Richard Burkitt

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Background and overview

• Richard Burkitt
• Serials Solutions

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Researchers Speak for Themselves
I get confused and end up going in circles.
Library sources are great but internet sources
are the most convenient.
If only there was a Google-like search
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Ithaka Report 2006
Source Housewright, R., Schonfeld, R. (Sept
2008). Ithakas 2006 studies of key stakeholders
in the digital transformation in higher
education.
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Value Gap Emerges ARL expenditures vs.
perceptions of library value as gateway
Amount Spent on Materials
Value Gap
WWW Browser
Perceived Value of Library as a Gateway
CD-ROMs
Online Catalogs
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Primary Research

• Observational research of student researchers
• 70 sessions across 8 universities and 2
  continents

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User Perception of Library Content
The superior source for quality, credible content
Preferred for academic research and course
assignments
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Actual User Behavior
The easiest place to start the research process
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Different Behavior

• Even though the library is perceived to be
  better
• The use of Google and other internet search
  engines continues to rise

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Why Not the Library First?
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Chief inhibitors to success using library
resources

• Lack of awareness
• Difficulty navigating library website to locate
  appropriate e-resources
• Search catalog front and center, for articles
• Authentication barriers, especially considering
  limited access points

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Access Points for Library Content

• Library catalog

• eResources page

• Federated search

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Library experience is confusing, clumsy and slow
Where should I begin?
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Compared to

• Simple
• Easy
• Fast

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Cautionary Words

• Only librarians like to search everyone else
  likes to find
• We digital library developers don't get up in
  the morning wondering how we can ruin the lives
  of our patrons. Nonetheless, unintended
  consequences of our work may damage the capacity
  of libraries to serve their clienteles
• Roy Tennant - http//www.libraryjournal.com/articl
  e/CA156524.html

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What do our users expect?

• Simple, yet powerful interface
• Simplicity is complexity done well. (Jeff
  Jarvis - What Would Google Do)
• Faster query time
• Consistent results
• Improved relevancy ranking
• Powerful refine tools
• Improved linking
• Format agnostic

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Everything Has Been Leading To This

• Enables quick discovery of the most credible
  resources anywhere the library has them
• Digital or physical
• Books, e-journal articles, databases, etc.
• Catalog, publishers, aggregators, open access,
  etc.

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Simplified Illustration
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Simple, Easy, and Fast Web-Scale Discovery

• How?
• Architecture specifically built for this
• Handle large data and deliver results fast
• Pre-harvest content into one searchable index
• Hosted service
• Constant updating to provide currency of content
• Using library holdings information to provide
  search results customized to your holdings
• OpenURL to link to the most appropriate copy of
  subscribed full text (via your own link resolver)

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More Content Support

• 90 providers supplying content so far
• 70,000 journal and periodical titles
• 400 million items indexed so far
• Publishers and other content providers joining
  the Summon service weekly

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Broad Support for the Summon Service

• Some of the worlds largest publishers
• Springer, Taylor Francis, SAGE Publications
• CrossRef
• Provides DOIs for superior linking
• New!
• ISI Web of Science
• Lexis Nexis
• ABC-CLIO

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Broad Support for the Summon Service

• Acoustical Society of America
• Alexander Street Press
• American Accounting Association
• American Association of Physicists in Medicine
• American Association of Physics Teachers
• American Astronomical Society
• American Economic Association
• American Institute of Physics
• American Medical Association
• American Psychological Association
• American Society for Microbiology
• American Society of Civil Engineers
• American Vacuum Society
• Annual Reviews
• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• Bioline International
• BioMedCentral
• BMJ
• Brill

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See It To Believe It!
Demonstration
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