SUNYConnect, a New York library system of public institutions of higher education has implemented EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Information Services(EBSCO) as its discovery solution provider. SUNYConnect is an entity of the State University of New York (SUNY) and the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Of the 60 SUNYConnect institutions, 51 have opted to implement EDS and initial feedback has been very positive.
SUNYConnect Electronic Resources Coordinator, John Schumacher says EBSCO’s approach to deliver the most accurate search results was a key reason SUNY chose EDS. “Superior relevancy ranking was a factor in the committee’s selection of EDS. EBSCO’s focus on search terms’ occurrence within subject indexing is seen as a positive and productive portion of an overall fine relevancy ranking algorithm.”
Feedback from SUNY librarians and staff has also been positive with regard to the robust features and functionality including widgets, custom catalogs, searching institutional repository content and EBSCO’sResearch Starters™ which provide users with the most applicable information in an easy to digest format.
EBSCO’s efforts for continuous innovation in discovery were also noted by SUNY. “We have been impressed with the attention and human resources that EBSCO is putting to EDS and related technological developments,” says Schumacher “EBSCO has proven to be a good business partner for SUNY and we are quite pleased so far with this EDS partnership with EBSCO”
Looking to the future, Schumacher sees EDS as playing a vital role to maximize the value and usefulness of their system’s entire collection. “SUNY is pleased to have moved relatively quickly into the area of discovery services. Tools that are quickly becoming common place across academic libraries. There is a hope that if EDS can become the major discovery tool for SUNY libraries that this will also have a result of increased productivity/streamlined processes as far as the enabling of electronic resource discovery (ebook sets, video, etc.). In as large a library system as SUNYConnect, those factors can be significant. Open SUNY (our enlarged and enhanced online education initiative) will be interested in going further in terms of using the Curriculum Builder™ feature as well.” EBSCO’s Curriculum Builder LMS plugin provides an easy way to create and manage course reading lists right from an institution’s Learning Management System.
Carey Hatch, Associate Provost for Academic Technologies and Information Services (SUNY) adds “SUNY libraries and librarians, the most collaborative entities in this university system, are already busily sharing expertise, set-up configurations, teaching tips and more as they again illustrate the “Power of SUNY” in regards to EDS implementation and use and its collective impact on teaching and learning.”
EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box-searching made even more powerful because of the quality of its relevance and value ranking technology.
