A presentation on the impact of the Summon Discovery tool on information literacy and reference services at Hunt Memorial Library at Fort Valley State University.
Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Discovery Tools in the Information Literacy Classroom and at the Reference Desk
1. Shaundra Walker
Head of Information Services
Hunt Memorial Library
Fort Valley State University
2. Participants will…
◦ Become familiar with the concept of a discovery tool
◦ Learn about experiences using the discovery tool
with students in information literacy sessions and in
reference transactions
◦ Become familiar with challenges posed by discovery
tools in information literacy sessions and at the
reference desk, as well as possible solutions
3. Too many resources
Research Topics not well-defined
Different vendors and platforms
Limited amount of time
Higher user expectations (Google, Yahoo,
Amazon, etc.)
4. Searches several databases simultaneously,
regardless of vendor
Librarians can pick and choose the databases
including in the search
5. Too slow
Too many results
Duplication
Results not unified
6. One box search for resources regardless of
resource type
◦ Books and ebooks
◦ Articles
◦ Digital content
Mimics Google/Yahoo/Bing type searching
◦ Faceted Searching
◦ Predictive Text
Feature pre-harvested content
◦ Faster and better than Federated Searching
◦ No need to “go out” and fetch results
◦ Resources already reside in a unified index that is
unique to your library
8. Serials Solutions
Software as Service
(SaaS) Product
Features
◦ One search box
◦ Facets
◦ Advanced Searching
Indexes over 90% of
our full-text scholarly
content
9. Launched in Spring 2011
Includes
◦ GIL Data(mostly print)
◦ Knowledge base (eresources)
GALILEO databases
Independently purchased databases
Ebooks
Featured prominently on the library’s web page
Included on LibGuides
Used at the reference desk and in research
consultations
10. Information Literacy Classes
◦ 1000 – 2000 level courses
◦ Upper level courses (after subject resources)
◦ Interdisciplinary courses
◦ Some graduate courses
Reference Desk/Research Consultations
◦ When researcher wants to know what resources are
available on a particular topic
◦ When a researcher has a particular citation (article)
and needs to know if we have the full-text
11. Challenges
◦ Indexes an enormous amount of resources
◦ Can be overwhelming for first time users/first year
students
◦ For full-text, calls the link resolver for non-direct
linked resources (confusing to students)
◦ Broken links (primarily for newspapers)
12. Solution
◦ Spend time teaching the importance of developing a
good search statement
◦ Provide an overview of refining search results using
the facets
Limit by resource type
Limit by date
Limit by subject
13. Use the Summon Search Box Creator to create
subject-scoped search widgets
◦ Items are scoped at the individual level
◦ 59 disciplines
◦ Subject development
Columbia’s Hierarchical Interface to Library of Congress
Classification
Ulrich’s
Serials Solutions Knowledgebase
Process
◦ Select one or more relevant subjects
◦ Limit search box based on assignment needs/assignment
requirements
◦ Embed search box in LibGuide
◦ Use LibGuide in session and push LibGuide out to students
18. For results where Summon does not have
agreements with a publisher, users are
presented with the “FindIt” Link Resolver
menu
◦ Many students have not encountered this menu
before (limit results to full-text)
◦ Students are confused by the multiple fulfillment
options
◦ Vendors sometimes don’t play nice (links don’t
work)
20. Worked with GALILEO Support to customize
the menu
◦ Added a link to an FAQ on “FindIt”
◦ Added a link to our Ask-A-Librarian Service
◦ Simplified the menu text to make it more intuitive
22. Summon’s “Index Enhanced Linking”
◦ Publisher Agreements allow Summon to present
user with content with one-click
ProQuest & ebrary
JSTOR
Gale
IEEE
Sage Publications
Credo Reference
Growing list of other publishers
23. Less time spent teaching individual databases
or how to navigate to a database
More time spent actually searching and using
library resources
25. Expect the unexpected when doing demos
◦ Discovery tools are constantly evolving organisms
◦ Test searches from yesterday may produce different
results today
The GALILEO Brand
◦ Discovery can be difficult to sell
◦ Students often take the word of their professors
◦ Promote discovery tools as an enhancement, not a
replacement of catalogs, databases, etc.
