University of Huddersfield is UK's First Commercial Adoption of the Summon™ Service
Serials Solutions, a business unit of ProQuest, announced at the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Conference that University of Huddersfield is the site of the first commercial adoption of the Summon™ web-scale discovery service in the UK. The university library will use the service to enable single-search access to its collections, by integrating searches of online databases, along with the local catalogue, repository and archival collections. Users will be able to refine the results of their search by date, subject area and format.
Professor John Lancaster, Director of Computing and Library Services at University of Huddersfield, in discussion with Eileen Hiller, Technical Services Manager, stated: “This is the transformational technology which has long been needed to meet student and academic staff expectations in an increasingly complex information environment. It will provide a simple-to-use tool for accessing the wide range of scholarly collections available to users of our library and information service.”
“Summon ticks all the boxes,” added David Pattern, Library Systems Manager at University of Huddersfield. Renowned for his innovations to the library catalogue, Mr. Pattern devised a ‘wish list’ of attributes for a new search engine. “I was immediately attracted to the simplicity of the Summon search experience, but also found it fulfilled all of the technical requirements in our technical specification.”
The University of Huddersfield joins a variety of early adopters at universities throughout the U.S. and Australia in pioneering the world’s first and only web-scale discovery service. These university libraries will use the Summon™ service to enable single search-box access to the breadth of their collections – digital and print, audio and video, single articles to entire e-journals, and every format in between.
The Summon™ service is built with entirely new technology and based on extensive end-user studies. Its simple, library-branded search box eliminates the confusion users have in finding a starting point for their research. Its aim is to attract researchers back to the library and expose more of the library’s content to them, earning more value from investment in collections.
The Summon™ service has been developed in close cooperation with the library community and the content providers who serve it. Among those contributing to its expansive content are ProQuest, Gale, Lexis-Nexis Academic, Publishing Technology – provider of the scholarly research platform IngentaConnect™ – and Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science®. In total, the Summon™ service includes content from more than 6,000 publishers. Library beta sites around the world have helped refine the service. Sites include Dartmouth College Library, Oklahoma State University Libraries, University of Sydney, University of Calgary, Western Michigan University, and University of Liverpool.
True to Serials Solutions tradition, the Summon™ service is designed with library needs in mind. It’s hosted, making set up nearly effortless. In fact, new library sites are ready for use in about six weeks. It’s also built with an open API so that it can be integrated with existing library Web sites or campus systems.
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 2,000 libraries of all sizes and types. Serials Solutions® KnowledgeWorks, the authoritative e-resource knowledgebase, is the foundation for Serials Solutions® 360, the only complete and integrated e-resource access and management solution. Serials Solutions recently introduced the Summon™ web-scale discovery service, a revolutionary discovery tool that provides instant access to the full breadth of the library’s collection through a single search.
Serials Solutions also is the exclusive source for Ulrichsweb.com™ and Ulrich’s Serials Analysis System™ worldwide, and represents the AquaBrowser® Discovery Layer in the academic market in North America and Australia. The WebFeat® federated search service recently acquired by ProQuest soon will be incorporated into the Serials Solutions family of access and discovery services.
Serials Solutions provides fast implementation, easy customization, and outstanding value to libraries throughout the world. For more information, please visit http://www.serialssolutions.com or call 1-866-SERIALS.
Serials Solutions is a division of ProQuest LLC.
LexisNexis® is a registered trademark of LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. IngentaConnect™ is a trademark of Publishing Technology plc. ISI Web of Science® is a registered trademark of THOMSON REUTERS (SCIENTIFIC) INC.