The LOCKSS software development teams at Stanford and EDINA have been working over the summer to develop two new significant features for the LOCKSS software, and we would now like to invite member input into user testing.  These features have previously been identified as important by the UK user community – and follows on from the user interface requirements work undertaken in 2012 by the UK LOCKSS Alliance Support Service.

DisplayContentStatus

This feature helps you understand the status of content on your LOCKSS box.  We’ve tried to make it easier to review what content you’ve configured for collection, and within that, to understand what content has been successfully collected and what content may require attention.

A first iteration is ready for test by the user community.  We’ve added bibliographic information so it’s easier to quickly identify the publisher, title, and ISSN.  We’ve simplified the interface so it’s easier to tell whether something has been collected and therefore whether you can provide your library users with access.  We’re exploring ways to filter the collection so you can quickly extract the information that’s useful to you.

Screenshot of beta DisplayContentStatus feature

A beta version of this will be available in the next release of the LOCKSS daemon.  In the meantime, we’d like to test this to make sure it’s easier to use and meets your expectations and workflows.

We need volunteers to test this.  If you’d like to participate, please get in touch by contacting edina @ ed.ac.uk.  We need around six volunteers for a couple of rounds of testing – no more than 30 minutes each time.  To take part you’ll need Skype and a headset on your computer.

SubscriptionManager

This feature assists with content management.  It allows you to record your institutional coverage for each title available in LOCKSS, and means that new volumes released for selected titles and publishers are automatically configured for collection.

Screenshot of beta SubscriptionManager feature

Again, we need volunteers to test this.  We’ll review both features in the same test process:  the objective will be to understand your workflow goals when interacting with your LOCKSS box.  This will confirm that we are implementing solutions to the right problems, helping you build and manage your collection more effectively.

Please contact us at edina @ ed.ac.uk to get involved!