While discovery tools do attract more students withtheir simplistic, Google-like interfaces, it is—andwill continue to be—important to teach studentsthe advantages of using library discovery tools overinternet searching.

How Web-Scale DiscoveryHas Already Changed UsBy Hillary A.H. Richardson

For nearly a decade now, librarians have discussed and de-liberated ways, for the sake of convenience, to integrateinternet like searching into their own catalogs to mimic

what academic library patrons have been using outside thelibrary. The simple interface, the convenience of use, and theimmediate flood of results from conducting an internet search

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COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES Revelations From the Literature: How Web-Scale Discovery Has Already Changed Us

are much more appealing to contem-porary students than searching manylibrary databases, catalog listings, andelectronic resources, all of which arein different places with different char-acteristics. But the big question is, bystriving to mimic internet searching,are librarians forsaking the integrityof the wealth of information resourcesthey provide for what Thomas Mannfamously referred to as the "principle ofleast effort" to which discovery serviceslend themselves? Or have these newdiscovery tools simply allowed librar-ians to evolve their services to meet anew set of information seekers' needs?

Differing opinions on incorporatinga system that mirrors internet searchengines have monopolized the modemconversation about information-seekingbehavior. Sharon Q. Yang and Kurt Wag-ner have proposed that the convenientinterfaces of these search engines, suchas Google and Amazon, pose the threatof replacing library interfaces altogeth-er. However, they posit this alternative:"By making search interfaces more com-petitive, feature-rich, social and similarto interfaces found on popular web sites,we are now able to see that we indeedcan offer our users the ability to search,discover, and find in setting comparableto commercial sites."

Conversely, Jody Condit Faganargues that web-scale discovery ser-vices for libraries do not compete withinternet search engines; rather, theytransform the services: "Yes, VitaminWater is on the same aisle as Coke andPepsi. It is not a competitive product.... Discovery tools have learned someimportant lessons from the web searchindustry, but I believe they have a dif-ferent mission, a different purpose." Inother words, a library discovery tool isnot an equivalent to "Googling" some-thing, but it is an evolved function thatproposes better results for academiclibrary patrons. Anna Carlin and Re-becca Donlan add that an importantfacet of a discovery service is to mirrorthe internet search engines' "discover-ability," which is "where a search en-gine like Google shines: it seems to beable to find just what you didn't knowyou were looking for." As Carlin, Don-

PROLIFERATION OF DISCOVERY TOOLS

Discovery Product Number of Libraries Subscribing

AquaBrowser

Encore

Enterprise (SirsiDynixl

BiblioConnmons

VuFind

Primo (Ex Libris)

Sunnmon (Serials Solutions)

EBSCO Discovery Service

WorldCat Local

Arena

SO PAC

Blacklight

Endeca

Visualizer

Scriblio

1,553

1,309

587

510

490

378

236

154

151

109

13

11

9

6

2

Source: librarytechnology orgldiscovery.pl

Ian, and many others suggest, discov-ery tools serve as a stepping stone forricher, more in-depth content.

Five Years of Web-ScaleDiscovery and Counting

No matter the argument, discoverytools and web-scale discovery services(WSDS) in fact do attempt to provideusers with a similar one-stop shop ver-sion of a library catalog, allowing us-ers to conduct single kejrword searchesover the virtual entirety of a library'saccessible resources. Marshall Breed-ing explains that using the term"web-scale" to describe these servicesdenotes "the discovery platforms thataim to manage access through a sin-gle index to all library content to thesame extent that search engines ad-dress content on the web." This is whatmany have referred to as the holy grailof library technology, and within thepast 5 years, this technology has be-come more of a realistic and reliableservice—though not without some con-cessions—and it has already changedthe way librarians deliver their servic-es and instruction, precisely becauseweb-scale discovery is not synonymousto Google.

Between the advent of WSDS withWorldCat Local in 2007 and the num-ber of discovery services present today,the number of library websites that of-fer commercial or open source discov-ery services is more than 5,500, andthat number is rapidly growing. Withthe exponential growth of these servic-es, library professionals must examinethe extent to which these services af-fect both the ways in which patrons usethem and the ways in which librariansimplement and teach them. Researchabout discovery services, publishedjust within the past 5 years, alreadygives us an idea of various efforts toevolve library services to accommodatethe use of web-scale discovery.

A Change in Vocabulary

Because web-scale discovery servicesare still evolving and are tightly relatedto other services, such as next-genera-tion catalogs and federated searching,the vocabulary for these services is notfiiUy established, nor is it entirely con-sistent within the field of library sci-ence. The first shift WSDS have caused,therefore, is a change in vocabulary.

