Serials Solutions, a ProQuest business, has announced that the University of Tokyo Library in Japan recently selected the Summon discovery service. The powerful navigation and contextual guidance features in the Summon service significantly advance the research experience for both novice and experienced researchers. Librarians at the University of Tokyo will now have a better way to connect with more users, customise the discovery experience and lead users to better research outcomes.
The Summon service supports discovery of content regardless of where the library purchased the resource or which provider hosts it. Unlike other discovery services, the Summon service leverages a unique match and merge technology that combines different types of metadata and information from multiple sources creating a single record optimised for discovery. This unique approach exposes resources to more users, directs researchers to full text when available, and maximises the value and usage of a library's collections.
The University of Tokyo Library includes the General Library on the Hongo Campus, the Komaba Library on the Komaba Campus, the Kashiwa Library on the Kashiwa Campus, and 32 departmental libraries at the university's graduate schools, faculties, and institutes. The entire collection includes more than 9.2 million books, nearly 25,000 serials, and various digital resources, such as databases, e-journals, and e-books.
Used by more than 700 libraries in more than 40 countries the Summon service claims to be the first and only discovery service based on a single, unified index of content, containing more than 1.4 billion items in which the vast majority of article and book content is full-text searchable.
With the introduction of Summon 2.0 – groundbreaking features and a new, modern interface – the Summon discovery service continues to deliver a user experience that resonates with users familiar with open web search engines. Streamlined navigation and contextual guidance features significantly advance the research experience and provide greater opportunities for librarians to deliver value and scale their services to connect with more users.
