Improving Library Resource Discovery: Exploring the Possibilities of VuFind and Web Scale Discovery in a Consortial Environment

摘要

In late 2010, the Bridge Consortium (Carleton College and St. Olaf College) formed a task force to investigate web scale discovery. The goal? Recommend a product (like Summon or Primo Central) in time for the start of Fall 2011 classes. During this two-part session, members of the Bridge will take you inside what we did instead, why, how it’s going, and what we plan to do next.Part 1: Improving Discovery...It’s More Than a Single Product To improve access to and discovery of Bridge resources, we recommended (1) implementing an open source (VuFind) catalog overlay, with setup and ongoing support provided by Minnesota’s PALS consortium and also (2) redesigning web access to disparate library resources. We also recommended (3) continuing the search for the right web scale discovery tool. This first hour will discuss how we revised our charge, our criteria, why and how open source, and more about our selection process.Part 2: All About VuFind In the second hour, we will talk about how implemented VuFind as the Bridge catalog overlay for our current III system during the summer of 2011 and were live when students returned in September. We will cover the initial implementation process, our work to improve the interface based on user feedback, and potential future work as the consortium moves to new models of resource discovery. We will discuss the features of VuFind we found attractive, the pros and cons of working with an open source overlay, and our experience hosting VuFind at PALS, as well as our process for obtaining, analyzing, and applying users’ responses to the new overlay.To access the Part 1 presentation, please click on the u22DOWNLOADu22 button on the right.