Delivering the discovery service what to expect Aaron Tay Senior Librarian E-Service Facilitator National University of Singapore

The world of web scale discovery 504 – Summon 1,515 – Primo 1,683 – Worldcat Local >2,100 – Ebsco Discovery Service Source : Marshall Breeding - Smart Libraries Newsletter, May 2013

Lots of case studies & presentations https://sites.google.com/site/urd2comparison/articles-on-discovery

Technology adoption curve

What do we know or expect of discovery services?

Expect to make compromises in your selection Size of Index & coverage Relevancy ranking Reliability of linking User interface Integration with existing catalogue Ease of implementation Price Etc….. No one discovery service is superior in all areas!

Is Size of index all that matters?

Is size of index all that matters? Rochkind, J. A Comparison of Article Search APIs via Blinded Experiment and Developer Review. Code4Lib Journal.

Does a larger index make it easier or hard for the relevancy algorithm?

Expect to make compromises in your selection Size of Index & coverage Relevancy ranking Reliability of linking User interface Deeper Integration with existing catalogue Ease of implementation Price Etc…..

Deeper Integration with existing catalogue Purchase discovery service from ILS Vendor (e.g Ex Libris Primo + Primo Central ) Discovery service with cooperation of ILS (e.g III’s Encore + Ebsco Discovery Service) Use discovery API + Open Source catalogues (e.g Vufind + Summon API)

Encore with EBSCO Discovery Service

Summon + VuFind

Expect Frustration

Discovery Service as an angel

Discovery Service as a devil

How consistently should our discovery work?

Should we demand discovery services to work well for Known item searching as well as subject searches?

Expect resistance From…… Librarians & Faculty

The reaction “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

The strongest reaction I’ve seen “(Teaching Summon) is a dereliction of duty reference librarians have towards their users” The impact of serial solutions’ summon™ on information literacy instruction: Librarian perceptions . (Buck & Mellinger, 2011)

Technical services Reference Information Literacy Resource Guides Expect disruption Technical services Reference Information Literacy Resource Guides

Technical services Expect disruption Major reorganization of the eresources function in technical services to handle management

Reference Expect disruption Reorganized front line desk to be manned by support staff rather than librarians

Created guides that supplement the search not compete ….. Expect disruption Resource Guides Created guides that supplement the search not compete …..

Craft best bets based on searches

Study usage patterns to spot problems

Study usage patterns to spot problems

How do you position discovery vs database? Expect disruption Information Literacy How do you position discovery vs database?

Instruction Librarians struggle Is discovery just a HUGE database?

Do Librarians incorporate discovery into classes? Subject “Never” teach Rarely teach Kulp, McCain & Scrivener (2012) “One box” 19.4% 40.4% Buck & Mellinger (2011) “Summon” 15% Not indicated Kulp, C., McCain, C., & Scrivener, L. (2012). Teaching Outside the Box: ARL Librarians’ Integration of the “One-Box” into Student Instruction. College & Research Libraries. Buck, S., & Mellinger, M. (2011). The impact of Serial Solutions’ Summon™ on information literacy instruction: Librarian perceptions. Internet reference services quarterly, 16(4), 159-181.

Using discovery as a link to the database Do a canned search in Summon, immediately point out the database recommender entry and click on it and start teaching the database

One-sided mention of discovery vs database Go to a subject guide, do a search in the Summon widget embedded. Show the number of large results , then say "use a database instead for better focused results”

Disjointed session. Spend 5 minutes showing how you can search Summon for books, then searching for full text of known article and then switch to a database for the rest of the session and talk about use of boolean operators and using of therasui in PsychInfo.

Better ideas? LOEX 2013 - Fostering discovery wiki - Various teaching strategies using analogies like Telescope: First-Year One-Shots, Binoculars: Upper-Level One- Shots, Magnifying Glass: Graduate Students One-Shot, Microscope: One-on-One Research Consultation

More Resources for incorporating discovery into IL Information Literacy in the Age of Web-Scale Discovery - a series of 10 seminars by leading instruction librarians on how they use Summon mainly or primarily to teach information literacy - recordings available  Information Literacy & Summon - 2013 edition was held at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School -recording here, notes here LOEX 2013 - Fostering discovery wiki - Various teaching strategies using analogies like Telescope: First-Year One-Shots, Binoculars: Upper-Level One- Shots, Magnifying Glass: Graduate Students One-Shot, Microscope: One-on-One Research Consultation Promising practices in instruction of discovery tools

Expect increased usage for lesser known resources 1000% increase for March 2013 vs 2012 Oxford BibliographiesOnline

Expect increased usage for lesser known resources 117% increase for March 2013 vs 2012 Project Muse

Expect flat or declining usage for well known resources Slight decline, or no change Nature/ACS/JSTOR

Same Platform, Different Effects

Expect moderate declining usage for A&I databases Search decreased by 23% Scopus

Expect moderate declining usage for A&I databases Search decreased by 19% Web of Science

Should we cancel A&I databases?

Future things to expect from discovery Better relevancy / recommender systems Interface improvements to handle unique challenges of discovery

Resources Articles on discovery – Unified Resource Discovery Comparison Wiki Articles, blog posts, videos on web scale discovery – Custom Flipboard/Web magazine

Thank you! Aaron Tay aarontay@nus.edu.sg musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com