More libraries adopt 'Google-like' search tools as they continue to make information more accessible to their users. This presentation looks at two of those products.

1. A Comparative Analysis of Serials
Solutions Summon and WorldCat
Local Web-scale Discovery
Services

2. What is Serials Solutions
Summon?
 Also known as Summon or SSS
A web-scale discovery service that enables a familiar
web-searching experience of the full breadth of
content found in library collections, from books to
videos to e-resources.

3. What is WorldCat Local?
 Also known as WCL
WorldCat Local is a web-scale discovery solution
which provides a main entry to a library’s print and
digital collections. WCL provides another way to
discover some of the resources available beyond a
library’s holdings.

4. What do these services provide?
Content layer
SSS
WCL
 Contains over 500 million items
 Over 6,000 publisher’s content
 90,000 + journal & periodical
 Access to more than 1.267 billion
items from authoritative content
resources
titles
 Predominant in newspaper &
scholarly journal articles
 Includes various other content
type such as:
 Over 952 million articles
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Books
Thesis & dissertation
Conference proceedings
Music scores
Audio visual materials
 Resources from 70,000 libraries
worldwide
 Books and eBooks; full text articles
from journals and newspaper
 Media (films, CDs, images
 Government documents
 Maps

5. What do these services provide?
Discovery Layer
SSS
WCL
 Embodies ideal features of a next
 Provides a front-end user interface
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generation library interface
Delivers a single point of entry into
all the content offered by a library
Exceeds federated search
Federated searching & Google-ish
tendencies
Uses relevance ranking and onesearch box to search across articlelevel information.
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featuring WorldCat menu and singlesearch box
Quick links to help information &
different kinds of searches
Advanced search option that allows
for more precise searching & limiting
Initial browse display is ordered by a
ranking algorithm that preferences
local records
Each record includes icons that give
users visual clues as to the material’s
format
Faceted searching
Supports multilingual interfaces

6. SSS Discovery Interface – Basic
Search Page

7. SSS Discovery Interface –
Advanced Search Page

8. SSS Discovery Interface –
Results Page

9. WCL Discovery Interface – Basic
Search

10. WCL Discovery Interface –
Advanced Search

11. WCL Discovery Interface –
Results Page

12. How large a collection will they
handle?
SSS
WCL
 Handles libraries with very
“OCLC has long been the
major bibliographic database
for libraries and currently
represents the holdings of over
10,000 libraries throughout the
world” (Breeding, 2007).
X Includes over 84 million
records, representing about a
billion individual library
holdings.
large collections
For Example: “The Darmouth
College collection within
Summon currently includes
303 million items, or 56% of
the total Summon holdings”
(Darmouth College Library,
2009).

13. Is there a union catalog?
SSS
WCL
 SSS provides a very large
 Includes links to catalogs of
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centralized index
Gives access to content sourced
from a multitude of commercial
databases and publishers
SSS is built around a single
unified index that returns a
single, unified sets of results
Summon indexes holdings from
other library’s collection
It is up to a library to make the
option to “Add Results Beyond
your Library’s Collection”
available to their patrons
local libraries, presenting a list
of the libraries that own an item
 Stands as the largest libraryoriented bibliographic database
in the world
 WCL searches the entire
WorldCat database, exposing
users to a much broader
universe of content

14. Who owns the data?
SSS
WCL
 Acquires content chiefly
 WCL partners with several content
owners to provide over 1.267
billion items. Such partnerships
include:
through agreements with
content owners primarily:
 Journal & newspaper
publishers
 eBook publishers and
 Third party aggregators such
as
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Proquest, Lexis Nexis,
Academic, Gale (4,000 +
publishers)
 Other sources include:
 Libraries subscribing to
Summon, which contribute
library catalog records and
other locally digitized content.
 Journals (MEDLINE, ERIC,
ArticleFirst)
 eBooks (NetLibrary, Ebrary)
 Special Collections (OAIster,
Archive Grid)
 Open Access Content (Hathi
Trust, JSTOR, NDLTD)

15. Does The Service use MARC?
SSS
WCL
 Summon is able to discover
 Uses MARC as the match
items in a library’s physical
collection by importing the
library’s MARC records into
Summon’s index.
 Libraries are responsible to
provide updates.
 Alternatively, libraries may
subscribe to Serial
Solution’s 360 MARC
updates product.
point between its and the
user library’s local system
for retrieving real-time
availability and for placing
holds.
 Requires that OCLC control
number be indexed in the
same field of all MARC
records and be prefixed in
the same way.

16. In The Cloud
SSS
WCL
 Markets its Software-as-a-
 A powerful library application
Service (SaaS) product as a
cloud computing solution
 Through SaaS, Summon
owns the application and
delivers it via the internet
 Assumes responsibility for
maintaining, updating and
protecting (backing-up) the
data resources.
of cloud computing
 Service is delivered to library
from OCLC through the Web
 Libraries therefore have
 No hardware to purchase
 No software to install
 No computer system to
operate.

17. Z39.50 Protocol
SSS
WCL
 Enables connection into a
 Operates through the OCLC
wide variety of databases,
web-resources and libraries’
OPACs using Z39.50, xml
and HTTP connections
Connexions Cataloging
interface, and involves
setting up Z39.50 access to
the underlying Library
Management System.

18. Basic Package
SSS
WCL
 Advanced, blank and discipline-
 One search for all content
 More than 2 billion items from
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scope searches
Spotlighting images
Facets and Filters
Results beyond library’s
collection
Citation counts and links
Catalog details page/pop-up
RSS Feed
Save items and citation excerpt
the world’s libraries
 Provides entry point for a global
network of high quality
materials
 Increased visibility for libraries
collection through partnerships
with Google, yahoo!, and 50 +
social networking and book
selling sites
 Built-in open URL resolution to
power A-Z lists links

19. Advanced Package – Add-Ons
SSS
WCL
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 Basic package is its
Database Recommender
Best Bets
Related Searches
Auto complete
Embedded chat and
reference widgets
 Custom Text Editor
 Search Box and Widget
builder
 Integrated research guides
advanced package.

20. References
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Biola University Library. (n.d.). WorldCat Local. Retrieved from
http://library.biola.edu/research/worldcat/
Breeding, M. (2009). Summon: A New Search Service from Serials Solutions. Smart Libraries
Newsletter, 29 (3).Retrieved from www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytextpl?RC=1400
Breeding, M. (2007). WorldCat Local. Library Technology Reports, 43 (4), p33-37. Retrieved from
www.ebscohost.com
Klein, M. B. (2010). Hacking Summon. Code4Lib Journal, (11). Retrieved from
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3655
Online Computer Library Center. (n.d.). WorldCat Local at a Glance. OCLC. Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/worldcat-local/about.en.html
Pearson Library and Technology Service. (n.d.) WorldCat Local: Search California Lutheran
University Pearson Library and Beyond. California Lutheran University. Retrieved from
www.callutheran.edu/lss/technology_services/.../WorldCatLocal.php
Serial Solutions. (n.d.). Software as a Service and Cloud Computing: Key Considerations for
Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.serialssolutions.com/assets/resources/saas-and-cloudcomputing-key-considerations-for-libraries.pdf
Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 3: Serials Solutions Summon. Library Technology Reports, 47 (1),
p22-29. Retrieved from www.ebscohost.com
Ward, J. (2008). Why WorldCat Local? Library Technological Reports, 44 (6) p7-17. Retrieved from
www.ebscohost.com