University of Winchester

Challenges

Prior to EDS, students at the University of Winchester searched the library catalogue when they needed books, but had to navigate to EBSCOhost or other non-EBSCO databases when they needed to find journal articles.

“That was the traditional way of doing it,” said Librarian David Farley, who has worked at the University of Winchester for 23 years. “But the process was beginning to seem more and more clunky and unappealing to students.”

Students regularly asked the library inquiry desk why they could not search for journal articles in the library catalogue. So in 2012, Farley began looking to implement EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), a library research tool that provides users with an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of an institution's information resources through a single search.

Since the University of Winchester has used Capita’s Prism ILS for several years, Farley wanted a discovery layer that would allow the library to continue using Prism’s catalogue interface.

“Our students are used to the catalogue; it’s what we show them on day one,” Farley explained. “It’s the first thing they’ve got to get through to find books on the shelves. It’s a nice, familiar, comfortable place for them to go.”

Meanwhile, EBSCO is the library’s primary electronic resources provider. In fact, Farley said, the library has gradually moved many of its full-text database and electronic journal subscriptions from other vendors to EBSCO. Given the long-standing relationship with EBSCO and EBSCO’s partnership with Capita, it made sense to pursue EDS.

“We wanted an implementation where EDS was built into the catalogue, rather than where the catalogue was built into EDS,” Farley said. “Capita, in discussion with EBSCO, came up with a product that would do exactly that. The fact that there was a relationship between the two companies, both of which we knew, trusted and have used for several years, made it a win-win for us. It was perfect from our point of view.”

Solutions

In past implementations, EBSCO has extracted catalog data from Capita’s ILS and loaded it into EDS. This time, working with EBSCO, Capita was able to integrate EBSCO’s premium content into Prism using the EDS API. The EDS API offers easy integration with library systems and its straight-forward technology allows libraries to create a unique user interface experience.

Given that the University of Winchester wanted to maintain the familiar look and feel of the library catalog, the EDS API was the ideal solution.

“Once we had the EDS API, we were able to incorporate it within our coding so that we could make a request to the EDS API to pull back the data,” said Gareth James, Capita’s Technical Partner Consultant.

Prism users can explore library resources and access data and services right where they need them and can create lists of selected items, such as wish lists and favorite books or items needed for study. The pages are highly configurable so libraries and users have the convenience of online account and transaction management. By adding the strength of EDS to those services, libraries that use Prism can increase their value by allowing more use to be made of their data.

“When we’re looking at partnerships, we’re looking at collaborations and integration to make more functional use of the library management system that customers have in place,” said Rachel Broadbent, Internal Account Manager for Capita. “It helps us to provide them with extra functionality in Prism and it enables them to have a one-stop shop for their students so that they can access all the different information resources, including books and journals, in one place.”

Benefits & Results

Incorporating the EDS API into the catalogue has had several benefits. First, students did not require extra training to learn a new interface, there was no need to log on to a separate site, and no need for separate validations and passwords. It also eliminated the need to load the library’s entire catalogue into EDS, greatly reducing the length of the set-up and simplifying the maintenance process.

“It wasn’t demanding of our time,” says Farley. “Capita did the design on our library catalogue. They put a drop-down menu on the library home page so that people could search for journal articles on EDS rather than on the catalogue. We did a bit of tweaking to make it look the way we wanted it to look. The back end was all there, and all the data was available from EBSCO.”

The University of Winchester began using the EDS-Capita solution in September 2013.

According to Capita Partners Manager Wendy Pugh, EBSCO is “very much at the forefront of search and discovery. Libraries not only benefit from the integrated front end but the rich metadata and superior relevancy algorithm of EDS.”

That robust metadata and relevancy ranking system of EDS produces higher-quality search results, which leads to increases in usage. In addition, only EDS provides users with direct access to full text when available through the library. For libraries that subscribe to full-text resources from EBSCO, including databases, eBooks and individual e-journals, EDS provides users with one-click access to PDF or HTML full-text content directly through the detailed record or from the results list preview pane.

The ultimate benefit, however, is the convenience of a powerful search in a familiar interface.

“Now you can just put in a term on the same interface that you use to find books on the shelf, and bam, there you are,” said Farley. “You’ve got the online full-text of the journal on your screen. It couldn’t be easier.”

March 2015 Update: Since launching EDS with Capita Prism a year and a half ago, Farley reports that students have been experiencing more success with search. "It has given students an expectation that everything they find via EDS will be full text," he said. "The impact on student satisfaction has been good."

To learn more about EBSCO Discovery Service, or to request a free trial, click here.