Expressions such as federated search-ing, metasearching, next-generation

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Revelations From the Literature: How Web-Scale Discovery Has Already Changed Us | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

catalogs, and millennial catalogsare no longer exactly the motsjustes in the realm of WSDS.Athena Hoeppner defines WSDSas a "preharvested central indexcoupled with a richly featureddiscovery layer that provides asingle search across a library'slocal, open access, and subscrip-tion collections." A preharvestedindex can then be defined, saysHoeppner, as "metadata andfull content systematically andperiodically accumulated andprocessed in advance of search-es; data is gathered from mul-tiple sources and processed intoa central index."

Jason Vaughan has a simÜEir defini-tion. Where content is indexed in a cen-tralized, preharvested database, there isa "single search box providing a Google-like search experience," and the retum ofresults is quick and seamless. Vaughanadds, however, "These services are agnos-tic to underlying systems, whether host-ed by the library or hosted remotely bycontent providers ... and allow a librarygreater latitude to customize the servicesand make the service its own."

A Change in Professional Practice

But this movement is more than justa change in vocabulary. The greaterimpact of WSDS on library infrastruc-tures is their influence on best practiceguidelines throughout several librarydepartments. By looking at keywords,themes, and subject headings of 53 arti-cles published about discovery services,it is clear that these new services havealready made the greatest impact onintegrated systems, collection use, andinstruction and reference.

Because of the stiU-evolving natureof web-scale discovery, several of thesearticles serve as an introduction to theidea of WSDS, describing different prod-ucts to give librarians some contextwhen deciding which service is appro-priate for implementing within theirown libraries. However, several analyti-cal studies that examine the impact ofWSDS on a collection or on user behav-ior demonstrate the need for changes

Articles Published by Year

The number of articles published about WSDS is growing exponentiaily.

views of optimism and frustration,and it shows that even for such anew topic, the number of studiesabout WSDS is on the rise. Mostnotably, they discussed the needfor strategy and constant evalua-tion when teaching patrons howto use discovery tools. In many in-stances, library instruction usingdiscovery tools allowed librariansto explain better ways to limitsearch options and provided themvidth more time to discuss criticalthinking skills, such as evaluatingthese resources.

in decision making. In an exemplarylook at how WSDS affected library col-lections, Doug Way studied the impactof Serials Solutions' Summon discoverytool on his library by examining usagestatistics from various databases andfull-text downloads. He determined thatthe implementation of the new servicebrought a dramatic increase in full-textdownloads and an overall increase inexposure to the library's collections, butit likely caused a decrease in the use ofspecialized subject databases.

A study by Ana Guthrie and Rhon-da McCoy, also conducted to examinethe impact of implementing a discov-ery tool, reveals changes to the natureof the reference librarian. The resultsconcluded that though students willuse the discovery search bar, they stillrequire close assistance and instruc-tion; librarians at these universities re-ported the still-rampant use of Googlesearches. To confront this, they arguethat "libraries must adjust researchexpectations," otherwise, "students[will] care more about locating rel-evant data sources and less about pro-cesses." In other words, without somefundamental, bibliographic knowledgeon how discovery tools gather informa-tion, students could possibly be using atool that gives them information theymay not even know how to use.

In a comprehensive survey of the dis-covery tool literature, Beth Thomsett-Scott and Patricia Reese discuss thebreadth of impact and the relationshipof WSDS with information literacy. Theresearch they cover provides mixed re-

The Change as Documentedby the Literature

While WSDS affect instruction andservice, they also clearly affect the re-search that librarians are conducting.In looking at the number of articlespublished, it is clear that WSDS areswiftly gaining ground as forerunnersin the conversation about librariesand technology. A total of 53 scholarlyarticles about WSDS—published be-tween 2007 and the fall of 2012—werefound within three comprehensive LISdatabases. The number of articles pub-lished per year appears to be growingexponentially. In 2011, 15 new articleswere published; in 2012, there were 32.

The published articles span a to-tal of 19 journals, with approximatelyone-third of the articles (34%) havingappeared in College & UndergraduateLibraries, which published a special is-sue in 2012 dedicated to the researchon WSDS and which demonstratesthe prominence of WSDS in academiclibraries. Additionally, Library Tech-nology Reports published an entireissue in 2011 dedicated to explainingand reviewing different web-scale dis-covery services and tools for a total ofeight articles. The number and varietyof journals involved also reflects thegrowing relevance of WSDS in sever-al areas of library service. While it isclear that WSDS have a fixed seat inthe world of library technology, it hasalso come to the attention of serialslibrarians, cataloging librarians, andreference and instruction librarians.

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COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES Revelations From the Literature: How Web-Scale Discovery Has Already Changed Us

INFORMATION

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catalog.

mfomiation-seeKing ELECTRONIC «t»™t«. Methodology reSOUfCe• • - -rausnaK Resea rch ' ' - ^ » - ' > - " »-»-

A word cloud analysis of the article subject headings was misleading.

l i b rar ies seang" " ' " " " ' " Academic":™" , . Discovery

• "on:::: systems••S:J=...^•^'" instruction.

informationSummon

The content of the artides was more accurately pinpointed by anaiyzing authors' keywords.

