~ Data from Baker & Taylor Provides Options for EBSCO customers to Enhance the Discovery Experience for End-Users and Drive Usage of Library Collections ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — February 11, 2010 — An exciting new partnership will make rich book and multimedia data from Baker & Taylor available as part of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS). EBSCO’s discovery solution is designed to provide a single entry point and fast access to a library’s entire collection—including local loading of the OPAC. The ability for libraries to truly make a custom discovery experience is one over-arching benefit that puts EBSCO’s discovery solution ahead of competing services. EDS, enhanced with rich Baker & Taylor content, will offer patrons a fuller user experience, bringing more exposure and usage to the collection.

Baker & Taylor provides unmatched information on books, e-books, A/V materials and more, including more than 10 million data elements representing an ever-expanding resource for libraries. The following data elements from Baker & Taylor will be available to any customers using EBSCO Discovery Service:

• Book record & entertainment record information, including:
• book jackets with full-color images
• publisher annotations
• family keys
• display of selected subject headings

Additionally, EBSCO Discovery Service conducts real-time availability checks, so that patrons have up-to-the-minute status and availability of catalog items. Customers who wish to further enhance applicable records within the EDS experience can elect to include additional data from Baker & Taylor, including:

• tables of contents information
• subject descriptors
• display of complete list of subject headings
• professionally-written summaries
• book excerpts (first chapters)
• author biographies
• awards information
• review citations
• additional bibliographies
• options for a results limiting to include Baker & Taylor data
• ability to include patron-driven wish lists/purchase options (if desired by library)

The content partnership with Baker & Taylor is the latest addition to the growing service. Baker & Taylor joins NewsBank, Readex, LexisNexis, Alexander Street Press and many others in making EBSCO Discovery Service the most comprehensive discovery solution available.

Not only does EDS provide fast, simple access to all of a library’s full text content (electronic & print), but it offers much fuller metadata than any other discovery service, and the vast set of data from Baker & Taylor adds even more value and usefulness to end users. This is a great complement to existing content available as part of EDS, which already incorporates robust metadata from hundreds of publishers and other information providers, often including author-supplied abstracts, author keywords, author affiliations, etc. and the ability to search this deep indexing along with searching the full text.

EDS is part of EBSCO’s Complete Discovery Solution combining the core discovery layer/index with the federated search capabilities of EBSCOhost Integrated Search™ and the familiar, powerful EBSCOhost® search experience. Libraries may also leverage additional EBSCO services to round out Discovery including EBSCO A-to-Z®, an institutional Web-based resource listing service, and EBSCO LinkSource®, which provides powerful item level linking.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the world’s premier database aggregator, offering a suite of nearly 300 full-text and secondary research databases. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals, magazines, books, monographs, reports and various other publication types from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). The company’s product lines include proprietary databases such as Academic Search™, Business Source®, CINAHL®, DynaMed™, Literary Reference Center™, MasterFILE™, NoveList®, SocINDEX™ and SPORTDiscus™ as well as dozens of leading licensed databases such as ATLA Religion Database™, EconLit, INSPEC®, MEDLINE®, MLA International Bibliography, The Philosopher’s Index™, PsycARTICLES® and PsycINFO®. Databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world.

EBSCO is the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ a core collection of locally-indexed metadata creating a unified index of an institution’s resources within a single, customizable search point—detailed metadata from important content sources, OPAC loading, EBSCOhost database indexing and full text and metadata from institutional repositories and special collections (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is a global information and entertainment services company that offers print and digital books and entertainment products along with value-added services to libraries, educational institutions and retailers. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the company has been in existence for more than 180 years, developing long-term relationships with major suppliers, including book publishers, movie studios and music labels. Baker & Taylor maintains one of the largest combined in-stock book, video and music inventories in the United States, and services the broadest customer base in the industry. Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.
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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Manager
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com