Tangled Roots

Tangled Roots
Tangled Roots :
Developing Public Service Icons
Derived from MARC
Morgan O.H. McCune
Susan Johns-Smith
Axe Library
Pittsburg State University
Tangled Roots : Icons Engage
Catalogers
 Reference and Public Service
Librarians
 Systems Managers
 Patrons
 Graphic Designers
 Creative Use of the Internet

What We Won’t Address
The positively RIGHT way to do this
 The positively ABSOLUTE best icon
to use
 The positively ONLY integrated
library system to implement
 The BEST decision for your library,
your users, and your material

What We Will Address
What is an icon?
 Where do they come from?
 Why would you want to use icons in
your public catalog?
 What is involved in an icon
implementation project?
 What makes a good icon?
 Where do great icons come from?

In the Beginning : Formats
Lilikia Tendrill – Tara
Severns, Flickr
The Seven Basic Food Format Groups
MARC Format
MARC Format + [GMD]
[videorecording]
What the Patron Really Wants
Videocassette
Online
Video
Downloadable
Video
DVDs
Let’s Not Make It Too Complicated!
One Change of Many
From ….
Computer Formats … Emerged
Streaming
Video
URLs
Podcasts
Google
Maps
Blogs
Electronic
Journals
and
Databases
Online EBooks Download
able MP3s
EBooks
New Materials Took Root
Summary
Basic formats are defined by MARC
 Broadening of formats morphed
into specialty ―formats‖ as new
materials were developed, and our
patrons sought clarity.

Summary
7-8 MARC formats, and 18-22 GMD
formats, are not sufficient to
adequately identify or describe our
collection
 Collection codes, or ―location
codes‖ are too numerous, with too
much overlap

Summary

Electronic wizardry (i.e, devices),
coupled with increased forms of
data sources, require more ways of
identifying ―formats‖ within the
collection.
Where Do We Start?
In the Beginning: Icons
The Tangled Roots of Icons
Icon (from Greek εικων, eikon,
"image")
In the Beginning : Icons
c:\>
‫أالسماألحجار‬
‫‪石‬‬
Timeline (Massironi, 3)
―Icons for Esoteric Use‖ (Caplin)
―Universal Recognition‖ (Caplin)
Universal Recognition - Navigating
Our World
Where to go/not go
What to do/not do
―designed to be understandable to the most
people, independent of linguistic and
cultural specificities‖ (Massironi, 261)
Representational Form (Preece)

Resemblance

Exemplar

Symbolic

Arbitrary
Icons - Definition
a sign or representation that stands for its
object by virtue of a resemblance or
analogy to it (dictionary.com)
 ―a class of graphics that are useful
precisely because they are completely
stable and unambiguous, immediately
recognizable, and free of interface with
other figures or the background‖
(Massironi, 260)

Metaphor and
Human-Computer Interaction

"Metaphors play an important role in
interfaces … because they can act as
'cognitive transfer agents.' That is, they
enable people to use knowledge … that
they have about one particular domain
… in another domain with which they
are less familiar― (Barker, 11)
Metaphor and HCI,
e.g. ―My Dog is a Clown‖ (Sease)
MY DOG
(tenor or
target
domain—
abstract or
undefined)
A is to
B
CREATES
CLOWN
(vehicle or
source
domain—the
known)
UNDERSTANDING
of my dog
The Desktop Metaphor
Computing
c:\>
 Human beings can ―recognize material far
more easily than we can recall it from
memory‖ (Preece, 118, my emphasis)

OPACs - Objectives of the Catalog

IFLA Guidelines for Online Public Access
Catalogue (OPAC) Displays, 2005
Primacy of users’ needs
Importance of finding,
identifying, selecting and
obtaining resources
Follow international
standards
Users Finding, Identifying, and
Selecting Resources
Icon Implementation Process



Our metaphor is the library
Our icons are (mostly)
concrete exemplars or symbols
Our goal is identification of
resources (specifically ―what is not
book?‖)
Icon Implementation Process
Choosing formats
 Identifying ―hooks‖
 Running reports
 Database clean-up
 Choosing icons
 Evaluating/acting on feedback

