Group items tagged

"In addition to Discovery products created by commercial companies, a number of alternatives have emerged in the open source arena. These open source products allow libraries to follow a more experimental approach in establishing their nextgeneration discovery interface strategy. Libraries can download and install the software on a test server, load sample data sets, and customize it without the need to make a major commitment or financial outlay. They can even experiment with multiple products. Theavailability of these open source products allows a library to make an initial investigation of a new generation interface and gain hands-on experience, even if they might eventually decide to purchase a commercial product. In the open source discovery interface arena, VUfind stands as the dominant product. The Mellon-funded eXtensible Catalog project has been underway for about 2 years and will soon be releasing software. Other open source discovery technologies emerging include the University of Virginia's Blacklight and OpenBib, which is an example of discovery interfaces developed internationally."

"I recently received an e-mail that the next Serials Solutions/Library Journal webcast about Summon will discuss - among other things - the differences between federated search and unified discovery systems. Upon discovering this, I decided to review the entries I've written about these differences. Since the last post I wrote on this topic was written last August, it is not surprising that many of the observations I made then are now incorrect. I'd like to take this opportunity to correct some of the statements I made."

"The University of Calgary's Libraries and Cultural Resources became a beta partner with Serials Solutions' unified discovery service, Summon, in the spring of 2009. Since then it has worked to include metadata from numerous disparate systems in a single index to drive discovery in a Google-like environment. The University of Calgary has examined how MARC and other metadata schemas are mapped into Summon with an eye to ensuring the maximum possible population of index fields representing facets in addition to adhering to the established standards for cross mapping metadata schemas and indexing. The University of Calgary has investigated existing standards and worked closely with the Summon team to create mappings that reflect how MARC and other metadata can ultimately be used in big indexes. Combined with the normalization or collapsing of metadata records representing the same resource into a single metadata-rich record, fully leveraging MARC and other metadata in big indexes should not only level the metadata playing field but make competition between records a non-issue."

"Discovery services have begun to spring up. This article is my attempt to catalog and characterize them. Consider this article to be an introduction that sets the stage for future analysis articles."

"The following are some of the Discovery Layer Interfaces that have been selected by libraries."

"In 2007-2008, the DLF convened a Task Group to recommend standard interfaces for integrating the data and services of the Integrated Library System (ILS) with new applications supporting user discovery. This page gives access to the group's recommendation, related materials, and information on followup activities."

"An API for effective interoperation between integrated library systems and external discovery applications"

"WorldCat Local is the single search that connects people to all your library materials-physical, electronic and digital-as well as to the delivery services that get them what they need. It displays multiple types of library resources, formats and locations in a single relevancy-ranked results set, provides high-level Web visibility for your library, interoperates with existing locally-maintained circulation and delivery services, connects seamlessly to everything in your collection and simplifies the discovery-and-delivery experience for your library users."

"Charge: - Explore metasearch services on the marketplace, including open source services. - Bring in vendors to demonstrate services. - Identify sites using these services. - Document comparisons, including functionality, what is needed to set up, what level staff to implement, cost differences, strengths and weakness. How would the service work with Collection Search Center? SIRIS? - Make recommendations for what and how to implement."

* Encore Discovery * Encore Harvesting Services * Encore Query API * Encore Reporter

- To Fix A Leaky Sink: Envisioning The Potential of Discovery Layers - LENS: Catalog Records and Additional Data Sources in the Aquabrowser Implementation at the University of Chicago - Automated Metadata Repurposing Using eXtensible Catalog Software - Equality of Retrieval: Leveling the Metadata Playing Field in Big Indexes

"My coworkers and I have been working with Summon over the last few months, and I have a few additional observations about how it's different from federated search:"

"This subgroup is focused on the library user and will recommend ways to make relevant resources more visible and easier to find, particularly within the user's workflow. In developing its recommendations, the subgroup should consider use cases for a range of users, research needs, and resource or collection types. It should take into account not only library-owned collections, but potentially relevant resources from any available source (e.g., electronic books, special collections, grant resources). "