2014 Charleston Library Conference

A recent wave of ethnographic studies in academic libraries has highlighted both unique and shared behaviors of student researchers. A key discernible trait of undergraduate users is their reliance on Google-type search experiences whose well-defined search algorithms create the expectation that the most relevant results appear within the first page. Great strides in improving the discovery experience for library users have been made in both commercial and open source discovery layers. Discovery layer or web-scale discovery service are terms often used interchangeably to describe library search interfaces that offer access to a greater diversity of sources than those represented within the traditional online public access catalog (OPAC), all with features and functionality familiar to commercial products like Amazon, Google, and Facebook. This shift in focus from traditional catalog to discovery layer reflects a movement within the library to design systems that are more reflective of how people actually search for information. This session highlights key findings from an EBSCO study on the “journey” of undergraduate students as researchers, and then illustrates through case studies how two libraries are positioning their institutions to better own the discovery experience. Panelists from Indiana University and the University of Virginia will discuss their local discovery implementations that leverage both open source software and Software-as-a-Service API integrations. The session will conclude with open discussion on longer-term strategies for enabling persona-based discovery interfaces for research communities.