MWeb™ Universal Beta Program

Release 1.2 was refreshed 8/14/2008. Please see Updates for more information.

Contents

Invitation

Systems Planning invites you to participate in the beta test of MWeb Universal 1.2. This beta program is open to all. And the end of the beta program we will give sites who provide useful feedback a free copy of the final software.

MWeb Universal 1.2 provides web-based searching of multiple MARC21 files in their native format -- no need to convert or export. Any number of files can be searched at once. All files must be either bibliographic or authority, and either MARC-8 or UTF-8. (A later release will provide the ability to mix these, as well as to search MARCXML and UNIMARC files.)

Search features include keyword and phrase searching, boolean, truncation, and the ability to restrict searches to specific fields. In addition, searches can be restricted to "subsets" of the files, such as juvenalia, reference, records with specific fields, etc.

We are particularly interested in sites who use the 856 field to store image data. If you do, then the images will show in MWeb search results and full records.

If you wish to participate, please check the Server Requirements, then download the beta from our fulfillment service. Be sure to order the free 1.2 beta, rather than version 1.1. You will not need a credit card. After your purchase, you will click a button to download the installation file.

MWeb runs on your Windows web-server. Although there is an installation program, we recommend you have a server administrator perform the installation in case your web-server is different from the default.

(The beta software is time-limited, so you cannot substitute it for a purchase.)

Some specific questions we have for beta sites may be found below. Please send all questions and comments to info@systemsplanning.com. Please begin your email subject line with the words "MWeb beta" to bypass our spam filter.

Your feedback will be much appreciated!

For more information about installing and using MWeb, please see the MWeb Universal Administrator's Guide

Welcome

Dear Beta Tester:

Thank you for participating in the beta test of MWeb Universal 1.2! Your feedback will be very much appreciated. By way of thanks, we will give sites who provide feedback with a free copy of the final software when the beta test is over.

This release of MWeb Universal 1.2 supports searching of multiple MARC21 bibliographic and authority files simultaneously.

Before we get to the specifics, we feel we should provide a few words of warning:

1. The beta software will stop working after a few months (currently Sept. 30, 2008). If the beta program continues past that date, you will need to download a fresh copy. If the beta test is over, we will send you a coupon for a free download of the final software.
2. We hope that changes will be minor, so that you will not have to reinstall or reconfigure MWeb Universal during the beta test. However, sometimes that happens.

Here are the specific questions we hope the beta test will answer. Your feedback would be invaluable!

1. Is there any point to indexing the Leader and Control Fields (001 through 009)? Since MWeb's index keywords are only 15 characters, and because spaces are used as a word delimiter, it seemed of little value in earlier tests, but we would like your opinion.
2. Indexing is controlled at the field level; that is, an entire field is either indexed or not. Is there any need for subfield-level control of indexing?
3. A related question is this: Each MARC field is assigned to an MWeb "Search Category". These are Dublin-Core-like groupings of fields used to simplify searching (for more information, please see the MWeb Universal website). Since a field is assigned as a whole to a Search Category, we are particularly interested in whether the 260 should be assigned to the organization, place, or data Category?
4. Do you run Windows Server Web Edition? We want to verify that MWeb works under that edition.
5. MWeb has several options for handling image URIs in the 856 field. We would like to know what approaches you are using and whether MWeb handles it. We may ask you to zip some records with images and email them to us.
6. When you add additional MARC files to your MWeb Database (or if any files are updated), you must reindex the Database in MWeb. This can be a lengthy process for large files. How important is it to be able to index just a single file?
7. MWeb can create subsets across files, such as juvenalia, reference, etc. Please let us know your experiences with this feature.
8. MWeb tries to paint progress messages while the user is waiting for Search Results. These messages have wording like "Sent 1 search request" and "Received 1 search response". We see these when MWeb is on some servers but not on others. Please let us know your experience with this feature.
9. We are planning a feature by which only fields you specify are displayed in Full Records, instead of all fields. Would this be useful?
10. We pride ourselves on good documentation. We are just as much interested in your experience with that as with the software. All comments welcome!

Please send all questions and responses to info@systemsplanning.com. Please begin your email subject line with the words "MWeb beta" to bypass our spam filter.

Many thanks in advance for your feedback!

Updates

August 14, 2008

This beta handles images in 856 fields with no configuration required, unless you wish to override the defaults. It automatically displays images as thumbnails where required. Please see Databases with Images (MARC Databases) for details.

To use this update, download and install the software from our fulfillment service. Be sure to order the free 1.2 beta, rather than version 1.1. You will not need a credit card. After your purchase, you will click a button to download the installation file.

Be sure to install to the same folder as the existing version, and your configuration will be saved. IIS will complain five times that a virtual directory already exists, but these can be ignored since they are there from the previous installation. Then delete the MARC Database and re-add it. This will fill the image configuration with the default settings.