Category: Discovery
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Some Discovery-related Reading
I've had a few posts about Discovery Services piling up in Google Reader: Library Technology Reports, Volume 47, Number 1 / January 2011, is an issue dedicated to Web Scale Discovery Systems. "This report describes in detail the content, interface, and functionality of web scale discovery services developed by four major library vendors: OCLC, Serials Solutions,…
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Liverpool’s Discovery
Just read a lengthy piece talking about Discovery Services in LJ: Liverpool’s Discovery. It's a bit of a smackdown between Summon and EDS, with EDS being chosen by the U of Liverpool: McCready was quick to make two caveats about the library’s decision to go with EDS. The decision, he says, isn’t about one product being…
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Libraries are screwed…
David Booker at the Centered Librarian posts a two-part presentation given by Eli Neiberger at the 2010 LJ/SLJ eBook Summit outlining the uncomfortable position ebooks puts libraries and offering several solutions. There are a couple of straw men in the presentation, but it's quite thought-provoking, and does offer some suggested for avoiding the screwage. 20 minutes in…
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Hosted Proxy Servers
Today Serials Solutions announced "the industry’s first hosted proxy service: 360 Access Control". That caught my eye as a little odd, as on Dec 1, OCLC announced that EZproxy is now available as a hosted option as well. Regardless of who was first, this is probably pretty good news for the smaller institutions out there. There…
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Using Bluefire Reader to read Overdrive ebooks on your iOS device
I carved out a little time this afternoon to explore the several posts I'd bookmarked about the new Bluefire ebook reader, which is notable for being able to support ebooks containing Adobe DRM. Here are the links to follow: How To Get Library Ebooks on the iPad/iPhone, No Sync Required – Josh Hadro, LJ Insider…
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In praise of instant feedback
This past Wednesday evening I drove from Calgary to Edmonton to participate in the TAL NEXT Library Futures Symposium. That was great, but is the topic for later posts. This one is how my new car provides instant feedback to improve fuel economy, and why that makes me think we're on the right path with…
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Have a listen to EBSCO’s Text-to-Speech feature
EBSCO recently announced that they have "added text-to-speech (read aloud) support to EBSCOhost databases, including its major school and public library databases, by embedding Texthelp Systems’ SpeechStream toolbar—a valuable benefit provided at no additional cost to the user. Users will be able to take advantage of this new feature with any full-text articles available in…
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Charleston Advisor reviews Summon, EBSCO Discovery Service and WorldCat Local
The current issue of The Charleston Advisor 12(1), July 2010 includes a 6-page comparative review of three of the big names in Web-scale discovery; Summon, EBSCO Discovery Service and WorldCat Local. It provides a nice overview of each service, and compares them on similar points. Check out the full article for all the details, but…
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EBSCO Publishing and Thomson Reuters Agreement Enables Mutual Customers Access to Web of Science via EBSCO Discovery Service
EBSCO just put out a press release (PDF) announcing that “institutions subscribing to both EDS and Web of Science may conduct their search via the single search box of EBSCO Discovery Service, access the valuable content in Web of Science within the results and be able to link over to the full Web of Science…
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SummonCamp 2010 at ALA in Washington, DC
Those of you who already have Summon probably already received this via email, but in case not, or in case you're on the fence, I suspect prospective customers would be welcome as well: (oops, this is definitely only for existing customers) Hello Summon Customers I am pleased to announce the first North America Summon user…