Momentum for Serials Solutions’ Industry-Leading Summon™ Web-Scale Discovery Service Continues
Nov. 8, 2010 - Seattle - Serials Solutions, a business unit of ProQuest LLC, announced today that the total number of libraries using the Summon™ web-scale discovery service is 150 worldwide. This represents significant growth in the continued adoption of this groundbreaking solution—particularly as Serials Solutions just announced its 100th customer for the Summon™ service in early September 2010.
In addition to simplifying the search process and making research easier for library users, the Summon™ service offers the most comprehensive index of content of all the discovery solutions on the market today, and can be easily customized by librarians to meet the unique needs of their users.
“We were looking to upgrade our library’s search function to provide a unified, easy-to-use experience for our users,” said Ken Varnum, web systems manager for the University of Michigan Library. “Implementing innovative ways to improve access to our content is in keeping with our overall mission. In addition, the solution had to integrate well with our current system and be easily customized by our library staff. Within two short months of selecting Summon, it was up and running in our library’s distinct environment.”
One of the reasons for the Summon™ service’s popularity with librarians is that it was designed and developed from the ground up with a single unified search index that goes beyond federated search to enable fast and easy searches. There are also a number of customization options available for libraries. For example, librarians can integrate the Summon™ service search box on the library homepage, or add it to LibGuides, or any other relevant place of the librarians’ choosing.
The Summon™ service’s ease of use is what impresses library users. “Summon provides a modern interface and allows the library to be searched the way its users expect – a single search box, single results screen— while supporting library values of content-neutrality,” said Michael Gersch, senior vice president and general manager of Serials Solutions. “These universities are choosing Summon because they want a service that will take them into the future rather than perpetuate the status quo.”
The University of Wyoming is one of the most recent adopters of the Summon™ service. “We are excited about Summon because our researchers can now focus on the information gleaned from their searches, rather than spending an excessive amount of time seeking information,” said Lori Phillips, associate dean of libraries, University of Wyoming. “Thus far, we have found the Summon service to be easy to customize and implement. We look forward to rolling it out and believe it will truly help to increase the visibility and profile of our library.”
Some of the colleges, research and corporate libraries that recently adopted Serials Solutions’ Summon™ web-scale discovery service include:
- Capella University
- Chalmers University of Technology
- Charles Darwin University
- Dublin City University
- Dublin Institute of Technology
- Golden Gate University
- Library Consortium of Health Institutions in Buffalo (LCHIB)
- Stephen F. Austin State University
- Universidad Internacional de Andalucía
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Library
- University of Denver
- University of Maine
- University of Southern Maine
- University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
Gersch added, “We’re extremely pleased to see so many new libraries and institutions embracing Summon - especially on the heels of announcing our 100th customer in September. With Summon and our family of 360 products, we are committed to modernizing the library experience for both users and staff.”
About Serials Solutions
Founded by a librarian for librarians in 2000, Serials Solutions® is the global leader in E-Resource Access and Management Services (ERAMS) that serves more than 3,000 libraries of all sizes and types. Serials Solutions’ comprehensive suite of discovery tools and management services helps improve access to and use of collections, eases librarian workloads and ultimately reduces operating costs. Solutions include: 360, the only complete and integrated e-resource access and management solution; KnowledgeWorks, the authoritative e-resource knowledgebase and foundation for Serials Solutions 360; Ulrich’s™, the world’s most authoritative source of bibliographic and publisher information for serials and the most comprehensive source of print and electronic serials data available; AquaBrowser®, a discovery layer that makes navigation more accessible; and most recently the Summon™ web-scale discovery service, a world-class tool that provides instant access to the full breadth of the library’s collection through a single search.
Serials Solutions is a business unit of ProQuest LLC.