Frequency of Discovery Tools

A Summon

B Primo

C EBSCO

D WoridCat Local

E Endeca

F EBSCO/Summon

G VuFirid

H VelocitvG.O

I SummonMoildaUocal

Summon was the most frequently mentioned service provider

To determine what the focus of thisresearch has heen, a content analysiswas performed. A total of 153 subjectterms were collected from the articlesin the corpus examined for my study. Allsubject headings that were present fourtimes or more were examined, whichproduced a set of 22 headings. The re-sults provided a general idea of the con-tent within each article, and importantheadings, such as "ONLINE Informa-tion Services," "DATABASE Industry,"and "Information-Seeking Behavior,"give some insight to the discussion ofWSDS in the field. However, overall,the results are somewhat misleading.

The highest-ranked heading was"Federated Searching," which many

articles discussed in their literaturereviews to introduce the beginnings ofWSDS, hut none of the articles trulyfocused on the subject of federatedsearching. Furthermore, only one ar-ticle contained the subject heading"Discovery Tools," even though all 53articles discussed web-scale discoveryand some variant of its application.This is a testament to the still-evolv-ing vocabulary surrounding web-scalediscovery.

Each heading was pasted into theword cloud generator Wordle in orderto produce a visual content analysis.Based on the image produced, thisanalysis clearly illustrated the earliersupposition that the subject headings

alone did not produce an accurate pic-ture of the content of each article.

Based on the word cloud alone,ambiguous words such as "library,""searching," and "information" havethe most precedence, and they do notdistinguish this set of articles aboutWSDS from any other articles in thefield of library science. In fact, theword "discovery" is virtually invisiblehere, as it only appeared in the subjectheadings twice. And as the ranking ofthe subject headings demonstrated,this word cloud's prominence of "feder-ated" is misleading.

To provide a better visualization anda more accurate depiction of the contentof these articles, the author-suppliedkeywords were analyzed. Though notevery article supplied these keywords,the majority of articles (28, or 52.8%)provided enough keywords (154) togenerate a better refiection of the ar-ticles' content. All of the kejrwords wereentered into a new word cloud, and theresult provided a more specific repre-sentation of this group of articles. Notonly is the largest word the most cen-tral to the topic of each article, but now,words such as "Summon," "instruction,""implementation," and "web-scale"have greater precedence. This clearlymirrors the discussion of the new tech-nologies and their impacts on libraryservices and systems.

Of the 31 articles that discussed aspecific discovery product. Serials So-lutions' Summon was mentioned mostoften, with prominence in 12 articlesand appearing in two articles that dis-cussed Summon in tandem with an-other product.

How the Change Affects Libraries

By looking at the purpose of eacharticle, this analysis demonstrated howWSDS affect library infrastructures.Out of conference proceedings, usabilitystudies, library research studies, imple-mentation studies, and critiques, most ofthe articles published fall under the cat-egory of critique (28, or 52.8%), in whichthe authors evaluate WSDS (in generalor by specific product) based on profes-sional opinion and make suggestions for

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Revelations From the Literature: How Web-Scale Discovery Has Already Changed Us | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

REFERENCESBoyer, G.M., and Besaw, M. (2012). "A Study ofLibrarians' Perceptions and Use of the SummonDiscovery Tool." Journal of Electronic Resourcesin Medical Libraries, 9{3), pp. 173-183. DOhlO.1080/15424065.2012.707056.

Breeding, M. (2010). "The State of tine Art inLibrary Discovery." Computers in Libraries, 30(1),pp. 31-34.

Cariin, A., and Donian, R. (2007). "A Sheep inWolf's Clothing: Discovery Toois and the OPAC."The Reference Librarian, 48(2), pp. 67-71.

Fagan, J.C. (2012). "Top 10 Discovery Tool Myths."Journal of Web Ubrarianship, 6(1), pp. 1-4.

Fawley, N., and Krysak, N. (2012). "InformationLiteracy Opportunities Within the DiscoveryTooi Environment." College & UndergraduateLibraries, 19(2-4), pp. 207-214.

Guthrie, A., and McCoy, R. (2012). "A Glimpseat Discovery Toois Within the iHBCU LibraryLandscape." College & Undergraduate Libraries,19(2-4), pp. 297-311.

Hoeppner, A. (2012). "The Ins and Outs ofEvaluating Web-Scale Discovery Services."Computers in Libraries, 32(3), pp. 6-10, 38-40.

Kaufmann, K., Larsen, J., and DeSalvo, P(2012). "Discovering the Discovery Tool: TheIntroduction and Impact on Research andInstruction at Seminoie State Coilege of Florida."College & Undergraduate Libraries, 19(2-4), pp.278-296.

