The Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) and its Library Advisory Council have announced an agreement with EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) to provide the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) as a shared service to OhioLINK libraries. As a result, member-libraries of Ohio's academic library consortium will soon have the option of adding another powerful tool to improve searches patrons make for the information they need.
According to EBSCO Publishing President, Tim Collins, the agreement allows each OhioLINK institution to build the discovery service it needs. The term 'discovery layer' refers to the benefit library patrons get when search results are combined from various sources (books, print journals, electronic journals, eBooks, electronic theses and dissertations, etc.) and shown in one display that gives the number of relevant results among those disparate sources. In simple terms, users get a single search box discovery tool that searches across all databases and catalogues. In this way, items not normally presented in search results get 'discovered' by library patrons.
OhioLINK grew out of a 1987 recommendation by the board's library committee that "the state of Ohio implement, as expeditiously as possible, a state wide electronic catalogue system." The consortium creates a competitive advantage for Ohio's higher education community by cooperatively and cost-effectively acquiring, providing access to, and preserving an expanding array of print and digital scholarly resources; by efficiently sharing the collections of member libraries; and by centrally hosting digital content to advance teaching, learning, research and the growth of Ohio's knowledge-based economy.
