DISCOVERY SERVICES FOR
LIBRARIES
Marshall Breeding
Independent Consult, Author,
Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides
http://www.librarytechnology.org/
http://twitter.com/mbreeding
October 28, 2013
Internet Librarian 2013
Summary

The realm of technologies helping libraries provide
access to their collections and services through their web
presence continues to evolve and innovate. Indexbased, or “web-scale” discovery services have become
a mainstay in academic libraries in helping their users
find the materials they need among the vast resources
available to them. Socially oriented discovery
interfaces and portal products help public and other
libraries bring together a variety of service and content
offerings. Breeding gives an update on the realm of
these public-facing technology products and services
and takes a look into the trends going forward.
Discovery Resources
Discovery on LTG
The Evolution of Library Resource
Discovery
Discovery in ARL Libraries
http://www.librarytechnology.org/arl-discovery.pl
Online Catalog
ILS Data
Search:
Scope of Search
Search Results


Books, Journals, and
Media at the Title
Level
Not in scope:
 Articles
 Book
Chapters
 Digital objects
Next-gen Catalogs or Discovery
Interface


Single search box
Query tools
Did you mean
 Type-ahead




Relevance ranked results
Faceted navigation
Enhanced visual displays
Cover art
 Summaries, reviews,


Recommendation services




Scope of Search
Books, Journals, and
Media at the Title Level
Other local and open
access content
Not in scope:
Articles
 Book Chapters
 Digital objects

Discovery Interface search model
Search:
Local
Index
ILS Data
Digital
Collections
ProQuest
Search Results
MetaSearch
Engine
EBSCOhost
…
MLA
Bibliography
ABC-CLIO
Real-time query and
responses
Discovery from Local to Web-scale

Initial products focused on interface improvements
AquaBrowser, Endeca, Primo, Encore, VuFind,
 Civica Sorcer, Axiell Arena
 Mostly locally-installed software


Current phase is focused on pre-populated indexes that
aim to deliver Web-scale discovery
Primo Central (Ex Libris)
 Summon (Serials Solutions)
 WorldCat Local (OCLC)
 EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO)
 Encore ES (+EDS Index)

Public Library Information Portal
ILS Data
Digital
Collections
Search:
Usagegenerated
Data
Customer
Profile
Consolidated Index
Search Results
Web Site
Content
Community
Information
Aggregated
Content
packages
…
Customerprovided
content
Reference
Sources
Archives
Pre-built harvesting and indexing
Discovery services as Website
Replacement



Portal environment that includes customized content
management service that can fulfill typical offerings
on library Web sites
Full integration between Web site and resource
discovery (ideally)
Examples:
 Axiell
Arena
 Infor Iguana
Web-scale Index-based Discovery
(2009- present)
Digital
Collections
Search:
Customer
Profile
Consolidated Index
Search Results
Usagegenerated
Data
ILS Data
Web Site
Content
Institutional
Repositories
Aggregated
Content
packages
…
Open Access
E-Journals
Reference
Sources
Pre-built harvesting and
indexing
Web-scale Search Problem
ILS Data
Digital
Collections
Search Results
Consolidated
Index
Search:
Web Site
Content
Institutional
Repositories
Aggregated
Content
packages
…
E-Journals
???
Problem in how to deal with resources not
provided to ingest into consolidated index
Pre-built harvesting and
indexing
Non
Participating
Content Sources
Expanding the Depth of Discovery
Citations / Metadata > Full Text



Citations or structured metadata provide key data
to power search & retrieval and faceted navigation
Indexing Full-text of content amplifies access
Important to understand depth indexing
 Currency,
dates covered, full-text or citation
 Many other factors
Full-text Book indexing


HathiTrust: 11 million volumes, 5.3 million titles,
263,000 serial titles, 3.5 billion pages
HathiTrust in Discovery Indexes
 Primo
Central (Jan 20, 2012) [previously indexed only
metadata]
 EBSCO Discovery Service (Sept 8 2011)
 WorldCat Local (Sept 7, 2011)
 Summon (Mar 28, 2011)
Challenge for Relevancy





Technically feasible to index hundreds of millions or
billions of records through Lucene or SOLR
Difficult to order records in ways that make sense
Many fairly equivalent candidates returned for any
given query
Must rely on use-based and social factors to
improve relevancy rankings
Objectivity: Does relevancy reflect bias or publisher
preferences
Challenges for Collection Coverage





To work effectively, discovery services need to
cover comprehensively the body of content
represented in library collections
What about publishers that do not participate?
Is content indexed at the citation or full-text level?
What are the restrictions for non-authenticated
users?
How can libraries understand the differences in
coverage among competing services?
Evaluating the Coverage of Indexbased Discovery Services





