Discovery system (bibliographic search)

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A discovery system is a bibliographic search system based on search engine technology. It is part of the concept of Library 2.0 and is intended to supplement or even replace the existing OPAC catalogs. These systems emerged in the late 2000s in response to user desire for a more convenient search option similar to that of internet search engine. [1] The results from searching a discovery system may include books and other print materials from the library's catalog, electronic resources such as e-journals or videos, and items stored in other libraries.

Contents

Terminology

The term discovery layer has been described as an overarching term [2] that can include:

The term layer indicates that the software is modular and can be used to emphasize the separability of catalog search and browse functionality from an integrated library system (ILS). [3] The distinction between discovery layer, interface, and system is not rigorous and the terms are sometimes used as synonyms. These "inconsistencies were in part due to the field's newness" when the terms were being created. [2]

History

OPACs

Users searching for print materials (such as books) at a library once used card catalogs, and later computerized catalogs called OPACs. Searching for resources other than material in the catalog, such as electronic resources, was (or is) done with separate tools. Using card or computerized catalogs well required skills and jargon particular to libraries. [4]

As computerization advanced, OPACs were integrated with other library systems, like acquisition and circulation systems. The resulting monolithic software systems were named integrated library systems. [5]

Changing expectations

As the web became more widespread, library users developed "the expectation of being able to discover the collection in a search engine style". [6] Gradually, discovery interfaces were created to be more forgiving of misspellings and punctuation choices than historical OPACs, and to offer features like suggestion of related search terms and faceted search. [4]

Reference librarians in the mid-2000s also spent "a lot of time talking about information silos". [7] They were concerned that library users had to hunt for various types of resources with various tools, an obstacle to users, resulting in underused resources. [8] Librarians sought multidatabase search products that would collapse the silos.

Emergence of the discovery layer

These two features, search-engine-like interfaces and multidatabase search, began to appear in the same software systems. One author dates the uniting of these features to 2009; this would be the invention of the discovery system. [2] Particularly if decoupled from an ILS, this united product can also be called a discovery layer. "The discovery layer still uses the information and indexing in the integrated library system (ILS), but it also searches across proprietary databases and other electronic resources, all with the goal of revealing everything that a library owns or has licensed on a given topic be it a print monograph, an electronic journal article, streaming video, or a collection of archival documents" [7]

The discovery layer can be looked on as the replacement for the OPAC. [9] Some libraries maintain both a catalog interface OPAC and a discovery layer interface. [10]

Typical features of a discovery system

Examples of discovery system products

Some discovery layer or discovery service products are modules of a particular ILS or database product, and are sold by that product's vendor: an example is EBSCO Discovery Service. Other discovery tools are free-standing software products: Blacklight and VuFind are open-source examples.

Commercial products:

Open-source products:

Comparison

SoftwareDeveloperYear of releaseYear of latest stable releaseWritten inMain purposeLicenseWikipedia article w/out issues
VuFind Villanova University 20102021 PHP Discovery GPL-2.0-only Yes
Blacklight University of Virginia Library, Stanford University Libraries, and Project Blacklight team20092021 Ruby Discovery Apache-2.0 Yes

See also

Related Research Articles

The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with library catalog, is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card catalogs previously used in libraries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OCLC</span> Global library cooperative (1967–)

OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, then became the Online Computer Library Center as it expanded. In 2017, the name was formally changed to OCLC, Inc. OCLC and thousands of its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries pay for the many different services it offers. OCLC also maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

An integrated library system (ILS), also known as a library management system (LMS), is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Library 2.0</span> Idea for new type of public library

Library 2.0 is a proposed concept for library services that facilitate user contributions and other features of Web 2.0, which includes online services such as OPAC systems. The concept is based on Radical Trust, and proponents suggest it will eventually replace traditional libraries. The term "Library 2.0" was coined by Michael Casey in 2006 on his blog Library Crunch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of library and information science</span> Overview of and topical guide to library science

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to library science:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Information Network for Electronic Services</span>

The Public Information Network for Electronic Services is the nearly statewide library consortium and its online library catalog of the Georgia Public Library Service. By June 2017, the catalog consisted of books from 284 library facilities in 143 counties across the U.S. state of Georgia with a collection size of 10.6 million items, all of which are searchable by anyone with a PINES library card which can be obtained free of charge from any PINES-participating library.

Serials Solutions was a division of ProQuest that provided e-resource access and management services (ERAMS) to libraries. These products enabled librarians to more easily manage electronic resources that serve the needs of their users. Serials Solutions became part of ProQuest Workflow Solutions in 2011 and the "Serials Solutions" name was retired in 2014. In 2015, Proquest acquired Ex Libris Group, a library automation company with many similar products to those of ProQuest Workflow Solutions. The Workflow Solutions division was to be merged with Ex Libris into a new business group called "Ex Libris, a ProQuest Company".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innovative Interfaces</span> American library-software company

Innovative Interfaces, Inc. is a software company specializing in integrated systems for library management. Their key products include Sierra, Polaris, Millennium, and Virtua, with customers in 66 countries. Innovative was acquired by Ex Libris in January 2020. On December 1, 2021, Clarivate completed their acquisition of ProQuest and, by extension, Innovative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VTLS</span>

VTLS Inc. was a global company that provided library automation software and services to a diverse customer base of more than 1900 libraries in 44 countries. The for-profit company was founded in 1985 by Dr. Vinod Chachra, who became the President and CEO of the company. VTLS originated as "Virginia Tech Library Systems", an automated circulation and cataloging system created for Virginia Tech’s Newman Library in 1975. In addition to its headquarters in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States, VTLS had five international offices in Australia, Brazil, India, Malaysia and Spain. VTLS was one of the few ISO 9001:2008 quality-certified companies within the library industry for many years. The company was acquired by Innovative Interfaces in 2014.

