More Library OPAC Tricks

April 27th, 2005

Donna Pletcher sent in an e-mail describing, in detail, a neat feature of her library OPAC at the Bedford Public Library System. First, click on “search”:

“At the bottom, try out some of the new item links.”

“This is done by putting a 695 field in the MARC record with a specially created subject heading. We’ve worked out a macro such that there is virtually no data entry involved for the cataloger. It’s very simple on their end.”

“The rest is done using the Pac Config module in HTML. You can look at the source on the search page and see where I’ve copied in the search URL for each new item link.”

“I worked on this in February, brought it out in March and the staff love it. Patrons discovered it quickly and place holds on anything available, especially in fiction. I’d like to also create a link for award winners and maybe staff picks. People tell me they check it regularly looking for what’s new and available.”

Thanks Donna. If you would like to show off some neat features from your online catalog, send it my way.

Comments are closed.