Answers to Questions that have appeared on our listserv regarding the LexisNexis* Academic prototype (scheduled for August 2002 release)

Visit the Prototype

To view the prototype referred to in the following messages, visit www.lexisnexis.com/academic/1univ/ri1.htm

Questions have been organized into the following categories:

• Quick News Search
• Guided News Search Form
• Document List and Email/Print Functionality
• Navigation
• School Logo
• Product URLs
• Prototype Awkwardness
• Browser Testing
• Administrative Module Suggestion

Quick News Search

Q. How soon after publication will articles indexed for Quick Search be available?

A. Publications included in Quick Search will update based on the individual publication. For example, New York Times articles are available within 24 hours of publication. All publications in Quick Search should also be available on the Guided News search form. In Quick Search though, you can't search in just one publication.

Q. I've just been taking a tour of the prototype for the new version and was very disappointed to read that the answer set is to be sorted by relevance. Is this just for the Quick News Search or does it apply to all searches?

A. The default sort order for the Quick News Search form is relevance. (Relevancy plays a critical role in the documents retrieved by Quick News Search. To read more about how the search works, visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/1univ/riquick.htm.) This is the only search form within the service that defaults to a relevancy sort order. There will be an option to sort by date as well.

Q. Is phrase searching using double quotes going to be an option? The example has "campaign finance reform" I hope so. If so, then maybe the opening screen should say so. Right now it has the word phrase in double quotes. Maybe it could say 'enter phrases in double quotes.' Is the option to select newspapers or magazines/journals only going to be available via Guided Search?

A. Yes, two or more words can be linked together with quotation marks so they are treated as a phrase. If the user does not enclose words with quotation marks, Quick Search always assumes an AND relationship between search terms. That is, documents must contain both of your search terms to become a candidate for retrieval. We can make it clearer on the search form that phrases can be entered in double quotes. Thanks for the suggestion!

Q. How would you explain to students during instruction sessions the differences in search logic between Quick News and all other forms?

A. We suggest a only high-level explanation: Want to get in and out quickly, without thinking about advanced search logic? Just type some terms in this box. BUT, if you want to do a precise search, and limit your search by field (segment) or by date, select a particular source, etc. use the Guided News Search form.

When we talked to students, we learned that a one-box interface that asks for words or phrases is something that they are comfortable with and accustomed to. This form responds in part to that need.We offer a behind-the-scenes explanation for you on how Quick News Search works (www.lexisnexis.com/academic/1univ/riquick.htm.), but we don't think it's critical for most students to understand the intricacies behind the search form. (The "Tips" section will provide an explanation if they do want to know.)

Guided News Search Form

Q. Is there a way to see what the new drop-down menu for the Source field will look like [on the Guided News Search Form]? One of my frustrations with the current product is that students only search the MajPap option (default) and don't know about either the US regional or the transcripts databases.

A. You can get a better idea of what the drop-down menu will look like through a PowerPoint presentation posted on our website: http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/1univ/NewLNSuite.pps

Q. On a related note, will it be possible to easily repeat the same search from one database subset to another? I frequently run the same search in MajPap and then want to redo it in the Transcripts database; each time I have to redo the search, which quickly becomes cumbersome.

A. After conducting a search on the Guided News Search form, you can use the "Edit Search" feature to change the source on the form from Major Papers to Transcripts. The new design of the form should save you some steps!

Document List and Email/Print Functionality

Q. I'm not crazy about the alternating grey/white listing in search results. It's window dressing. My first thought as a user would be "gosh, does this mean one or some of them are more relevant and important than others?"

A. Students and librarians responded favorably to the white/gray list, citing greater ease in distinguishing between results. Furthermore, it is consistent with the way documents are displayed within nexis.com. One of our goals with the redesigned suite is to make it more consistent with the LexisNexis flagship services. This is an example of that effort.

Q. I haven't figured out how to email more than one full-text document to myself at a time in the current version. If I want to select and email several full-text documents, this must be done one at a time-open one full-text document, select it to be printed / emailed, then go back & open the next. Have I missed something? Will there be an option to print/email several full-text documents at once in the new version?

A. You haven't missed anything-at the moment you are limited to emailing or printing a single full-text document at a time. Although we will not be able to change this functionality with the August release, we do hope to provide enhanced print/email functionality in a future release.

