Implementing web-scale discovery services: A practical guide for librarians
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-12-2015-0247 |
| Published date | 07 November 2016 |
| Date | 07 November 2016 |
| Pages | 1053-1054 |
| Author | Behrooz Bayat |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
are useful to librarians who feel they need to learn more about the application of new
technology in libraries. The cost is reasonable, and many librarians can afford to
purchase a personal copy.
Philip Calvert
Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Implementing Web-scale Discovery Services: A Practical Guide
For Librarians
By Jolinda Thompson
Rowman & Littleeld
Lanham, MD
2014
157 pp.
US$39.95 soft cover
ISBN 978-1-8108-9126
Review DOI 10.1108/EL-12-2015-0247
In the past few years, the Web-scale discovery (WSD) service has been gaining
popularity amongst libraries whether be they academic, special or public. The demand
has resulted in a multiplicity of such tools, each with its own complex nature, which
makes it a vital decision to select one that is efcient and cost-effective. This book has
been written to address that need.
The book includes 12 chapters, the rst of which, The Evaluation of Web-Scale
Discovery in Libraries, looks at how such systems provide an efcient, comprehensive
and user-friendly one-search method, the base of which is “the combination of
discovery-level functionality with a massive cloud-base centralized and normalized
index of content” (p. 11). The second chapter, A Closer Look at Web-Scale Discovery
Options, provides a prole of features of four WSD services currently available on the
market, describes the hybrid systems that are being introduced and ends up with
suggesting Encore Synergy or Enterprise as two innovative alternative products that
use federated search and Web-services technology.
Chapter 3, Making the Best Content Match for Your Library, gives practical hints for
selecting the WSD that best satises the needs of each library through a thorough
content analysis. Chapter 4, Evaluating the Discovery Layer, denes the discovery layer
of a WSD as a critical feature to the system’s effectiveness, providing not only options
for rening retrieval only to the most relevant records but also tools for viewing, saving
and sharing searches and retrievals.
Chapter 5, Other Important Web-Scale Discovery Service Features and Functions,
looks at features and functions that need to be considered when purchasing a WSD
service. These include features such as the presence and functionality of mobile
platforms, support for consortia or multi-library environments, effectiveness of rights
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