Heritage Online (OPAC)

Heritage offers an incredibly straightforward yet sophisticated search interface. It has been specifically designed to be easy for institutions to customise, yet the clarity of design means that many of our customers decide simply to re-brand it in order to reflect the colour scheme or logo of their own institution. The search interface is available to end-users either via Heritage Online (using a web browser) or the Enquiry menu within Heritage itself – it will look the same regardless of how they access it. Heritage Online is compatible with standard web browsers, typically Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox or Opera (versions information is below).

Heritage Online results screen

As well as search and output facilities, users can use Heritage to view their own reader information. And as it is usually possible for them to be logged in to Heritage Online automatically they don’t have to remember yet another username and password. You can take this facility further by tailoring what they see using the ‘Enquiry Groups’ control in Heritage. For instance, you could use a simple one for basic users with a more sophisticated version for your more demanding customers.

Click here to try out Heritage Online for yourself!

IS Oxford also offers an Online hosting service for customers who lack the facilities or IT support to enable them to publish their catalogues themselves .

Searching

Heritage Online provides two search environments – ‘General’ (which searches all the fields you have chosen to include) and ‘Advanced’ (where the field and media type to be search can be specified for each search term). In addition to basic search and retrieval functions on single words and phrases there are many other facilities:

Heritage offers truncation or wildcard searches e.g. Legal* will pick up legality as well as legal.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT) can join together search terms.
More complicated searches are handled by bracketing parts of searches and using quotation marks to force exact word order on phrase searches.
Numerical-range searching is possible on a number of fields (e.g. classification, date of publication, dates within keywords or other fields etc)
Results can be re-sorted at any time and a wide range of layouts is available for summary and detailed results displays.
It is possible to increase the text size and choose a ‘high visibility’ theme, making it easier to read for visually-impaired users.
The terms used in a search are highlighted in both the brief and full search results screens.
In addition to hyperlinks, Heritage Online also offers a ‘one-click’ search facility, where the user can highlight any term or phrase displayed in the detailed results and right-mouse click to perform a new search on the selected term(s).

URLs, wordprocessor documents, spreadsheets, ejournals and many other items can be viewed very easily from the OPAC.

Reader Information

Heritage Online not only allows users to search your catalogue, but can also get them access to their own borrower information. Thus they can log in and view their own loans, overdues, reservations, charges and list of what they have previously borrowed (great for bibliographies or recalling that book they borrowed a few months ago) via the Reader information form. Here they can also use the SDI facility to set up their own areas of interest and hence be notified automatically of new items arriving which might be of interest to them. Logging in often can be carried out automatically so they don’t have to re-enter a username and password.

Issues, Returns and Renewals

Heritage Online includes circulation facilities which enable users to renew their own items, issue items to themselves and return their items, according to the rules that you set up. Library staff can also use Heritage Online for a wider range of circulation functions at the issue desk. These facilities are optional though as we realise that most libraries will not wish to allow all (or any) of them. The use of full circulation facilities in Heritage Online will require an administration licence in the same manner as it does in Heritage Windows.

Request and Reservations

Users can request items by ticking a box next to the results display. Heritage then either reserves the item or sends an e-mail request message to the Resource Centre, complete with the requester's address, which can then be dealt with accordingly.

Book covers

A standard display format is provided which links directly to Amazon to display the book cover image for each item (where available). This is a free service available as long as the workstation being used has an internet connection.

'Email the Librarian'

This facility has been provided to enable users of Heritage Online to contact staff for a variety of different reasons. Clicking on the ‘Email the librarian’ facility will open a new message to the library, with a drop-down list of subjects for the user to choose from (e.g. General enquiry, OPAC help request, Book purchase request, Postal loan request, Submit a Book Review etc).

Output (Printing/Emailing/Saving results)

Users can select items from the list of hits on the screen, choose the output format from the list provided (which includes citation and Harvard reference formats) and then either print, copy, email, save the records to file or add them to their Shopping Basket.

Shopping Basket

This facility enables users to select records from the searches that they undertake and save them to a ‘shopping basket’ of records to either print, download, email or request at the end of their session. Many users will be familiar with this kind of functionality already, as they will have used it on websites such as Amazon.

Thesaurus

The 'See also' facility, linked to the Thesaurus, offers further assistance to the enquirer.

Admin

Heritage Online provides the administrator with a number of useful logs, which can indicate the search terms that have been used, the searches which resulted in zero hits, the number of concurrent enquirers over a period and even the details of who has been performing searches (either by name or by reader category, for reporting purposes). This gives library staff invaluable help in ensuring that they are using the same keywords and terms as their end-users, that there are no gaps in their stock and also helps them target those that are not using Heritage Online at all (and who perhaps should be)!

Tailoring

There can be many reasons for wishing to adjust the layout of the pages that Heritage Online uses. Perhaps the most likely is the need to make the layout coincide with the design of your institution's website. However, others might wish to change the layout of the search screens or the results displays to meet the particular needs of their data or users. Heritage Online uses HTML based templates (utilising cascading style sheets) for all of its pages which may be modified to suite individual requirements.

How does it work?

