Enhanced Wildcard Searching

We showed you last year how to use asterisks to perform wildcard searches in Encore. However, that feature requires you to have at least 2 other characters in the search query- so you couldn't just search for * and see your entire collection displayed in the results.

To work around this issue, we've added the three character OCLC library code for Denver Public Schools ("DPU") to every bib record in the catalog. Now if you search for "DPU" from your school's scoped page, every book in your collection will display in the results- or if you search for "DPU" from the home page in LION, every book in the entire district will display in the results.

Here are some examples of uses for this new functionality:

• Let's say you have a new student that recently moved to Denver from Moscow. If you search for DPU and then refine the results using the "Language" facet to Russian, you will be able to see every book in DPS written in the student's native language.


• Perhaps you have a teacher at your school frantically looking for a DVD to show their class because they waited too long to order from the Video Film Library. If you search from your scoped page for DPU and then refine to "DVD" in the Format facet, you can quickly show them every DVD in your collection.


• Searching for DPU and then using the "Publish Date" facet could quickly help you find the oldest books in your collection that potentially need to be weeded.


• If you have a student looking for a good book to read, searching for DPU and refining your results to "Reviewed Book" in the format facet will display every book in your collection that has a published review written by a DPS librarian.

If you have any other suggestions for uses of this feature you would like to share, leave a message in the comments section or send an email to the helpdesk.

Community Tagging

A new feature of Encore 3.0 is “community tagging”, which essentially allows patrons to add subject headings not found in the MARC record. Subjects are then used as “tags” in the web catalog, allowing for many valuable applications in the teaching/learning environment.

How to add a tag:

- Perform a search


- Click on the title of the book you want to tag to see the bibliographic information. At the bottom you will see a link that says “Add a Tag”. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to do so after clicking that link. (only DPS staff are allowed to tag books)



- Add your tag and click “submit”. You can delete the tag you added by clicking the red "X" - but you cannot delete tags added by other users.



- After adding the tag, it may take 15 minutes or so for the catalog to be re-indexed and your tag to be visible to other users.


- If you notice an inappropriate tag in the catalog, please contact the helpdesk.

Export List to Email

- Click "Add to cart" for all of the items in your Encore search results that you would like to export to email




- To view the selected items, click the "My Cart" link in the top-right section of your browser window




- Enter an email address, subject, choose a format (brief or full text) and click “send”

Wildcard Searching is Here!

- Use an asterisk ( * ) to perform a wildcard search

- Examples: inter* will match "internal" and "internet"

- Must follow at least 2 characters

VOTE: Default Online Databases

One new feature of the Encore platform is the integration of database search results with library catalog search results for every patron query. These are presented in the bottom right corner of the screen displaying your Encore search results under a heading called "Research Pro":



We can choose 5 of our online databases to be the default options displayed within the search results and would like your input! The first 4 we have selected will be Encyclopedia Britannica, NetTrekker, Novelist & Kids Infobits. Please vote in the poll at the top-right to help us decide the 5th database.

If you have any questions about the poll, Research Pro and/or Encore, please contact the helpdesk. Polling will conclude next Friday.

Sorting Encore Results

The default display of Encore search results is to sort them by relevancy. However, links are available to change the sort order to alphabetical (by title) and most recent (by publish date.)



 

Link to DPS Homepage

Many of you had requested that the DPS seal in LION link to the DPS homepage. That change has been made.