~University Cites Ease of Accessing Full Text, Exposure of Library Resources
and Superior Relevancy as Key Factors in its Discovery Service Selection~

IPSWICH, Mass. — March 20, 2012 — After comparisons of four discovery solutions, New Zealand’s Massey University Library has chosen EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO), calling it a better fit than other discovery services. The library’s evaluation found EBSCO Discovery Service had superior relevancy ranking, which will help the university better serve its patrons. Librarians expect EDS to improve access to full-text resources and increase the exposure of both print and electronic materials to library users.

Massey’s Information Services team found that EBSCO Discovery Service provided the best access to full text from a single search box, while reducing the need for searching multiple databases—an often confounding task for novice researchers. Electronic Services Librarian Julia Old says EDS prevailed over other services, especially with regard to accessing full text. “Through testing four products, our evaluation found that it was consistently easier to get to full text via EDS.” The Information Services team at Massey University Library knows from experience that many patrons have difficulty finding relevant full-text library materials and they anticipate that EBSCO Discovery Service will improve access to library resources as well as consolidate searches.

The university found the EBSCO relevancy ranking algorithm superior to that of its competitors when returning search results. EBSCO has enhanced its relevancy ranking system for EBSCO Discovery Service. This algorithm takes advantage of subject indexing along with other factors associated with the robust metadata included in the index, providing users with optimal results.

Early feedback from the library has been positive, specifically with regard to EBSCO’s customer service and the ease with which EDS can be configured. Massey University Library’s Digital Services Manager Tim Darlington says, “I’ve been really pleased with how easily the problems I reported in this case have been able to be fixed. The configuration capability that EDS has is a big difference from our experience sometimes with other products, and it’s a wonderful difference to encounter.”

As the library continues the EDS implementation process, Old expects it will change the way the library organizes and presents information on its website and in its information literacy classes. She says librarian expect the reach of EDS to extend beyond the library into the library’s website and as part of the information literacy classes conducted by the library. “We hope that EDS will increase the exposure of our electronic and print resources, and introduce more of our patrons to the process of finding and using library materials.” The library is in the process of customizing EDS, adding colors and branding as well as tailoring search settings such as limiters and facets. Further customizations will be implemented based on user feedback.

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 50,000 magazines & journals, approximately 825,000 CDs & DVDs, nearly six million books, more than 100 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