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    April 24th, 2012LISWire aggregatorLISWire

    ~ EBSCO Discovery Service™ Content Proves to be Key Factor in Decision ~

    IPSWICH, Mass. — April, 24, 2012 — HeBIS-Verbund in Germany has selected EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Publishing to provide fast and simple access to more content. HeBIS-Verbund created and runs the Hessian library information system (HeBIS) — an electronic information and service network of mostly academic libraries for the state of Hessen as well as parts of Rheinland Pfalz. HeBIS-Verbund represents one of the six regional library networks in Germany.

    Six years ago, HeBIS-Verbund first introduced a portal for researchers that constructed a metasearch over many catalogues and databases. After delivering limited data at a rather slow pace, HeBIS-Verbund decided to explore discovery solutions. The main goal was to provide researchers with as much content as possible from a discovery service. After comparing other solutions, HeBIS-Verbund chose EDS largely due to the comprehensive collection of metadata in the Base Index of EDS and the fast, seamless access to full-text content in other resources.

    Like many other institutions that compare discovery services, Berndt Dugall, Director for HeBIS-Verbund says the information displayed through EDS was really the driving factor in the decision to implement EDS. “Content was a key feature when looking at discovery services and we felt the content in EDS provided the best solution for our users.”

    EDS enables users to search the widest and deepest collection of metadata and quickly access the content to which they have rights. Content components include robust and detailed metadata (e.g., author-supplied abstracts, keywords, subjects, etc.), complete indexing from EBSCOhost databases to which an institution subscribes, complete indexing from important non-EBSCOhost databases (to which a customer subscribes) as well as other content options including loading an institution’s complete OPAC directly into EDS or an institutional repository.

    Dugall sees EDS being a valuable solution for many HeBIS-Verbund users by creating a way to easily and quickly find the information they need. “We anticipate that EDS will help both basic and advanced users to find the exact information they are looking for quickly. Being able to search more resources via EDS will provide advanced users with a clear focus on materials that are of interest to them.”

    Moving forward, Dugall would like to see more and more content being added to the Base Index of EDS. The addition of German and European content would specifically help the library information system achieve its goals of providing the type of content its users need.

    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 e-books. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 e-books. 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