Choosing Formats
Choosing Formats
GMD=[videorecording]
―hook‖=000/06=g 007/00=v 007/01=d
format=DVD
GMD=[videorecording]
‖hook‖=000/06=g 007/00=v 007/01=f
format=videocassettes
Identifying Hooks
What is the most unique way to
identify the subgroup you want to
tag with your icon, considering both
the existing data, and the way you
would ultimately like the data to
read?
Icon Hooks – MARC Requirements
Bib record, not item location codes
 Simple
 Concentrate on leader/fixed fields,
not GMDs or physical descriptions

DVD
Leader/06 (“Type”)
 VIS
g Projected medium. Filmstrips,
motion pictures, slides, transparencies,
videorecordings (including digital videos)
and material specifically designed for
overhead projection. All of the included
media are intended for projection.

007 v ‡b d ‡d c ‡e v
 300 1 DVD [or videodisc] (29
min.) : ‡b sd., col. ; ‡c 4 3/4 in.

Videocassette
Leader/06 (“Type”)
 VIS
g Projected medium. Filmstrips,
motion pictures, slides, transparencies,
videorecordings (including digital videos)
and material specifically designed for
overhead projection. All of the included
media are intended for projection.

V
007 v ‡b f ‡d c ‡e b ‡f a ‡g h ‡h r ‡i s
 300 1 videocassette (29 min.) : ‡b sd.,
col. ; ‡c 1/2 in.

Running Reports
Identify those items ―wearing‖ your
icons that should not be
 Identify those items that should be
―wearing‖ your icons and are not

Running Reports: Examples
A report that identifies items with a
―videocassette‖ icon that read ―DVD‖
or ―optical disc‖ in the 300 $a
 A report that identifies items that read
―videocassette/videocassettes‖ in the
300 $a that is not displaying a
―videocassette‖ icon.

Database Cleanup
Correct errors or fill in lacking data
identified in reports or searches
against the database
 Can possibly be done in a testing
environment before the icons are
―made public‖ (test server)

Database Cleanup
Might be a good project for
technical staff or students,
depending on the changes needed
 Can be done one at a time or in
batch (with MarcEdit or another
MARC editing tool)

What Next?
Which Icon?
 Vendor Solutions
 Other Library Implementations
 Create Our Own
 Look to the Web
 What We’ve Learned

Vendor Solutions
Wichita Public Library, KS
http://catalog.wichita.lib.ks.us/
Huntington Beach Public, CA

http://catalog.hbpl.org/
Chemeketa CCRLS, Oregon
http://catalog.ccrls.org/
Chemeketa – Mouseovers
Chemeketa – Mouseovers
How Not to Populate a Mouseover
How Not to Populate a Mouseover
Summary
Must be useable for other library
applications
Web Pages, Blogs, Brochures
 Must be robust enough to withstand
shrinkage, magnification,
transparency, and ―look and feel‖

Summary
Color coding can be useful, but can
you match it 2 years down the
road?
 Watch cultural and ADA guidelines
for color; try not to match
institutional ―school colors‖ if they
are suspect

Summary
Mouseovers (hovers, or ―alt-tag‖)
with text separated from image is
optimal display
 Vendors should be able to support
mouseovers, and libraries should
be able to edit text in mouseovers
to be unique library descriptions

Other Library Implementations
Hennepin County, MN
https://catalog.hclib.org/
Hamilton Public Library, Ontario
http://ohip.hpl.ca/
Carleton College and St. Olaf, MN
Carleton College and St. Olaf, MN
Summary
Watch color selection
 Minimize red and pink (ADA –
Color blindness – 10% of your
patron population)
 Placement - on every record, or
only unique material?

Summary
Compound icons – good idea!
 Compound icons with odd designs
– not so good?
 Compound icons with words –
problematic!

