OPAC search results: with reference to Wichita State University

Peer reviewed

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine dynamic mapping of holding locations to the animated maps in a library catalog which aims to resolve complex shelving situations, augment the user experience in locating library materials and enrich the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) by integrating external programming into the Integrated Library System (ILS).

Design/methodology/approach – Dynamic mapping displays animated direction maps for users to locate quickly the items found in the library catalog. The maps are displayed in accordance with various shelving policies. At Wichita State University Libraries, the original bibliographic data are captured from the record results page in the OPAC and transferred to a processing program residing on another server. Instead of transferring ISBN/ISSN (International Standard Book Number/ International Standard Serial Number, as practiced by some libraries) to display the Syndetic cover images, it transfers bibliographic ID and a few other fields from MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging) records to a processing program which queries the ILS database for extracting data needed for the dynamic map processing. The dynamic map system consists of three sections: queried data from the ILS database, programming logic, and dynamic maps.
Findings – Compared to title-level shelving map displays that have been implemented in some libraries, holding level map displays solve the problem of complex shelving situations, such as a title with multiple copies shelved in different locations and/or in different formats.
Originality/value – This project received very positive feedback from the library community and this paper will provide information to those libraries which are interested in dynamically presenting holding information in their OPAC.