The Library Resource Centre will set up a WebServer which will either hold a copy of the Heritage catalogue, or a link to the main Heritage server (see drawing). The former is useful if only a sub-set of the main catalogue is to be made available, perhaps for security reasons, while the latter is required if an up-to-the-minute catalogue and circulation information is essential.

The Library Resource Centre can maintain records of all its Internet users. Access can be provided to anyone on the Internet or can be restricted to a group of approved users. This can then be used to gather statistics which, when coupled with those already gathered by Heritage for normal issues and returns, will enable the Library or Resource Centre Manger to determine a budgeting policy for future expenditure.

A simple form allows the would-be user to enter details and submit a password for verification. The Heritage Online Server will then allow or deny access accordingly.

Heritage Online Licensing

Heritage Online allows unlimited user access. We recognise though that not all institutions will need, or wish to pay for, a system with a lot of excess capacity. Hence Heritage Online is available in several different 'sizes' with the performance adjusted to match the expected usage for each size of system. It is also possible to upgrade from one size to a larger one to cater for changing needs. We suggest that you discuss your particular requirements with our sales team as they can then explain how this system operates and can work out with you the most appropriate size of system for your institution.

Licences for use with Heritage Online are included with the module. There are four different options available: Heritage Online Basic, Small, Medium or Large.

Heritage Online (Basic) is intended for libraries where there would normally only be one or two concurrent enquirers.
Heritage Online (Small) is intended for libraries where there would normally be less than six or seven concurrent enquirers.
Heritage Online (Medium) is provided for libraries which frequently expect up to twenty concurrent enquirers.
Heritage Online (Large) is for libraries which regularly expect more than twenty concurrent enquirers.

NB. The licensing arrangements for Schools using Heritage Online are slightly different. Please contact emma@isoxford.com for further information.

Heritage Online contains logs that provide information about the number of concurrent enquirers that have been using the system, so libraries can regularly check that they are offering the correct configuration (it is possible to upgrade to the next level at any time).

Heritage Online API

We will soon be introducing an API to permit access to Heritage Online from VLEs and other portal products. Details of the licensing for this will be released when the module become available.

Technical Details

Heritage Online is designed to work with the Heritage Library Management System. To configure the module for Internet use it will be necessary for the institution to have a permanent link to an Internet provider e.g. a leased line. All systems will require a Windows 2000/2003 based Webserver, which is then configured to serve Heritage Online users.

The usual configuration of the Webserver is shown here (or here for the Novell version - note that Apache is not supported). You will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader version 4 or above to view either of these.

Alternatively, the Webserver can be run separately from the main Library system, particularly useful if a limited set of the catalogue is to be made available or if security restrictions require it. The usual method of doing this is to include in the index the necessary fields to populate the search results pages. The index will then need to be updated with the copy used by your live copy of Heritage from time to time.

The Webserver must run Windows 2000/2003 with IIS 5 or 6, or Apache. Heritage Online places very little stress on the Webserver so it need not be a high specification e.g. Pentium 4 with 512M RAM will probably be quite adequate for all but the largest installations. It will not require more than a few hundred megabytes of disk space. Please note that if a 64bit server is used it must be run in 32 bit compatability mode - this may have implications for other applications that are may be running from the same server.

Accessibility

The OPAC aspects of Heritage Online are designed to comply with WAI to level 2A (WCAG v1.0). If Javascript is not used then the word list (which uses AJAX) and some other facilities, such as the facility for users to select their own subjects for SDI are not available.

Version Information

Browser compatibility: the basic Heritage Online module is designed to run with Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer version 6 and above (please note that IE5 Mac is not supported, nor is it supported by Microsoft any longer) and Opera. Some functions may require the use of cookies and Javascript. The Webserver must run Windows 2000/2003. The Dataserver, if different from the Webserver, must also run Windows 2000 or later. The Fileserver can be Windows or Novell based.

Heritage Enquiry (OPAC)

The standard Windows Heritage OPAC, included as part of the core Heritage software, provides the same interface as Heritage Online. It also has the additional feature of an ‘Edit’ icon for library staff, which provides direct access to the catalogue record so that changes can be made to records where required. The licensing is controlled by standard Heritage full and OPAC licences, rather than the Heritage Online banding structure. Please see User Licences for further details.

Z39.50

Z39.50 is a standard that has been developed to allow one or more library catalogues to be searched simultaneously using a single piece of search software. This searching is typically carried out across the Internet. The user can specify which library catalogues they wish to search and the results of the search are retrieved from all the different sources and collated into one list.

There are two elements to Z39.50: the client and the server. Each library that wishes to publish its catalogue must have the Z39.50 server running. Any end user wishing to search various catalogues must then run a client and tell it where to find the various catalogues that they wish to search. There are various clients, and they are typically free. They are usually independent and not browser-based so you need to install them on your PC. Z39.50 would be hosted on Windows 2000/2003 as a service - it listens out on its own IP port so there may be firewall implications.

An optional Z39.50 server module is available for Heritage. Our development is compliant with the 1995 version of Z39.50 and can be used with proprietary brands of client. We anticipate developing towards SRW in the future, but have no timetable for this development as yet. We are keen to make greater use of a Web-service instead of Z39.50, with the information being delivered in XML. We have already made use of SOAP in our Quickcat Online module.