Intense competition: how well the index covers the body
of scholarly content stands as a key differentiator
Difficult to evaluate based on numbers of items indexed
alone.
Important to ascertain now your library’s content
packages are represented by the discovery service.
Important to know what items are indexed by citation
and which are full text
Important to know whether the discovery service favors
the content of any given publisher
Non-Cooperative Scenarios

Two major players are both publishers and
discovery service providers
 EBSCO



– ProQuest
ProQuest does not provide content to other
discovery services
EBSCO does not provide content to other discovery
services
Issue currently being pressed by Orbis Cascade
Alliance.
Open Discovery Initiative




NISO Work Group to Develop Standards and
Recommended Practices for Library Discovery
Services Based on Indexed Search
Informal meeting called at ALA Annual 2011
Co-Chaired by Marshall Breeding and Jenny
Walker
Term: Dec 2011 – Dec 2013
Balance of Constituents
23
Libraries
Marshall Breeding, Vanderbilt University
Jamene Brooks-Kieffer, Kansas State University
Laura Morse, Harvard University
Ken Varnum, University of Michigan
Sara Brownmiller, University of Oregon
Lucy Harrison, College Center for Library Automation
(D2D liaison/observer)
Michele Newberry
Publishers
Lettie Conrad, SAGE Publications
Roger Schonfeld, ITHAKA/JSTOR/Portico
Jeff Lang, Thomson Reuters
Linda Beebe, American Psychological Assoc
Aaron Wood, Alexander Street Press
Service Providers
Jenny Walker, Ex Libris Group
John Law, Serials Solutions
Michael Gorrell, EBSCO Information Services
David Lindahl, University of Rochester (XC)
Jeff Penka, OCLC (D2D liaison/observer)
ODI Project Goals:



Identify … needs and requirements of the three
stakeholder groups in this area of work.
Create recommendations and tools to streamline the
process by which information providers, discovery
service providers, and librarians work together to
better serve libraries and their users.
Provide effective means for librarians to assess the level
of participation by information providers in discovery
services, to evaluate the breadth and depth of content
indexed and the degree to which this content is made
available to the user.
ODI Timeline
25
Milestone
Target Date
Appointment of working group
Dec 2011
Approval of charge and initial work plan
Mar 2012
Agreement on process and tools
Jun 2012
Completion of information gathering
Jan 2013
Completion of initial draft
Jun 2013
Completion of final draft
Sep 2013
Public Review Period commences
Sep 2013
Status
Social Discovery
A more social user experience





Ratings, rankings, reviews
Enhanced content
Connections with the library
Connections with other users
Challenge: Must have critical mass of engagement
to have an impact
Social Strategies

Inherent
 BiblioCommons:
design and infrastructure created with
social flavor and features

Layered or integrated
 ChiliFresh:
integrate a third party social platform into
any given library catalog or discovery service
Socially-powered discovery




Leverage use data to increase effectiveness of
discovery
Usage data can identify important or popular
materials to inform relevancy engines
Identify related materials that may not otherwise
be uncovered through keyword matching
Be careful to avoid introducing bias loops
E-Book Integration
Critical concern for public libraries



Most libraries offer e-book lending programs
Strong demand: increasing use statistics
Print lending remains vigorous
Commercial library e-book lending
services




OverDrive
3M Cloud Library
Baker & Taylor: Axis 360
“Douglas County Model”
 Locally
curated e-book collections and lending platform
E-book Lending Models



Phase I: Link out to e-book lending service
Phase II: Load MARC records in local catalog, then
link out on individual titles
Phase III: Discovery and lending operations
performed fully within the library’s catalog or
discovery environment
Full e-book lending


Discovery of print and e-book titles and copies
simultaneously
E-book transactions represented within patron’s
library account
 List
of charged items, due dates
 Service options: renew, return, etc.

Ability to check-out and download e-books into ereader
Library Interfaces with e-book
Integration






Polaris PowerPAC
BiblioCommons
SirsiDynix eResource Central
Innovative Interfaces: Encore ES
TLC: LS2 PAC
OdiloTK from OdiloTID
The e-book integration ecosystem




E-book lending services must expose APIs
Online catalog or discovery services must consume
APIs and adjust interface design and business logic
to accommodate discovery and lending operations
Challenge: each e-book service provider’s APIs are
different
Response: Work toward consistent or standard suite
of APIs
Library Technology Reports


The Current State of Library Resource Discovery
Products: Context, Library Perspectives, and Vendor
Positions
In press for Publication January 2014
LTR Components




Vender questionnaire
Library Survey
Industry announcements
Other articles and publications
Library Discovery Survey