Q. One of the announced enhancements for the new LexisNexis interface is the relocation of the FOCUS functionality to the top of the document list. When working at the reference desk, I do not use focus. On the very, very few occasions when students inquire about its meaning, I tell them to edit their searches instead-it's the same thing, really and it seems to cause less confusion for them. I do realize that by using 'focus' and the browser arrow keys, I can toggle between multiple lists representing different levels of searching whereas with 'edit' I end up with a single list instead. But, with the typically brief attention span of today's college students, simpler often seems like the best choice and edit is a little simpler than focus. In the past when using focus, my explanation that I now had two lists to look through-the original results and a second more 'focused' results-often drew blank looks, so I stopped using it. My question is whether I have been foolishly overlooking a valuable LN search tool all of these years. The enhanced visibility of the focus option in the new interface suggests that LN seems to regard it as an important part of their service. Can someone provide personal testimony to the value of the focus feature? Are librarians regularly showing students the focus feature? Have I been an idiot all these years?

A. We received feedback from customers that they wanted to see the FOCUS feature moved to a more prominent location, so we moved it up! The FOCUS option is a good choice for those who receive a large answer set and simply want to add additional terms to narrow the search without having to return to the original search form. (To make this more clear to users, there is a button next to the "FOCUS" box that says, "Search Within Results.") To understand the history of this functionality, it may help to know that FOCUS was created for the law market as a cost-saving measure. In the pay-per-search world, editing and resubmitting a search resulted in higher charges than adding a term to narrow an existing results set. In LexisNexis Academic, such costs aren't an issue, but the functionality is presented as an option for those who like to use it-and there are some librarians and students who do!

Navigation - Product List

Q. The boiler-plate info on the left side of the search screens, e.g., the left side of the "Quick News Search" page: "Search for Other Information -- Scholastic EditionEdition, Congressional, State Capital, Statistical, etc." If these other LexisNexis units remain, we will constantly be explaining to our students why they cannot access "Current Issues" and other choices. I hope that you will list ONLY the LexisNexis areas to which EACH library has a subscription. If you list ALL the options, we librarians whose libraries cannot afford ALL the subscriptions will be spending an extraordinary and unnecessary amount of time giving explanations to our students.

A. As in the current version, only those services subscribed to will appear in the list.

School Logo

Q. The school logo-we currently do not have our logo at LexisNexis. How will this differ? Are we to supply you with our logo?

A. Providing your school logo is not a requirement; the space will be blank if a graphic-url is not provided. This is a feature that was implemented after requests by some customers who wished to emphasize to their users that these services were specifically provided by the school and not just another internet site. For the schools that have been using this feature already, the important note is that the size of the space will change in the new version. For more information, refer to http://www.lexis-nexis.com/academic/sr/schoolbranding.htm .

URLs

Q. Will there be changes to URLs?

A. No and Yes! The base URLs to access any of the various services will not change. However, the various pages within the product(s) will be changing. Any external pointers to materials provided by the products will undoubtedly require adjustments, perhaps not major ones, but changes nevertheless.

Prototype Awkwardness

Regarding a comment that a user found the prototype awkward to navigate:

We choose the two-window format to have full-size (640x480) screen shots alongside commentary. You may point to, print, or save the preview graphics for your own use.We realized that this format would at least initially have the two windows overlapping, but thought even so that it would be fairly easy to click back forth as desired to see the screen layout itself and then our commentary. You may adjust the window's position and size to fit your screen. For those who find the prototype too awkward (or those who would like to see more screen captures than are included in the online tour), we recommend viewing the PowerPoint presentation that can be found on our website at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/1univ/NewLNSuite.pps

Browsers

Q. I've viewed the sample pages in Netscape 4.75 and IE 5. There are some obvious usability issues, the main one being no scroll bar appears in the Netscape screens (so you're restricted to viewing only what appears at the top of the page) while you can scroll through screens in IE. Is this going to be an issue with final production? Has the new version been tested in Netscape and/or what are the plans for support of the new version in Netscape?

A. The sample pages on our site are merely images-they are not functioning prototypes. The final version of the release will be tested and supported for Netscape and Internet Explorer versions 4.0-6.2.

Administrative Module Suggestion

Q. I have the feeling that most people will find something they don't like in the prototype (nothing personal against LN; just the nature of new interfaces regardless of vendor), which is why I consider the best thing any vendor can do is provide an administrative module which gives libraries some control over the functionality available to its users. If done right, then libraries would have the option to set defaults for sorting (I like date too), search screens (advanced vs. basic), default output (screen vs. email), etc. Will an administrative module be part of the new LN?

A. We will be unable to provide an administrative module in August. We will take this comment under consideration for future possible enhancements.

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