Xerxes

In a previous blog post (here) I talked about Xerxes; a replacement for the MetaLib interface. MetaLib has always been plagued by its poor interface design, its overly complex searching structure, and for being far from intuitive. The Xerxes project (developed at the California State University) was set-up to remedy some if these issues.

Homepage for the project: http://xerxes.calstate.edu/
Codepage for the project: http://code.google.com/p/xerxes-portal/

One of the disadvantages of investigating Xerxes has been that every implementation I have looked at requires a login to gain access. This means that you can view the initial page, but cannot perform searches or see how intuitive the application is. However, Jonathan Rochkind (John Hopkins University, Baltimore) was kind enough to show me how to gain Guest access to his Xerxes implementation. Not only this, but he said that it was fine to share the link with whoever I wanted (hence this blog post). Jonathan has also sent me a Guest link to his normal MetaLib installation, which is really useful for comparing the Xerxes interface with the existing MetaLib interface. This also shows how Xerxes can be run in parallel to the existing MetaLib interface without any disruption to service.

Xerxes: http://jhsearch.library.jhu.edu/?base=authenticate&action=login&authentication_source=guest

MetaLib: http://metalib.mse.jhu.edu/

I have been reliably informed by Graham Seaman (Royal Holloway University London) that the installation is very easy and straight forward. He indicated that the only stumbling blocks were integrating the Athens/Shibboleth login (which we have already done) and issues with sets (which we don't use).

It may well be worth looking at Xerxes as a possible alternative to the MetaLib interface if the interface design and website structure answer the issues raised as part of the MetaLib UI review. It certainly sounds like it might be easier to implement Xerxes than it would be trying to make the existing MetaLib interface do something it was never designed to do.

Have a play with the Xerxes system at John Hopkins and feedback with your thoughts.