Survey executed to
gather data from
libraries regarding their
experiences with
discovery services
Responses received by
396 Libraries:
29 Countries
represented, 252
responses from United
States
Academic
247
Consortium
Government Agency
Law
Medical
Museum
National
Other
Public
Special
State
Theology
15
2
7
5
1
1
1
96
14
4
3
Overall Satisfaction
Overall Effectiveness
Comprehensiveness: Academic Libraries
Relevancy Effectiveness
Objectivity in Discovery
Objectivity in Discovery: Academics
Example Product rating chart
Discovery Trends
Discovery Service Installations
Product
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
EBSCO EDS
5,000
Primo
12
AquaBrowser
55 339
Encore
72
LS2 PAC
37
Civica Sorcer
Axiell Arena
53 506
111 101
64
69
74
72 109
56
72
46
58
88
Summon
Enterprise
Installed
77
58
1900
750
365
73
305
50 164
214 158
704
75
100 102
328
16
7
12
22
61
57
33
3
42
76
Trend
Tendency toward re-alignment with
management systems




Alma + Primo / Primo Central
Sierra + Encore
WorldCat Local + WorldShare Management
Services
Intota + Summon
Counter trend
Many libraries continue separate
discovery strategies


Open source discovery + licensed Web-scale index
EBSCO Discovery Service: strategy to integrate with
any back-end ILS or LSP
Trend
Increased uptake in academic libraries of
Web-scale discovery services

Almost a “must-have” product as one component of
overall resource discovery and dissemination
strategy
Trend
Content providers cooperate with
discovery service providers for indexing
in Web-scale services

New content partnerships continue to be announced
Counter Trend
A&I providers and aggregators less likely
to participate


Competitive issues
Need to preserve the value of maintaining
subscriptions
Trend
Public libraries moving back to discovery
interface associated with their ILS


ILS Online Catalog modules now offer most discovery
interface characteristics
Examples:
Most libraries using Polaris ILS use Polaris PowerPAC catalog
interface. Displacing AquaBrowser or Endeca
 TLC libraries have largely abandoned AquaBrowser for LS2
PAC

Counter Trend
BiblioCommons

BiblioCommons is the primary discovery layer
widely implemented in public libraries that continues
to replace ILS online catalog modules
Trend
Increased universe of discovery through
highly-shared infrastructure

Built-in resource sharing by many libraries
participating in shared automation environment
Major Products
Serials Solutions: Summon

Launched in June 2009
 First
“web-scale” discovery service
 Unified search results, facets, etc

Summon 2.0 released in 2013
 Emphasis
on tools to provide research assistance
beyond search results
 Topic explorer, scholar profiles, database
recommender, content spotlighting, etc
Ex Libris: Primo / Primo Central

Primo (discovery interface) launched in 2005
 Deployed

Primo Central: article-level index introduced in
2009
 Index

locally or cloud
maintained by Ex Libris, cloud hosted
Scholar Rank: technology designed to order search
results according to scholarly importance
EBSCO Discovery Service





Extends EBSCOhost platform with non-EBSCO
content
Users comfortable with EBSCOhost interface will
easily adapt to EDS
Platform Blending
Direct delivery of full-text from EBSCO sources
Linking to full text for non-EBSCO content
http://www.ebscohost.com/discovery
WorldCat Local

Statistics from OCLC web site:
 952+
million articles with one-click access to full text
 38+ million digital items from trusted sources like
Google Books, OAIster and HathiTrust
 14+ million eBooks from leading aggregators and
publishers
 48+ million pieces of evaluative content (Tables of
Contents, cover art, summaries, etc.) included at no
additional charge
 232+ million books in libraries worldwide
http://www.oclc.org/worldcat-local.en.html
Innovative Interfaces: Encore



Initial version: discovery interface only with local
index
Encore Synergy: XML Web services interfaces to
resource targets for articles
Encore / EDS integration: agreement with EBSCO to
integrate EDS for mutual subscribers
BiblioCommons: BiblioCore





Discovery service oriented to public libraries
Social features – share reading lists, etc
E-book discovery and lending integration
Full replacement for online catalog
Pooling of patrons across participating library
organizations
Blacklight



Open source discovery interface
Originated at the University of Virginia
Increasing interest by academic libraries
 Stanford,

Columbia, Cornell, etc
No open access article-level index
VuFind





Open source discovery interface
Originally developed at Villanova University
Widely deployed
Web-scale indexes integrated by subscribers
through APIs
No open access article-level index
Axiell: Arena





Comprehensive library portal
Discovery + Web site features
Positioned as discovery interface for Axiell’s several
ILS products
Discovery layer for Archival products: CALM and
Adlib
Can front both Library and Archival or museum
products simultaneously: CultereNet
Infor: Iguana





Comprehensive library portal
Discovery + Web site features
Widget based architecture
Positioned as marketing and communications portal
Replaces both online catalog and Web site
Catalog 2.0


Edited by Sally
Chambers
Chapter: “Nextgeneration discovery:
an overview of the
European scene”
Library Technology Report: 2007



Introduction to nextgeneration library
catalogs or discovery
interfaces
Trends
Profiles of major
products
Next-Gen Library Catalogs
Marshall Breeding
Neal-Schuman Publishers
March 2010
Volume 1 of The Tech Set
Questions and discussion