Evergreen is an open-source integrated library system (ILS), initially developed by the Georgia Public Library Service for Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES), a statewide resource-sharing consortium with over 270 member libraries.

ERAMS are a way of thinking about library management to help libraries optimize the access, usage, data, and workflows of electronic library collections in the physical and digital library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PMB (software)</span>

PMB is a fully featured open source integrated library system. It is continuously developed and maintained by the French company PMB Services.

Faceted search augments lexical search with a faceted navigation system, allowing users to narrow results by applying filters based on a faceted classification of the items. It is a parametric search technique. A faceted classification system classifies each information element along multiple explicit dimensions, facets, enabling the classifications to be accessed and ordered in multiple ways rather than in a single, pre-determined, taxonomic order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BASE (search engine)</span> Academic search engine

BASE is a multi-disciplinary search engine to scholarly internet resources, created by Bielefeld University Library in Bielefeld, Germany. It is based on free and open-source software such as Apache Solr and VuFind. It harvests OAI metadata from institutional repositories and other academic digital libraries that implement the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), and then normalizes and indexes the data for searching. In addition to OAI metadata, the library indexes selected web sites and local data collections, all of which can be searched via a single search interface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Library Corporation</span>

The Library Corporation (TLC) creates and distributes automation and cataloging software to public, school, academic, and special library systems worldwide. Based in Inwood, W.Va., with additional offices in Denver, Singapore, and Ontario, the company is owned and operated by the same family that established it in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dynix (software)</span>

The Dynix Automated Library System was a popular integrated library system, with a heyday from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s. It was used by libraries to replace the paper-based card catalog, and track lending of materials from the library to patrons.

A library portal is an interface to access library resources and services through a single access and management point for users: for example, by combining the circulation and catalog functions of an integrated library system (ILS) with additional tools and facilities.

BiblioCommons is a privately held company, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that develops front end interactive catalog and web services for libraries. In February 2020, BiblioCommons was acquired by Volaris Group, an operating segment of Constellation Software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ex Libris Group</span> Israeli bibliographic services company

Ex Libris Group is an Israeli software company that develops integrated library systems and other library software. The company is headquartered in Jerusalem, and has ten other offices around the world. In October 2015, Ex Libris was acquired by ProQuest which in turn was acquired by Clarivate in December 2021.

Blacklight is an open-source Ruby on Rails engine for creating search interfaces on top of Apache Solr indices. The software is used by libraries to create discovery layers or institutional repositories; by museums and archives to highlight digital collections; and by other information retrieval projects.

References

  1. ↑ Breeding, M. (2018) Index-based discovery services: Current market positions and trends. Library Technology Reports, 54 (8). Retrieved from https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/index-based-discovery-services-current-market-positions-and-trends
  2. 1 2 3 Bossaller, Jenny S.; Moulaison Sandy, Heather (2017). "Documenting the Conversation: A Systematic Review of Library Discovery Layers". College & Research Libraries. 78 (5): 602, 606. doi: 10.5860/crl.78.5.602 .
  3. ↑ "What is a discovery layer". Free/Open Source Software for Libraries. LYRASIS. October 4, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  4. 1 2 Safley, Ellen; Montgomery, Debbie; Gardner, Sarah (April 19, 2011). "Oasis or Quicksand: Implementing a Catalog Discovery Layer to Maximize Access to Electronic Resources". The Serials Librarian. 60 (1–4): 164–168. doi: 10.1080/0361526X.2011.556028 . S2CID   219625402.
  5. ↑ Manifold, Alan (2014). "Integrated Library Systems and Dis-Integrative Pressures" (PDF). International Trends in Library and Information Technology. 1 (2): 13–25. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  6. ↑ Kennedy, Sean P. (March 11, 2014). "Uncovering Discovery Layer Services". Public Services Quarterly. 10 (1): 55–61. doi:10.1080/15228959.2014.875788. S2CID   62604613.
  7. 1 2 Little, Geoffrey (November 2012). "Thinking About Discovery Layers". The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 38 (6): 346–347. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2012.09.019.
  8. ↑ Tennant, Roy (February 15, 2003). "Library catalogs: the wrong solution". Library Journal . 128 (3): 28–29. Archived from the original on 2005-11-26.
  9. ↑ Blakesley, Elizabeth (May 2016). "Cognitive Bias and the Discovery Layer". The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 42 (3): 191. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2016.03.004.
  10. ↑ "Classic Catalog vs. Discovery Layer (EBSCO Discovery Service)". The University of Memphis. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  11. ↑ Breeding, Marshall (December 2019). "ByWater Expands Support Offerings to Include Aspen Discovery". Smart Libraries Newsletter. 39 (12): 4–5.

Further reading

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