Enhancing Subject Access to Electronic Collections with VuFind

Abstract

This article describes the development and implementation of an electronic collections search system at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University, for the purposes of enhancing subject access to electronic collections, automating collection maintenance, and reducing ongoing costs. Librarians and systems support staff obtained metadata for electronic journals and books in MARCXML format from Yale's Voyager integrated library system (ILS) via Open Archive Initiative (OAI) harvesting and then imported the metadata into VuFind, a Solr-based open-source search system. Librarians customized subject queries to match the program offerings and research interests of the institution. Subject queries generated results sets, which could then be narrowed by users through VuFind's faceted browsing feature. The automation of processes decreased staff workload, while the engagement with open-source solutions increased technical capacity.

KEYWORDS:

• electronic collections
• journal lists
• library automation
• library search tools
• next-generation catalogs
• open-source software
• staff workload
• subject access
• usability testing
• VuFind

This project was supported in part by an appointment to the NLM Associate Fellowship Program, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.