Win Shih, Head of Library Systems Vivien E Win Shih, Head of Library Systems Vivien E. Zazzau, User Ed/Reference Librarian University at Albany Pursuing Better Search Experience: Lessons Learned from Beta-Testing EBSCO Discovery Service

About the University at Albany THREE LIBRARIES   University Library (Main) Dewey Graduate Library Science Library & M.E. Grenander Special Collections  Total Staff (FTE) --145    CAMPUS COMMUNITY Students -- 18,000 Faculty -- 1,000 Reference Questions ('08/'09) -- 62,930  

Binghamton University SUNY Test Libraries   University at Albany Binghamton University                                   100+ Beta-Test Libraries

University at Albany: Ebsco Discovery Working Group Elaine Lasda-Bergman, Bibliographer & Reference Librarian (Committee Chair) Win Shih, Head of Library Systems Vivien E. Zazzau, User Education/Reference Librarian Michael Knee, Bibliographer & Reference Librarian Carol Anderson, Reference Librarian

EDS Working Group Charge Test and evaluate the EBSCO Discovery Service: Identify other similar discovery services Examine features, usability & content of various services Determine cost and library staff time to implement Make recommendations on services to implement

EBSCO Discovery Services EBSCO Product Function EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) Discovery Tool with a Preindexed, tiered search EBSCOhost Integrated Search Service (EHIS) Paired with EDS, it can federate information from sources not available in EDS or your library's EBSCOhost databases. EBSCO A-Z  Listing Service Organizes and provides links to all library e-resources. EBSCO LinkSource (Link Resolver) Designed to work with EDS, but EDS works with any link resolver.

EDS Beta-Testing Support Weekly One-hour Webinars with Other Beta-Test Libraries Listserv for Test Libraries and EBSCO Representatives Campus Visits by EBSCO Representatives 24-hour Telephone Support    Online Help Documentation

Issues We're Exploring EDS availability/holdings information limited to 4 fields:   1.Location       2. Call #       3. Status      4.Due Date University at Albany needs at least two more fields: 1. Collection    2. Loan Type   

A Few Other Issues 1."Government Documents" classified as "Books." 2. Periodicals missing: volume & issue info collection ID loan type   3. Reference books: not identified as Ref books listed as available, but not as "non-circulating"

Scope Full Metadata (EDS) Federate Initially (EhIS) E-books   Federate Initially (EhIS) E-books Greenwood Digital Collection NetLibrary Federated or Move to EBSCO Platform EconLit, PsycINFO, Social Work Abstracts Mostly Covered by EDS Project MUSE, ProQuest Platinum, Sociological Abstracts

Customization Advanced Search Adding / Removing Resources Custom Widgets Meebo RSS Feeds Search Box Builder Library Website Libguides Blackboard Facebook Branding Skinnability Colors Toolbar ILL Form

Other Features Relevancy Ranking Hide Link if Full Text   Hide Link if Full Text RSS Feed and Email Alerts Super Records Guest Access Multilingual Data Result Biasing

Local Collections Library Catalog Institutional Repositories   Institutional Repositories  Civil Right Digital Library, University of Georgia Other Collections LC Catalog ERIC PubMed arXiv.org 

Lessons Learned Forever Beta Commitment   Commitment Every Department has a Valuable Contribution to Make Simple Searching Poses Complex Pedagogical Challenges One Size Does Not Fit All Single Target, Interface, Index It's Important to Set Deadlines, But More Important to Be Flexible

Future Plan Usability Testing Loading Catalog Records   Loading Catalog Records Marketing & Promotion Funding Training Assessment

Thanks So Much for Your Interest!   Win Shih, Head of Library Systems University at Albany/SUNY wshih@uamail.albany.edu   Vivien E. Zazzau, User Education/Reference Librarian University at Albany/SUNY vezazzau@uamail.albany.edu