BarnardRefDesk

The OPAC is back. Here's what's new in this latest version of the OPAC:

• Title is again the default search.


• Two new forms of keyword truncation have been added: internal and left-hand truncation
  labo?r retrieves labour, labor, labourer, etc.
  ?phobe retrieves technophobe, anglophobe, etc. (this can be slow)
  


• holdings keyword searching. This doesn't work fabulously well (see below), so we're just playing around with it at the moment: but you can use a holdings key code: "hkey" to search any part of the holdings record: so hkey comp retrieves everything in the Moral & Political Philosophy Reading Room and hkey comp skey aesthetics would retrieve everything there with aesthetics in the subject heading. This hkey search will find terms in the location (using the brief location code), call number, and holdings notes.
  The problem: This search only works with location keywords having fewer than 10,000 hits. So searching for hkey mil and skey women will give you wildly inaccurate results. For that, you're better off using the OPAC location limits, or using the limits in the cataloging module.


• subject headings display in the list with dashes between parts of the heading (this does not affect searching: entering searches without the dashes still works fine)


• the Keyword with Relevance search is now configurable and we've set it so that all terms entered are searched with a default "and." This should make the search more useful, and we'll be looking at whether it should be given greater prominence in the search types list.


• Some bugs have been fixed:
  
  • it is again possible to email records containing accents and diacritics without losing the field that contained the accent.
  • contents notes are no longer jammed together, with no punctuation between each item, and are now displayed as a list

As you play around with these new features, please send us your comments and suggestions (clioserv@columbia.edu). These are getting a "soft" opening: the help screens and other information will be up by the time classes begin. A spotlight should be up later today.

CLIO OPAC Subcommittee
Gary Bertchume, Marina Chilov, Lois Coleman, Ria Koopmans-de Bruijn, Russell Merritt, Jill Parchuck, Sarah Witte (chair)