Library Technoiogy Guides, (n.d.). Retrieved fromlibrarytechnoiogy.org.

Thomsett-Scott, B., and Reese, PE. (2012)."Academic Libraries and Discovery Toois: A Surveyof the Literature." College & UndergraduateLibraries, 19(2-4), pp. 123-143. DOI:10.1080/10691316.2012.697009.

Vaughan, J. (2011). Chapter 1: "Web ScaleDiscovery" What Is Web Scale Discovery?Why Web Scale Discovery? Library TeciwologyReports: Expert Guides to Library Systems andServices, 47(1), pp. 5-11.

Walker, S., and Sims, I.L. (2012). Coilege &Undergraduate Libraries, 19(2-4), pp. 312-326.

Way, D. (2010). "The Impact of Web-ScaleDiscovery on the Use of a Library Collection."Serials Review, 36(4), pp. 214-220.

Yang, S.Q., and Wagner, K. (2010). "Evaluatingand Comparing Discovery Toois: How Close AreWe Towards Next Generation Catalog?" Library HiTech, 28(4), pp. 690-709.

other librarians looking to evaluate andadopt a discovery service.

The research, implementation, andusability studies indicate that whilethis is a relatively emerging topic inthe field, several libraries are alreadysharing their methods for gatheringinformation about WSDS, integrat-ing them with their existing systems,and maintaining the systems involved.This may serve as a troubleshooting

guide for librarians adopting WSDSfor the first time.

Although "information literacy"was not a prominent kejrword or sub-ject heading, out of the 53 articleslisted, 21 of them (39.6%) containedthe phrase "information literacy." Thisvolume of content represents a seri-ous acknowledgment to the effects ofWSDS on information literacy andemphasizes the need for librarians toteach the use of a discovery tool. Be-cause WSDS implementations are notexactly Google search bars, librariansare determining that explaining thedifference to students is quite neces-sary and that there is a very presentneed in libraries to adjust their in-struction to include the discovery tool.

Even though WSDS are still inthe early stages of development (andaccording to Vaughan's 2011 reporton various discovery services, "Eachservice is evolving extremely rapidly,with enhancement cycles measured inmonths, if not weeks"), it is apparentthat this library innovation is and willcontinue to be an incredibly impact-ful one. This is most evident by thenumber of departments involved withthe implementation, maintenance,instruction, and study of differentdiscovery services. Indeed, althoughthe majority of published articles onWSDS, according to Ginny M. Boyerand Megan Besaw, "focuses on discus-sion of the various products, imple-mentations, and experiences post-im-plementation," these experiences in-volve a mélange of employees. WSDSaffect every facet of library services,from electronic resource committees,which evaluate and choose differentservices, to the IT department, whichdeals with installation and trouble-shooting of the software, to cataloging,which integrates the discovery tool toindex library holdings records, to pub-lic services, which connect the patronsto using the services effectively.

It is also clear that with new in-formation-retrieving technology, pa-trons' ability to seek and locate infor-mation will be affected, and WSDSwill continue to play a major part inrestructuring library instruction and

information literacy programs. Afterall, web-scale discovery services are"tools" at the core, and if we are notteaching our patrons how to use thesetools, they would be like constructionworkers who try to use the claw of ahammer to hit a nail. Nancy Fawleyand Nikki Krysak suggest that dis-covery tools be taught as a "startingpoint" and lead to more direct, morespecific services, such as subjectguides and interlibrary loan. The sim-plicity of discovery tools' interfacesalso proves a challenge in IL instruc-tion. Shaundra Walker and Iyanna L.Sims note that discovery services canpotentially become a barrier betweenstudents and information literacy.

Because the interface of discov-ery tools seeks to imitate the Googlesearch bar, students may see theconvenience, but they may not seewhere their search results come fromor know the source of their indexing.Karen Kaufmann, et al., also note thatinstruction librarians would have tomeet the information literacy needsof students by directing them to thesearch filters and explaining that dis-covery tools would provide a very broadresults list without them. And whatabout the higher order standards of in-formation literacy, such as evaluatingsources and using them responsibly?Though little has contributed to thisquestion, it is not outside the scopeof WSDS to aid in these endeavors.While discovery tools do attract morestudents with their simplistic, Google-like interfaces, it is—and will continueto be—important to teach students theadvantages of using library discoverytools over internet searching.

Hillary A.H. Richardson(HRichardsonOlibrary.msstate.eduj is an electronic resources

library associate at Mississippi StateUniversity. She holds a master's

degree in English from the universityof Mississippi and will obtain the

M.L.I.S. from the University ofSouthern Mississippi in August 2013.Hillary's research interests focus on

how educational technologies andinformation literacy work together.

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