Search results

The purpose of this paper is to observe how undergraduate students approach open-ended searching for a research assignment, specifically as it affected their use of the discovery interface Primo.

In total, 30 undergraduate students were provided with a sample research assignment and instructed to find resources for it using web tools of their choice, followed by the Primo discovery tool. Students were observed for 30 minutes. A survey was provided at the end to solicit additional feedback. Sources students found were evaluated for relevance and utility.

Students expressed a high level of satisfaction with Primo despite some difficulty navigating through more complicated tasks. Despite their interest in the tool and previous exposure to it, it was usually not the first discovery tool students used when given the research assignment. Students approached the open-ended search environment much like they would with a commercial search engine.

This paper focused on an open-ended search environment as opposed to a known-item scenario in order to assess students’ preferences for web search tools and how a library discovery layer such as Primo was a part of that situation. Evaluation of the resources students found relevant were also analyzed to determine to what degree the students understood the level of quality they exhibited and from which tool they were obtained.

This review allows librarians to compare three of the major discovery services – EBSCO Discovery Service, Ex Libris’ Primo and Serials Solutions’ Summon – on the basis of price, content, user experience, features and functionality and back-end configuration to make informed decisions about the best tool for their institutions.

The comparisons were made through a literature review, study of the vendors’ websites, several interviews and personal usability testing of each tool.

The tools each have their strengths and weaknesses, and a decision of which tool is most appropriate for an institution varies depending on the institution’s needs and current situation.

A literature review shows that no study has yet been conducted comparing these three discovery tools, and few comparative studies of discovery tools have been published recently.

The purpose of this article is to describe the need for and realization of a new kind of interface for searching and obtaining library materials, an interface designed around user needs and decoupled from, though interoperating with, current library systems.

The paper describes a product that was released in May 2007 – the Primo^® system from Ex Libris – as an example of a new solution for the discovery and delivery of library collections. The paper deals with the issues involved in the design of the product, the way in which the product was built to address the needs of both information seekers and libraries, and the use of usability studies to affirm the overall design and help shape fine points of the interface.

The paper demonstrates how users' expectations, which emanate from the everyday experience on the internet, can be addressed by library software in a way that corresponds to librarians' requirements and suits and libraries' technological infrastructure.

Using a concrete example, this paper demonstrates how the design of a discovery and delivery interface for library materials can satisfy the expectations of users who are accustomed to services on the web and can help libraries attract such users back to the library environment, where they can obtain credible, trustworthy scholarly content.

The purpose of this chapter is twofold: to explore the difficulties and potential of turning to the perpetrator of sexual violence; and to track the affective economy of engaging with perpetrator accounts.

This chapter will consider one of the earliest feminist studies of incest, Sandra Butler’s (1978) Conspiracy of Silence: The Trauma of Incest, followed by an analysis of Philippe Bourgois’ (1995, 1996, 2004) ethnographic study of Puerto Rican crack dealers. These are important studies for the fact that both Butler and Bourgois let the men speak freely of their violence, which for the Puerto Rican cracker dealers include tales of gang rape.

The chapter endorses the need to study the perpetrator, arguing that it is imperative to ensure the demythologization of perpetrators. It finds also that feminists must explore how they will teach emotionally difficult material, and how they negotiate the legacy of radical feminism. The chapter concludes that there are times when politics requires little theoretical innovation, requiring instead a willingness to repeat known insights and to fight back with words.

This chapter has implications for classroom practice.

The value of this chapter is its demand to reconsider the doing of feminism in the classroom when the split between feminist theory and activism appears greater than ever.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the functional framework of a subject service virtual communities' platform and implementation planning at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Library.

First, the paper analyses the three aspects which should be considered when libraries carry out subject information services, next points out the users' behavior preferences of scholar communities to use libraries services and access library resources, and then explains the limitation of current methods used by academic libraries to reveal and deliver resources and services. Second, the paper describes the advantages of using a virtual community platform to reveal library subject resources, services, and to construct the communication environment for subject users. Finally, the functional framework of the subject service virtual communities and implementation planning at the Library of Shanghai Jiao Tong University are illustrated.

Based on the next‐generation discovery and delivery system – Primo – subject service virtual communities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Library integrate diverse functions as follows to one platform: Subject information discovery and accessing (subject information letters, subject information gateway, subject information one‐stop search), Subject information blog, Subject information literacy instruction, Subject information generation and preservation, Subject information consultation. Besides “one‐stop” accessing and obtaining only needed library resources and services, the virtual communities platform gives subject users a more convenient and more attractive environment to preserve their research results and share their experiences.

Subject service at Chinese academic libraries has become a hot topic in recent years. Advice on how to support the service and make it become more effective and attractive is also an important problem. This article covers various library systems and tools that can be used to build subject service virtual communities and shows it is valuable and could be tried elsewhere.

The wide adoption of web-scale discovery tools calls into question the usefulness and viability of traditional subject indexes. This study examines this question of usefulness in the context of the discipline of literary studies. To what extent can researchers rely on the primary database devoted to language and literature study to discover relevant scholarship, and how does the database's performance compare to other common search tools?

The study uses a random sample of citations from articles published in the flagship journal, PMLA, to see how well the sources cited by literature scholars are covered in various search tools, including the MLA International Bibliography.

Of the search tools investigated, Google Scholar found the largest number of citations, even when limiting to literary scholarship. However, the eclecticism of citations suggests that scholars benefit from using a variety of search tools and methods.

Although other studies have looked at discoverability in certain subject areas, this one focuses on literary studies. An understanding of the relative coverage of different search tools can inform librarian practices and recommendations.

The purpose of this paper is to offer some insight into changes that are occurring in the expectations and behaviour of researchers seeking scholarly information and the ways in which libraries and vendors are addressing these changes in light of the availability of Web 2.0 technologies.

The paper investigates current trends in information seeking, defines and describes factors that contribute to an up‐to‐date, user‐centric library experience, and examines the movement of vendors and libraries toward such a library experience.

The paper identifies aspects of new library interfaces that attempt to satisfy the needs of today's information seekers and describes a new approach for creating a user experience layer for library collections. The Primo® discovery and delivery system from Ex Libris serves as an example of a library interface that was designed in light of this new approach.

As more organisations become concerned about the decreasing use of their library collections, this paper suggests ways in which libraries can adapt to the changing user expectations and maintain the relevance of their collections and services for today's information seekers.

Take a look at some measures that really matter.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a hybrid model of library software development, according to which libraries implement commercial software products and extend them with locally developed or community developed open‐source components.

The paper draws on the following sources to describe several approaches to providing software that addresses the specific needs of individual libraries: commercial and community organizations' public statements of aims, philosophies, policies, and processes; e‐mail interviews; and e‐mail discussion lists. Data from a customer‐accessed collaborative web site are offered in an examination of the approach taken by one vendor, Ex Libris, to developing and supporting systems that customers can extend, customize, and integrate with other systems.

A little more than a year after the Ex Libris open‐platform program was launched, active community interaction in the creation and sharing of code extensions to the vendor's commercial systems was observed.

Community initiatives, a long part of the library tradition, are becoming common in library software development. Very few libraries have the resources required to carry out large software projects; however, by leveraging the resources of the community to develop and exchange code that enhances and customizes commercial solutions, all libraries, regardless of their resources, stand to benefit from commercial solutions in a cost‐effective way.

Libraries that are in the market for a software solution and are comparing commercial products with open‐source initiatives can benefit from this description of a hybrid model in which libraries maximize their investment in a commercial product by leveraging their staff's expertise and community support.