~ Warsaw University Becomes First in Poland to Implement a Discovery Service ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — March 13, 2012 — Warsaw University, the largest university in Poland, has chosen EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) and fully implemented the service as of October 2011. Warsaw University was declared number one in the ranking published by the national daily Rzeczpospolita and the education monthly Perspektywy. The innovation and uniqueness of EBSCO Discovery Service will help the university continue to be recognized as a leading academic centre in its part of Europe.

When looking for a discovery service, Warsaw University’s goal was to integrate its e-resources to give users the ability to browse them within one search. Zuza Wiorogórska, Senior Librarian at Warsaw University Library, says choosing a discovery service was a lengthy process that included various tests and a survey. “In the last phase of testing, before the decision on purchase, we did a survey among all our users (i.e. students and faculties). The feedback helped make our decision.”

The overwhelming majority of respondents chose EDS as the integrated search tool of choice. Key factors for choosing EDS included the speed of searching, the usefulness of limiters and facets for consolidating user refinement actions and the overall search experience including the way it enabled unexpected and important discoveries.

Wiorogórska says that the implementation of EDS will not only provide a simplified and fast search experience for library users but it will bring great recognition to the university. “We are the first university in Poland that implemented EDS and the first that implemented this kind of service in general. We think it will further enhance our reputation.”

The flexibility of EBSCO Discovery Service, including the ability to customize the search screen to was also a factor in their decision to go with EDS. The university was also able to customize the name calling it “Multiwyszukiwarka EDS.”

Warsaw University expects to see usage statistics continue to go up and expects the EDS base index to continue to expand.

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
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kmcevoy@ebscohost.com