Just what is this “discovery” business, anyway?

(Reposted from the April DUX Newsletter.)

You’ve been hearing a lot about the EBSCO Discovery Service, which we’ve just recently implemented here (http://bit.ly/dK2noS). You may even have tried it out yourself for some searches, or given it a whirl at the reference desk. But you may still be struggling to explain (to faculty, students, or just to yourself) exactly what it is, how it’s different from federated search, what it’s good for, and why we have it anyway.

Look no further – Library Journal has published a very good overview that covers the problems we’re trying to solve, the history of how we’ve tried to solve them, evaluation criteria used in selecting discovery tools, how people are using them, and implications for the future. Check it out at http://bit.ly/libdiscovery and let us know what you think!