Discovering which Discovery Tools to Choose

Rebecca Perkins

Chickering, F. c., & Yang, S. y. (2014). Evaluation and Comparison of Discovery Tools: An Update. Information Technology & Libraries, 33(2), 5-30.

Summary:  “Search technology has evolved far beyond federated searching. The concept of a ‘Next Generation Catalog’ has merged with this idea, and spawned a generation of discovery tools bringing almost Google-like power to library searching.” In this updated review of discovery tools adoption within the United States, "fourteen major discovery tools (three open source and ten proprietary)" were evaluated and compared to one another using sixteen benchmarking criteria the authors call “advanced features of a ‘next generation catalog’…and some of the most desirable features for a modern OPAC.”

Evaluation:  I found this article very helpful for choosing a discovery system. While I am not sure if this will be considered as directly tied to the content of this course, I have to argue that even the best collection management techniques are not worth much if patrons can’t find the collections you’re managing.

The authors used five steps to create and complete their study. The first step was to compile a list of all the major discovery tools and list libraries that actually use them. To do this they used a combination of Breeding’s published guide and vendor lists. The published guide had sixteen discovery tools listed but this study excluded “Two open-source discovery layers, SOPAC (the Social OPAC) and Scriblio” because the authors did not find a library that actually uses these tools.  I found this list very helpful not only in identifying tools and sites but also because the links to each library allow a researcher to be able to contact and question staff on their satisfaction with the tool. It also exposed me to a few discovery tools I was not aware of!

The second step was the development of a set of criteria for evaluation. For this the authors used a combination of criterion used by previous studies and desired features expressed by librarians. These criteria include but are not limited to “one-stop search for all library resources,” with a “state-of-the-art web interface” which includes enriched content, faceted navigation, simple keyword search box with a link to advanced search, spell-checking, recommended/related materials listing, and allows for user contribution and mobile compatibility.

The last three steps include examining four to seven websites where a discovery tool was deployed and evaluating each tool against each criteria; Recording the findings; and Analyzing the data. All of these steps combined allow libraries to discover which discovery tool to choose based on their library’s needs and which criteria is most important to the community of library users.