Electronic research databases provider EBSCO Publishing, US, has announced the creation of a new research tool that will harvest metadata from internal and external sources, creating a centralised pre-indexed service of significant size and speed. The tool, EBSCO Discovery Service, will provide libraries with a single entry point for research and launch users into the entire array of a library's collection. The launch is expected by the end of the calendar year.
Powered by EBSCOhost technology, the new discovery service will enable users to search a wide-ranging collection of metadata and link quickly to the content to which they have rights. EBSCO Discovery Service will allow for 'local' access to the metadata associated with EBSCO Publishing's leading databases, e-journals from more than 400 publishers, and additional resources from other partners, including OCLC, NewsBank, Readex and Alexander Street Press.
Due to the newly announced partnership with OCLC, local indexing of WorldCat will add rapid access to the metadata for 130 million books, videos and music CDs. Locally indexed content will also include news and information resources from NewsBank and the digital collections from its Readex division. Alexander Street Press is also participating, allowing access to its historical archive, music and video collections. New partnerships for additional locally indexed content will be announced in the near future.
In addition to the locally indexed content, libraries will have the ability to search the content of the over 300 databases on EBSCOhost, as well as databases on remote services through EBSCOhost Integrated Search (EHIS). EHIS is a federated search service that is based on the EBSCOhost platform and expected for release in June 2009.
