Libraries pull the plug on WebLUIS

John Van Hook
7 May 2004

On Monday morning, May 10, the libraries will be replacing WebLUIS with a more modern and capable software package known as Aleph. Like many other contemporary programs, Aleph has more features than any one of us will ever use, which gives it a somewhat forbidding front end. Until you’ve grown more accustomed to it, you may want to keep a copy of this simplified crib sheet conveniently close at hand, although well-designed and context-specific help screens are available at almost every turn.

Credit or debit? Paper or plastic? Search or browse?

As you can see from the following screen shot, Aleph’s basic search screen asks you to decide between two slightly unfamiliar ways to perform your searches. You can either "search" for specific keywords and phrases or else “browse” through alphabetical lists of authors, subject headings, and so forth until you find what you need.

Tips on "searching" from the basic screen:

• A drop-down menu lets you distinguish between author, title, and subject keywords.
• Searches retrieve a maximum of 1000 records per set.
• The main truncation symbol is an asterisk (*) or question mark (?).
• Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and parentheses as needed.
• You can toggle between searching for individual words and exact phrases.

It is important to bear in mind that the search function relies exclusively on keywords, which can be convenient for the novice but sometimes frustrating to researchers who have learned to rely on Library of Congress subject headings with their precisely controlled vocabulary.

Tips on "browsing" from the basic screen:

• Several options on the drop-down menu will be familiar to everyone, including those that cover the authors, titles, and subject headings in our catalog.
• At least three further options offer ingenious solutions for special circumstances, including browses by
  • Call number (to find other books on the same main topic)
  • Series title (to find other books the publisher sees as related) and
  • Director or performer (for films and musical recordings).
• When browsing for a person, put the last name first.

Working with the "advanced search" screen

"Advanced search" gives you access to two very different options:

• Expanded keyword searches, with three slots to play with instead of only one and with nifty options to limit your results by language, publication date, and format.
• Command-language searches, for complex queries, which you can carefully assemble from certain coded commands and the Boolean operators. The chief coded commands are probably these:
• WRD for keywords anywhere;
• WTI for title keywords;
• WAU for author keywords;
• WSU for keywords in subject headings; and
• WYR for dates
• To conduct the simplest form of a command-language search you use one coded command followed by the equal sign, "=" and your key word(s) or phrase(s).
• Use parentheses and quotation marks to string together individual words or phrases into a complex search statement. Thus, a typical complex search might read like this:
  wsu=(renaissance or "early modern") AND wrd=women AND wyr=(2003 or 2004).

Navigating the Aleph environment

Mostly, you get from screen to screen and function to function by means of the horizontal menu bars on every screen. Many of their options, such as "basic search" or "course reserves," are self-explanatory, but a couple deserve special attention:

• "Past Searches" produces a list of your 30 most recent searches, so you can return to them or combine them with one another.
• "View List" shows all the records you have marked for printing, emailing, or further consideration. To mark records: whenever you have an interesting item’s full record on screen, just click on "Add to List" if instead you’re looking at a set of brief records, check the box to the left of any item(s) you want and then click on "Add to List" at the top of your screen.

Is a copy currently available?

Aleph takes a rather idiosyncratic and cavalier approach to this most fundamental of all library questions, especially in its "brief records" view, which looks like this:

Note that the fifth line, "lib/items," ends with what looks like an arithmetic fraction. In fact, that “fraction” is trying to tell us that the library has two copies of the Gilman book, and that one of these is checked out. Simplicity itself, no?

And bear in mind that telephone help is available (392-0361), as is online assistance via the “RefExpress” link on our home page, www.uflib.ufl.edu.