External sources
In the new OPAC, you can set up external sources that can be searched in addition to the standard catalog. These sources can be indexed in Solr (a search system). There are also external sources available outside of Solr.
External sources indexed in Solr
An external source provides titles in Solr, the underlying search system for the OPAC. These titles themselves are not known within OCLC Wise. These external sources, through an interface created by OCLC, use the branch groups mechanism for the purpose of searching the catalog.
This allows for very specific control over which branches can and may search which external sources.
Setting up external sources
An external source provides titles in Solr. Each source has its own program to read the titles from the source and import them into Solr. For other regional/local source collections please OCLC Support.
To configure external sources in the branch search settings:
- Enable the external collection in the Solr configuration of the system.
- Create a virtual (dummy) branch for the external collection. The category for the new branch must be set to Z - Dummy (virtual branches will be created via a version_update).
- If you want to enable searching in this external collection for specific branches, add the virtual branch to that branch's category groups.
Cover art and external sources
A number of external sources offer cover art for items, but some do not. Since in most cases it is desirable that “something” is shown, a mechanism has been created for this, which works as follows:
- Titles without a momkeys value use the file named <origine>.png in (wiseweb machine) /home/web/images as a cover.
- The hardcoded origin values per source (retrievable via “grep -rn origine .” in feeder/generators dir in wisesolr project)
A cover must meet the following requirements:
- Size: approximately 120x166 px
- File format: png
- If possible, a transparent background
- A background or border is necessary because without one the shadow under the cover is visible.
Additional external sources outside Solr
The system option EXTSRC allows further searching in new OPAC using other additional external sources, for example, Google, Wikipedia or the Worldcat scientific collection.
The location of this option is different from the previous OPAC version. Instead of showing above the search results, it can now be found below the search help on the left side of the screen. When a user clicks on the link, a new tab opens in which the search term used is already entered. The use of wildcards (*) is supported. This option allows a user to repeat their search in an additional external source.
For more information on configuring these sources, see External Systems.