26. Best when students want to know what we
have on a particular topic
Less precise when searching for a particular
book (articles seem to work better)
Facets are great for limiting resources by
location
◦ Filtering out non-circulating items
◦ Finding items at a particular location (ex. Warner
Robins Center)
Walk up patrons are usually not interested in
ebooks
27. Fulfillment, not discovery, is the goal
Discovery tools do not address issues of user
perception of library resources
Discovery tools blur the lines between print
and digital in ways that may be challenging
for library staff
I first became interested in discovery tools after I began working at Hunt Memorial Library at FVSU back in the fall of 2009. Professors were very eager to bring their students to the library, but I noticed that when students, particularly first year students, attempted to use library services, such as the online catalog and the libraries various databases, they were often confused and frustrated.First and foremost, there were just too many resources to discuss. While it was tempting to go to my tried and true database, Academic Search Premier, I also wanted to show students other subject specific databases and resources.These challenges were exacerbated by the fact that often times, particularly for first year students, the research topicI believe the challenges faced by reference and information literacy librarians, whether at the reference desk or in the classroom are very similar)Too many resources – This is probably the main driving force behind the development of discovery tools and associated technologies, such as federated searching. Libraries are spending large amounts on resources (increasingly electronic resources) which, for a host of reasons, cannot be searched efficientlyI’m sure that I’m not alone when I say that often times, professors tend to arrange classes for students at times that are convenient for them, but not necessarily well-timed for the students. Quite often, students either do not have topics or their topics are not well developed when they come in for information literacy classes. I would say the same is true at the reference desk as well.Our library resources are coming for a variety of different vendors who use different platforms that are changing all of the time. Librarians have a hard time keeping up with these interface changes, so we can only imagine how frustrating it can be for students.Whether you are at the reference desk or in the classroom, time limitations definitely pose a challenge. Classes are usually only for 50 minutes, maybe and hour and 15 minutes. Students have to get settled in the classroom, computers have to be ready to go, etc. Small technology challenges can eat up precious time. Same is true for the reference desk. It is very difficult to effectively teach more than a few resources within that time period, let alone conduct any type of assessment. At the reference desk, students want a quick answer and at peak times, it may be difficult to have a well-developed research consultation where you show a student multiple databasesLastly, our students have high expectations for their search experience. They use Google and Yahoo for their everyday research experiences and these tools set the standard for “good” and “easy”.
Just to set the context for our discussion today, I’d like to briefly talk about federated searchedBack in ________, federated searching seemed to be the answer to many of these problems that were raised in the previous slide. It allowed users to search several different databases, regardless of platform, at one time. Librarians could pick and choose which databases could be included in a federated search tool.
However, time and experience proved that federated searching was not necessarily the ideal solution.One of the primary criticisms of federated searching is that it is too slow. Federated searches have to “go out” and retrieve the search results, which can take a long time. Multiply that by the number of databases being searched.Federated searching, like discovery, can also produce a large number of search results, which can prove daunting, even for the experienced researcher, to navigate.Duplication is another problem inherent in federated searching. For example, for resources where there is a lot of crossover, such as in the case of EBSCO databases, one search result can appear multiple times in different sets of search results.Another early complaint of users of federated search is that the results are not unified.
In response to some of the frustrations experienced by federated searching and based on the need of libraries to expose “hidden” resources and get a better return on investment for existing resources, the discovery tool was born.These tools feature a one search box concept that can be used to locate resources, regardless of type.Mimics search engine experienceDiscovery tools feature pre-harvested content. One of the frustrations of discovery tools was that they had to go out and “fetch” results. Discovery tools generally feature a pre-harvested index, which produces results much quicker than federated searching.One caveat about discovery tools is that they are only as good as your resources.
One solution that I have found to the problem of Summon producing too many search results is developing subject-scoped search boxes.In January 2012, Summon introduced the scoped subject boxes, which allow you to limit search results to a
My experience, both at the reference desk and in information literacy classes is that fulfillment (actually getting the resource into the users’ hand), not discovery should be the goal. Discovery tools will definitely illuminate what you have, but if researchers are unable to access it quickly and efficiently, they will lose confidence in the library. Discovery forces us, or at least it should, to look at our fulfillment processes to make sure that they are seamless and intuitive. We are moving fastly toward a less mediated service model. If we think a student is going to call us because the link on the resolver page is broken, we are fooling ourselves. I think in some cases, we expect users to be able