Serials Solutions, the e-resource access and management services arm of ProQuest, US, has signed Western Michigan University as a beta development site for its new Summon unified discovery service. Also participating are new content providers, including engineering society IEEE; IT publisher IGI-Global; scholarly publisher Brill; and two Australian presses that expand the service's local coverage. The Summon service's contributors, which include the content resources of ProQuest and Gale, have expanded to more than 80. Harvested content now exceeds 400 million records in preparation for the service's July launch.
Announced in January, the Summon unified discovery service is seen to have captured the attention of both librarians and publishers for its creation of Google-like searching of the full breadth of content found in library collections. These range books and videos to e-resources at the article level. The service addresses what research shows is a fundamental barrier between libraries and users - a simple, obvious starting point for searches.
The Summon service is being developed in close cooperation with library beta partners, with a goal of not only bringing the researcher back to the library, but providing a channel for greater return on the library's content investment. Western Michigan University, which will use the Summon service with its VuFind next-generation catalogue, joins Dartmouth College, Oklahoma State University, University of Sydney and University of Liverpool in providing feedback that will refine all aspects of the service.
The Summon service bypasses federated search in favour of a single search against pre-harvested content enabling fast results, in true relevancy-ranked order. Publishers can use the service for this ability to surface content in the right context at the right time for the right user.
The Summon unified discovery service creates a library-branded search box that eliminates the confusion users have in finding a starting point for library research, making collections simple to use. It is projected as the result of Serials Solutions' unique combination of assets and expertise, enabled by its growing list of content providers. The hosted service is built with an open API that will allow it to integrate with existing library websites or campus systems with low impact on staff. To learn more about the Summon unified discovery service, visit http://www.serialssolutions.com/summon.
