PLVN – ICT Special Interest Group Thursday 21 st July 2011

What is a discovery layer? A discovery layer provides a single point of access to the full library collection across bought, licensed and digital materials. Typically, a single search box is offered alongside a range of other navigation features. (Lorcan Dempsey LITA Top Tech Trends 2011) Discovery Layer: an application or service which sits on top of a library’s catalogue, electronic holdings and other records to provide a unified and modern experience (Chris Keene, University of Sussex Library 2010) To me, a Discovery Layer allows a user to search across a library catalogue (or several), an ebook platform (or several), and a source of articles (or several). And incorporates the following: Federated searching Metasearching Single host environment (Mita Williams, Windsor Public Library, Canada, 2008)

How does a discovery layer work? Federated search Indexing of databases Expanded search options Narrowing Fuzzy logic – Did you mean….

What a discovery layer is not? A replacement to federated search A ready made index to all your databases content (depending on your vendor) The cure for all your catalogue ills

What it can do for you? Better searching Cross platform searching Quicker results (depending on indexing)

Source: Library Technology Guides