Getting Started

Once you have completed the tutorial, there are some basic questions to ask as you begin implementing Pathfinder Pro, and an approximate sequence for considering them. As you consider these questions, you can refer back to the detailed pages in the tutorial for specific help.

What resources does my Library have to offer?

You need to determine what resources the Library has access to and which of them should be offered to potential Library users. Resources may include:

• Licensed services for patrons (e.g. Proquest, EBSCO Host, IEEE Xplore, etc.)
• Licensed services for Library staff (Baker and Taylor, YBP, World Cat, etc.)
• Book jacket/Review services (Syndetics, Content Café, in-house scanned images, etc.)
• Free services (Amazon, search engines, general dictionaries, other library catalogues, etc.)

How do I want them categorized?

The Library will have to choose a way to group the different resources that will be provided. Possible groupings include:

• By user type: Children, Adults, Library Staff, Professors, Students, etc.
• By broad topic: Social Science, Humanities, Engineering, Reference, Medicine, etc.
• By specific subject: California law, Women's Health, Georgian Architecture, etc.
• By resource type: Full text databases, Abstracting and Indexing databases, search engines, booksellers, newspapers, etc.
• A combination of these

Where do I want to offer them?

The Library needs to decide the origin from which the resources will be presented to the users.

• Innovative Library Web Catalog. You will need to create the WebPAC Origin.
• Millennium Modules (Acquisitions, Cataloging, etc). You will need to create the appropriate Millennium Origin for each module from which you want to offer links.

Do I need to apply data tests?

The intention of the data test is to provide "smart linking" to maximize the relevance and appropriateness of the offered resources.

• You should always apply data tests to make sure the information that will be passed to the resource (author, ISBN, subject, etc) exists in the source (bibliographic record, citation, etc); otherwise you could be passing nonexistent data and get incorrect or invalid results.

Will I need to use filters?

The filter is a way to prevent certain resources from being offered to users who don't need them or shouldn't make use of them.

• You could use a WebPAC scope filter to make sure that each library within a consortium can only have access to its corresponding licensed services.
• You could use a WebPAC port filter to offer different resources to users of a Reference Database as opposed to users of the main database.

What Field Selectors do I need?

You need Field Selectors for two options: to create a data test and to create a link to a resource.

• Several Field Selectors are already present in your system. You only need to create a new Field Selector if you will pass, in a link, a data element that has not been defined as a Field Selector yet, or when you don't have the Field Selector that you require to add your data test.

What WebPAC display options do I want?

You can offer the Pathfinder Pro resource display in two different ways - as a table or as a panel.

• The Library should decide if all the resources will be displayed in a table or in a pop-up window (panel), or if some resources will be offered in one way and others in a different one.

Will I customize the WebPAC page displays or button links?

• The Library has the ability to change the default forms and buttons that Pathfinder Pro uses and to create their own designs.