This document discusses the evolution of discovery tools from printed catalogues to modern integrated discovery platforms. It outlines the key features and limitations of traditional OPACs, federated search services, discovery interfaces, and web-scale discovery services. The conclusion emphasizes that no single system is perfect, and that as content becomes more open, discovery solutions should focus on open and extensible platforms that are also affordable.

1. Discovery Platforms
TECHNOLOGIES, TOOLS AND ISSUES
Saiful Amin
39th Five Laws Lecture (2011)

2. Evolution of Discovery Tools
 Printed catalogues
 Traditional (Web)OPAC
 Integrated OPAC portals
 Federated search services
 Discovery interfaces
 Web-scale discovery services
 Integrated discovery platform

3. Printed catalogues
 Author browse
 Title browse
 Series browse
 Call Number browse
 Subject browse
 Shelf list (inventory)

4. Traditional (Web)OPAC
(Web)Server Application
ILS Database
(Bibs)

6. Traditional (Web)OPAC
Pros Cons
 Keyword search!  Uses database queries
 Author, title, subject  „LIKE‟ statements
 ISBN/LCCN search  Exact/partial match
 Boolean queries  Limited use of search
 Proximity search algorithm
 Browse index  No relevance ranking
 Authority headings
 Only physical collection
 Title, Call Number
and e-books
 Real-time item status!
 Copies & availability info
 Link to URL (tag 856)

7. Integrated OPAC Portal
Enrichment
Web services Services
Web Server Application
Website ILS Database ILS Database
content (Bibs) (Patrons)

9. Integrated OPAC Portal
Pros Cons
 All WebOPAC features  Uses database queries
 Keyword search
 „LIKE‟ statements
 Headings browse
 Exact/partial match
 Availability info
 Limited use of search
 Library website integration
algorithms
 Patron empowerment
 Circ/Account details  No relevance ranking
 Online renewal  Still limited to only physical
 Online hold placement
collection & e-books
 SDI services
 New arrivals
 OPAC enrichment
 Book cover/reviews
 Thesaurus integration

10. Federated Search Service
360 Search dbWiz
Research Pro Pazpar2
Full-text links
Web Server Application
Library Digital Science
Catalog Repository
ProQuest EBSCO
Direct
PubMed … Emerald

11. Federated Search Service
Muse Content Architecture Supports 6300+ databases!
http://www.museglobal.com/technology/contentIntegration.html

13. Federated Search Service
Pros Cons
 Single search broadcast  Not all databases are
 Real-time search results standards compliant
 Based on standards  Requires custom search scripts
 Z39.50, SRU/W
 Requires metadata crosswalk
 MARC, ISO2709, XML
 Supports large set of  Network intensive
databases  Performance issues
 7000+ in “360 Search”
 Mostly available as hosted
 6300+ in Muse platform
 Merging and sorting service
 No local index  Annual subscription
(maintenance free!)

15. Discovery Interface
Enrichment
Web services Services
Web Server Application
Full-text link Availability/Holds
Digital Central Index
Repository (Solr/Lucene) ILS Database
DC XML data MARC Bib data

17. Discovery Interface
 Word stemming  Phrase query
 „fishing‟, „fished‟, „fish‟,  „Did you mean?‟
„fisher‟ => „fish‟
 Spell Checker
 Fuzzy search
 insertion: cot  coat  Relevance ranking
 deletion: coat  cot  TF-IDF / Term Vector
 substitution: coat  cost  Term weights
 Auto-suggest  Lucene scores
 N-gram, Edge N-gram  Faceted browsing
analysis  Who are main authors and
their count?
 What are main subjects and
their count?

18. Discovery Interface
Pros Cons
 Google-like search box  Searches only locally hosted
 Advanced features collections
 Fuzzy searching
 Relevance ranking
 Word stemming algorithms
 Social tagging/reviews
 “Did you mean?” feature
 Auto-suggest (type ahead)
 Faceted browsing
 Availability/Hold requests
 Metadata enrichment
 Linking
 Amazon/Google/Wikipedia
 Digital repository integration

19. Can we combine the two?
Modern discovery interface
Local collections +
Remote databases
Unified search result

20. Web-scale Discovery Services
EBSCO
ProQuest
ABI Inform
Web Server Application
PubMed
Availability
Full-text link
Science
Direct Library
… Central Index
MARC data Catalog
Full-text and metadata
Digital
Lexis-Nexis Repository
DC data

21. Web-scale Discovery Services

22. Web-scale Discovery Services
Summon Service
Content types include:
Library catalog records Conference proceedings
E-journal articles Grey literature
Institutional repositories Cited references
Newspaper articles Reports
E-books Digital library
Dissertations Databases and more.

24. Web-scale Discovery Services
Pros Cons
 Google-like single search box  Supports limited number of
 Pre-indexed licensed content databases (1000-1500)
 Inclusion of local collection  Requires huge investment to
 OAI-PMH, MARC updates maintain centralized index
 Advanced features  Publisher partnerships
 Relevance ranking (Licensing/legal issues)
 “Did you mean?”  Regular pre-publication indexing
 Auto-suggest (type ahead)
 Mostly hosted-only service
 Faceted navigation
 Content bias? (ranking)
 Availability/Full-text links
 Vendor lock-in?
 Mobile friendly
 Web-service APIs  Annual subscription
 Easier off-campus access
 No installation/maintenance

25. Can we have best of both worlds?
Modern discovery interface  Supports large number of
databases
Local collections +  Based on open standards
Remote databases (extensible)
 Can be maintained locally
Unified search result (No subscription!)
Web Server Application
Remote Remote Remote Remote
Digital ILS database database database database database
Repository (Bibs)
Remote Remote Remote Remote
database database database database

26. Integrated Discovery Platform
Semi-commercial
Supports 1000+ databases
http://www.indexdata.com/masterkey

28. Integrated Discovery Platform
Pazpar2 Architecture Open source (GPL)
Build your own connector!
https://www.indexdata.com/pazpar2

29. Conclusion
 Each platform has its own goals:
 Pure library catalog can provide expressive search (high precision)
 Federated search improves content coverage in single search
 Discovery interfaces are designed to improve user experience for
local collections
 Web-scale discovery provides unified search experience for local and
remote collections (still way short in content coverage)
 Integrated platform provides extensibility (but requires significant
effort in development and maintenance)
 One size does not fit all. No single system is perfect.
 As content becomes more open, the focus of discovery
solutions should be on open platforms that are extensible
as well as affordable.

30. Questions and Discussions