Create Our Own
Create Our Own
Create Our Own
Summary
Working on someone else’s
schedule
 Concepts need to be really clear
before creation (―big‖ versus ―large
print‖)
 Watch language dependencies
when using more the ―E-‖

Summary
Does your library have enough
money to support a graphic artist?
 Can you describe to a non-library
audience what library formats are?

Summary
Can you describe significant
differences in similar material so
that an artist will understand them?
 Hint: Should not be done by a
committee!

Keys to Icon Best Practice

Visually distinct

Reasonably large size

Represent the appropriate concept
Raskin
Don’t use too many icons
 Don’t use too many colors when color
coding
 Do not ―icon‖ a task that can be done
efficiently w/o iconic representation

Raskin
“Instead of icons explaining, we
have found that icons often
require explanation” (Raskin, 168)
http://www.hms.harvard.edu/
Figure / Ground
Better or Worse?
Icon Design (Massironi)
Lines are almost exclusively border
lines drawn with mechanical aids
 Icons are typically drawn in the
center of a homogeneous field, and
contrast is strong
 Usually, the drawing is black, and
the background is white

Icon Design
Orientation of objects is chosen to
show most informative side Viewpoint
is frontal, central and at infinity
 Icons are devoid of depth cues
 Chosen objects are usually
prototypical of their class

(Massironi, 262-263)
Summary
―Opaque‖ or ―Transparency‖?
 ―Electronic‖ does not always mean
―computer workstation‖?
 Does ―Global‖ mean ―Electronic‖?
 How to describe the undescribable?

Look to the Web
Standard ―sets‖ of icons available
voluminously, particularly through
Creative Commons and
WikiCommons
 Sets will be partial. Their metaphor
is the internet, or the iPhone, or a
computer screen, not the library.

Look to the Web
Googling for ―icon library‖ will
lead to many odd results
 Start with Wiki Commons
 Supplement with Flickr
 Proper attribution of all sources

Standard Internet-Available Icons
Which Are Not Part of the Set?
Icons Outside the Metaphor of Format
Selecting material outside the format
metaphor for a hook
 Electronic – journals, books, media,
podcasts, digital images
 URLs
 Areas that continue to grow in your
collection and expand beyond
traditional terminology

Icons Outside the Metaphor of the Set
Internet sets
 Local design
 Flickr
 Vendor options
 Paid graphic design to brand and
provide continuity

Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Flickr Use for Icon Development
Summary
Don’t rip stuff off!
 Give credit to your colleagues
 Again, give proper credit to your
colleagues
 Run wording past Directors, Boards,
Legal Counsel. If there is any
doubt, don’t use it

Example of Lookup Table
Example of Attribution

Icon content on this site is made available under
Creative Commons License, including Crystal Clear
Icons, the Axialis Team Icons, Fmaunier, icons
derived from Flickr Contributers (including duncan
and mag3737), a few submitted by fellow Dynix
and Horizon sysadmins, and with permission from
OverDrive. If you believe that an icon is being
used inappropriately, please contact the Axe
Library at the address listed below.
What We’ve Learned
Representation of formats, rather
than representation of everything
 Quality of the identification needs
to be accurate (high reliability)

What We’ve Learned
Database data may suggest an
imperfect world
 Database will never be perfect or
stay perfect.
 When you’re at 90%, start moving
forward

What We’ve Learned
If the groundwork parameters are
solid, the icons can change easily.
 Maximize the icon styles and
designs based on your audience at
hand and with the unknown
variable of the audience ―of the
world‖

What We’ve Learned
Consider ADA (magnification)
 Consider global and local colors
 Consider cultural ―talking points‖
 Consider environmental library use

What We’ve Learned
Consider your collection
 Consider your users
 Consider your upkeep and
uniqueness of data

What We’ve Learned

Ironically, the precise image choice
is the last piece of the puzzle,
rather than the first piece of the
puzzle.
In the End
Get the process right
 The choices for icons are infinite

In the End

Thanks to…
http://www.flickr.com/people/meliam/
 Heather Winzer, KTC Library
 Lots of People with Lots of Ideas Who
Weren’t Afraid to Talk About Them
