Pika/Catalog/OPAC Basic Overview
Who should attend: Anyone who uses their library’s catalog.
When: See the training calendar
Where: The training is online using the Zoom video conference and meeting software.
Registration: You must register for this training by filling out the online registration form. If you have any questions, you can send an email to tammy-at-marmot.org. After you register, a confirmation email will be sent to you with information on connecting to the online training.
Trainer: Tammy Poquette
Training Description
Participants attending this training will be shown how the Browse the Catalog works. How to search the catalog. The item information such as More Info, More Like This, Also in this Series, and Similar Series, Titles, and Authors (from Novelist) will be shown. Attendees will be shown how to place a hold and check out OverDrive items. This training will go over accessing account information using the My Account feature to show the checked-out titles, titles on hold, reading history, fines and messages, titles you rated & recommend for you, account settings, and search history. As a bonus, attendees will be shown how to create a list and link patrons. The training outline lists the areas that will be shown and discussed during training. The training exercises may help to reinforce the training.
Training Resources
Pika Terminology
Pika (Pika Discovery Layer) - Marmot Library Network has worked on their open-source Pika Discovery Layer since 2009. Pika was created to address the needs of patrons by solving several common usability issues. All formats of a work are grouped together, patrons can serendipitously discover titles to read next, and all functionality works on any size device with responsive design. Pika is available to all Marmot members and Discovery Partners that work with Marmot.
Record Grouping - Pika includes a unique FRBR-like feature that eliminates confusion over why titles appear multiple times in the catalog. Traditional library catalogs present all formats of a title as individual results, which makes it difficult for patrons to determine which result will be best for them, and lengthy results can even lead them to believe that the library does not own the format or title they want. Pika implements record grouping, which shows all formats and editions of a title in an easy-to-navigate format. This allows patrons to select the format they want to use easily. When patrons select a format to place a hold on, Pika will automatically sort editions to give the user the best edition based on a number of factors, including the language of the edition, how recent the edition is (for non-fiction titles), the availability of the edition both locally and at other libraries in a consortium, hold queue lengths, and more. If patrons do not want the preferred edition, they can easily choose another one.