I spoke with Mandy Ostick, Manager, Virtual Library, Courthouse Libraries BC about their new beta web library catalogue built with Aquabrowser.
Mandy shared that Courthouse Libraries BC chose Aquabrowser because it is a web interface for data from their existing Integrated Library System (Horizon). The implementation process for Aquabrowser took about a year. Aquabrowser is a rapidly growing company which presented some time frame challenges. Mandy finds there is great potential for adding more information pieces like Federated Search and having all those tools play nicely for a one stop shop that would include the wide range of knowledge pieces that Courthouse Libraries BC can share.
I tested some of the features of the beta service from http://abl.courthouselibrary.ca/. The features Mandy highlighted are excellent:
- A Google-like simple search that accommodates variations in spelling and pluralization
- Relevancy-ranked search results
- Word cloud displaying associated terms to help you find what you need
- One-click options to refine your search by date of publication, subject and other options.
My test search was "anton pillar". The word cloud captured a few extraneous bits, but also gathered order, mareva, relief, injunction, precedent and stay. Double clicking on injunction brings us a great cloud example as well as the list of materials in the catalogue and some very relevant tools for narrowing the result.
Courthouse Libraries BC catalogue cloud
As you can see from the image above, applying word cloud functions to their library catalogue offering, along with the other excellent features from Aquabrowser gives Courthouse Libraries BC a very functional and visually appealing search site.
Along with the new library catalogue, they have introduced a new brand identity: Courthouse Libraries BC. Great stuff all around!
