Discovery tools are emerging in libraries. These tools offer library patrons the ability to concurrently search the library catalog and journal articles. While vendors rush to provide feature-rich interfaces and access to as much content as possible, librarians wonder about the usefulness of these tools to library patrons. In order to learn about both the utility and usability of EBSCO Discovery Service, James Madison University conducted a usability test with eight students and two faculty members. The test consisted of nine tasks focused on common patron requests or related to the utility of specific discovery tool features. Software recorded participants’ actions and time on task, human observers judged the success of each task, and a post-survey questionnaire gathered qualitative feedback and comments from the participants.  Overall, participants were successful at most tasks, but specific usability problems suggested some interface changes for both EBSCO Discovery Service and JMU’s customizations of the tool.  The study also raised several questions for libraries above and beyond any specific discovery tool interface, including the scope and purpose of a discovery tool versus other library systems, working with the large result sets made possible by discovery tools, and navigation between the tool and other library services and resources.  This article will be of interest to those who are investigating discovery tools, selecting products, integrating discovery tools into a library web presence, or performing evaluations of similar systems.

https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ital/article/download/1855/1745

Usability Test Results for a Discovery Tool in an Academic Library

Discovery tools are the next phase of library search systems. Illinois State University's Milner Library implemented EBSCO Discovery Service in August 2010. The authors conducted usability studies on the system in the fall of 2010. The aims of the study were twofold: first, to determine how Milner users set about using the system in order to better inform customization choices, which in turn would create better search experiences, and second, to find out whether discovery tools fix the problems of federated search. With federated search technology, users often felt frustrated by the search experience. Some reasons for the frustration included a desire for better ways to determine the relevancy of search results and for more information about the material included in the records. The authors determined that while many federated search problems were solved, some issues persisted. Overall, the move to EBSCO Discovery Service at Milner Library has been a positive experience for its users.

Promise Fulfilled? An EBSCO Discovery Service Usability Study

The purpose of this paper is to present the knowledge structure based on the articles published in Library Hi Tech. The research hotspots are expected to be revealed through the keyword co-occurrence and social network analysis.,Data sets based on publications from Library Hi Tech covering the time period from 2006 to 2017 were extracted from Web of Science and developed as testbeds for evaluation of the CiteSpace system. Highly cited keywords were analyzed by CiteSpace which supports visual exploration with knowledge discovery in bibliographic databases.,The findings suggested that the percentage of publications in the USA, Germany, China, and Canada are high. Further, the most popular keywords identified in Library Hi Tech were: “service,” “technology,” “digital library,” “university library,” and “academic library.” Finally, four research issues were identified based on the most-cited articles in Library Hi Tech.,While keyword plays an important role in scientific research, limited studies paid attention to the keyword analysis in librarian research. The contribution of this study is to systematically explore the knowledge structure constructed by the keywords in Library Hi Tech.

Mapping knowledge structure by keyword co-occurrence and social network analysis: Evidence from Library Hi Tech between 2006 and 2017

Purpose – The study described in this paper aims to identify the progress made in the efforts to model current online public access catalogs (OPACs) after the next generation catalog (NGC) in academic libraries in the USA and Canada.Design/methodology/approach – A random sample of 260 colleges and universities was selected from Peterson's Guide to Four‐Year Colleges 2009, an estimated 10 percent of the total population of 2,560 listed academic institutions. A checklist of 12 features of the NGC was used to evaluate the OPACs of the 260 libraries in the sample. The authors took as the OPAC that which the library linked to as its “catalog,” even though some might be more properly considered “discovery tools” or “discovery layers.” Some libraries used more than one OPAC interface simultaneously; in this case, each OPAC was analyzed separately. In the case of several institutions using the same consortial OPAC, only the first instance of the OPAC was analyzed. About 15 percent of the institutions (n=40) in th...

Next generation or current generation? A study of the OPACs of 260 academic libraries in the USA and Canada

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an academic library's implementation of a discovery layer (VuFind 1.0 RC1) as a next‐generation catalogue, based on usability testing and an online survey.Design/methodology/approach – Usability tests were performed on ten students (eight undergraduates, two graduates), asking a set of 14 task‐oriented questions about the customized VuFind interface. Task completion was scored using a simple formula to generate a percentage indicating success or failure. Changes to the interface were made based on resulting scores and on feedback and observations of users during testing. An online survey was also run for three weeks, to which 75 people responded. The results were analyzed, compared and cross‐tested with the findings of the usability testing.Findings – Both the usability testing and survey demonstrated that users preferred VuFind's interface over the classic catalogue. They particularly liked the facets and the richness of the search results...

/pdf/usability-testing-of-vufind-at-an-academic-library-2b74xjjn11.pdf

Usability Testing of VuFind at an Academic Library

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare open source and proprietary discovery tools and find out how much discovery tools have achieved towards becoming the next generation catalog.Design/methodology/approach – The paper summarizes characteristics of the next generation catalog into a check‐list of 12 features. This list was checked against each of seven open source and ten proprietary discovery tools to determine if those features were present or absent in those tools.Findings – Discovery tools have many next generation catalog features, but only a few can be called real next generation catalogs. Federated searching and relevancy based on circulation statistics are the two areas that both open source and proprietary discovery tools are missing. Open source discovery tools seem to be bolder and more innovative than proprietary tools in embracing advanced features of the next generation catalog. Vendors of discovery tools may need to quicken their steps in catching up.Originality/val...

Kurt Wagner

Papers

Evaluating and comparing discovery tools: how close are we towards next generation catalog?