~ Superior Index, Facet Features and Catalog Integration Convince University to Choose EBSCO Publishing for Its Discovery Needs~

IPSWICH, Mass. — March 27, 2012 — Seton Hall University in New Jersey has started to implement EBSCO Publishing’s EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) to provide its users with better, faster and more convenient access to their library resources. Seton Hall evaluated other discovery services but the selection committee unanimously chose EDS as its discovery service due to EDS’s superior index, facet features and ability to seamlessly integrate the catalog.

EDS was able to deliver everything on Seton Hall’s wish list including a single search, a way to promote the library to students as well as other departments and provide more access to the library collection in a convenient way.

The library was particularly impressed with EDS’s facet feature which helps users refine their search. Facets (also known as clusters) appear in the left column of the EDS result list and can be used to limit the results that appear. Seton Hall’s Systems Librarian, Xue-Ming Bao says “We were very pleased with the facet features offered in EDS, especially the subject facet drill down. This will allow our users to narrow their search and easily find exactly what they are looking for. The facet features and customization capability of EDS sets it apart from other services.”

The library is in the process of integrating the institutional repository into EDS. The repository can then be fully searched alongside all other EDS resources/content.

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 metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.

The Base Index for EBSCO Discovery Service forms the foundation upon which each EDS subscribing library builds out its custom collection. Beginning with the Base Index, each institution extends the reach of EDS by adding appropriate resources including its catalog, institutional repositories, EBSCOhost and other databases, and additional content sources to which it subscribes. It is this combination that allows a single, comprehensive, custom solution for discovering the value of any library’s collection.

The EDS Base Index is comprised of metadata from the world’s foremost information providers. At present, the EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers. Although constantly growing, today the EDS Base Index provides metadata for nearly 64,000 magazines & journals, approximately 825,000 CDs & DVDs, nearly six million books, more than 320 million newspaper articles, more than 400,000 conference proceedings and hundreds of thousands of additional information sources from various source-types.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost®, the world’s premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of journals and magazines than any other discovery service (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.

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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Director
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

3/27/2012
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

Columbia County Rural Library District Goes Live on Koha with ByWater Solutions

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and the US’s forefront provider of Koha (www.koha-community.org) support, announced today that the Columbia County Rural Library District in Dayton, Washington is now live on their installation of the Koha integrated library system.

The Library’s Koha installation went live earlier this month, and ByWater Solutions will be providing ongoing support and hosting services for them. The Columbia County Rural Library District has a collection of over 25,000 items. Their public catalog can be searched at http://catalog.ccrld.lib.wa.us.

Nicole C. Engard, Vice President of Education, commented on the newest ByWater partner:

“I had the pleasure of training the staff at The Columbia County Rural Library District and I loved seeing their excitement and drive to learn a new system. They’ll make a great new addition to the ByWater family.”

Janet Lyon, Director, commented on her library’s decision to switch to Koha:

“Columbia County Rural Library District’s decision to move to ByWater Solutions Koha, an open source ILS system, was the best decision our library made. The staff finds it simple to use and the OPAC is easy for the patrons to use. The training was great and the support by everyone at ByWater Solutions has been superb.”

About Columbia County Rural Library District:

The Columbia County Rural Library District was formed in 2005 by the voters residing in the unincorporated area of Columbia County as a way to provide stable library funding. Working with the City of Dayton, the CCRLD increased library hours to 21 with the addition of a director in 2007. In January of 2008, the CCRLD took over management of the library. Additional staff was hired, which brought library operating hours up to 41 per week. The City of Dayton contracted with the CCRLD to expand services both in Dayton and in the unincorporated areas of Columbia County.

As of the end of 2008, over 3,000 new materials had been added, there had been over 20,000 library visits made by patrons, and over 22,000 checkouts of library materials. For more information about the Columbia County Rural Library District, please visit: http://ccrld.lib.wa.us/~ccrldlib/index.php

About Koha:

Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:

ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions to support Koha not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com