DISCOVERY TOOLS: THE TALES OF IMPLEMENTATION AT TWO

HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (HBCUS)

Netta CoxSerials Librarian, North Carolina A&T State University

Iyanna SimsSystems Librarian, North Carolina A&T State University

Shaundra WalkerHead of Reference, Fort Valley State University

ALA Annual Conference Saturday, June 25, 2011

WHAT IS A DISCOVERY TOOL?

New Technology

Single Point of Entry

Pre-harvested

Centralized Index

Vendor neutral

Relevancy

Robust Features

CustomizableSource: Definition synthesized from the literature. See bibliography.

DISCOVERY TOOL OPTIONS

EBSCO Discovery

Service

Encore Synergy

Primo

Summon

WorldCat Local

Blacklight

LibraryFind

Scriblio

SOPAC

VuFind

Proprietary Open Source

COMMONALITIES Single point of entry for all library

information

Enriched web interface

Faceted navigation

Simple keyword search

Relevancy

BRAINSTORMING…

What should I consider when choosing and implementing a discovery tool?

NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY

HBCU, Public Land-Grant Institution

Enrollment: 10,000

Library Staff: 50

Library Collection:

Over 700,000 volumes of print and audiovisual

materials

Over 150,000 electronic books

Over 160,000 print and electronic journals and

serials

Approximately 300 databases

MOTIVATION

Rich collection of print and audiovisual

resources

Expeditious growth of electronic resources

Digitized archival material and developing an

Institutional Repository

Desire to meet user expectations

Federated Search

Funding

THE PROCESS Formed a committee

Representation from each department – Public

Service, Technical Service, and Systems

Researched commercial and open-source

platforms

Developed an evaluation matrix

Vendor visits

Discussed pros and cons in relation to library

environment

THE MATRIX

THE REALITIES No perfect solution

Functionality

Coverage

Timeline

Realistic

Flexible

Bells and whistles may come with a cost

GOING FORWARD Complete configuration process

Internal testing

Train Staff

Revise instruction curriculum

Integration

Harvest IR data

Increased visibility and usage of resources

Embrace the platform as a living organism

LESSONS LEARNED Understand your library needs and wants

Have questions for vendors and ask for

demonstration of live instances of platform

Make no assumptions

Resource Analysis

Network with other libraries

FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1895

1890 Land Grant Institution

One of Three Public HBCU’s in Georgia

Member of the 35-Member University System

of Georgia (USG)Consortium

Enrollment of 3400

One of the fastest growing schools in the

USG system

ABOUT FVSU LIBRARIES Three Branches

Main Library (Hunt) Curriculum Materials Center Warner Robins Center (Graduate and Adult

Education) Print Collections

150,000+ Volumes 600 Active Print Serials Titles Small AV Collection

Electronic Resources Over 100 Databases (mostly shared via GALILEO) Ebooks (NetLibrary, Ebrary, IEEE) Moving Print Serials to Electronic Serials

THE CONSORTIA CHALLENGE

Participant in GALILEO Public, private, K-12, technical and college and

university members Shared platform, varied resources Cost-sharing for electronic resource purchasing Shared Proxy Server and OpenURL Link Resolver

Member of the GALILEO Interconnected Libraries (GIL) ExLibris Voyager ILS Union Catalog Reciprocal Book Borrowing Service (GIL Express)

MOTIVATION Influx of New Resources

Better Return on Investment

Frustration with Federated Searching

Information Literacy Challenges

Multiple, Changing Platforms

Puzzled Students

The “50 Minute” Session

NEEDS/DESIRES

High Coverage of Scholarly Resources

Easy Updates

Simple Interface

Extendibility

Affordability and Sustainability

THE SELECTION PROCESS

Evaluated Three Major Tools

Vendor Presentations

Coverage Analysis

Selected Final Tool

IMPLEMENTATION Started in January 2011

Three Phases

Adding E-Resources to the Client Center

Exporting MARC Records from the catalog

Setting Up Nightly Cron Job

Testing, Testing, Testing!

SOFT LAUNCH March 2011

Added Search Box to Homepage

Introduced in ENG 1101 and ENG 1102

Response

Overwhelmingly positive, professors and

students

More time spent on searching than teaching in

information literacy sessions

LESSONS LEARNED Managing Electronic Resources

Need for new workflows

Impact on Instruction

Customizing the OpenURL Link Resolver page

Teaching the importance of good search

statements

Impact on Collection Development

Purchasing more electronic resources

Availability in Summon

LOOKING AHEAD Information Literacy

Focus on 1000 and 2000 level courses

Revised Information Literacy Tutorial

E-Resources

Moving Print Serial Subscriptions to Electronic

Considering MARC Record Updates for Electronic Journals

Considering adding MARC Records for non-indexed

collections

Considering MARC Records for E-book Collections

Considering More E-Books

Adding Open Access Collections

Adding Institutional Repositories

WAYS WE’VE USED SUMMON

LibGuides Added to Search Drop Down Box along with other

search types (catalog, Ask-A-Librarian, e-journals, etc.)

Created search boxes for specific collections (i.e. videos, special collections, etc.)

LibAnswers Embedded search boxes in Ask-A-Librarian

answers BlackBoard

Created learning objects

DEMONSTRATION

Q&A DISCUSSION

RESOURCES

Grand Valley State University Library Labs http://gvsulib.com/labs/custom_summon/ Helpful tool for creating Summon search boxes

LibGuides Summon Resources http://

help.springshare.com/content.php?pid=90986&sid=1053606#3190055

More help for creating Summon search boxes Summon API

http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/help/api/ Summon Community Wiki

http://community.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.php/Main_Page

Another great resource for Summon users

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 1: Web Scale Discovery What and Why?. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 5-11. Retrieved from

EBSCOhost.

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 2: OCLC WorldCat Local. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 12-21. Retrieved from

EBSCOhost.

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 3: Serials Solutions Summon. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 22-29. Retrieved from

EBSCOhost.

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 4: Ebsco Discovery Services. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 30-38. Retrieved from

EBSCOhost.

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 5: Ex Libris Primo Central. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 39-47. Retrieved from

EBSCOhost.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 6: Differentiators and A Final Note. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 48-53. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 7: Questions to Consider. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 54-59. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 8: For More Information. Library Technology Reports, 47(1), 60-61. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Way, D. (2010). The Impact of Web-scale Discovery on the Use of a Library Collection. Serials Review, 36(4), 214-220. doi:10.1016/j.serrev.2010.07.002

Yang, Sharon Q, Kurt Wagner, (2010) Evaluating and comparing discovery tools: how close are we towards next

generation catalog?, Library Hi Tech, 28 (4), 690 – 709.