library discovery: challenges and opportunities...medieval surgery blackness and prison chicana...

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Library Discovery:

Challenges and Opportunities

Mike Showalter

Executive Director, OCLC End-User Services

A TIME OF CHANGE…

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347million records

2.3billion holdings

44million digital items

16million eBooks

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THE LIBRARY RESPONSE

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University of Michigan (Dearborn) Library Web Site 1996

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University of Michigan (Dearborn) Library Web Site 2000

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University of Michigan (Dearborn) Library Web Site 2006

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University of Michigan (Dearborn) Library Web Site 2012

MAPPING THE DISCOVERY

LANDSCAPE

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FirstSearch WC Local WC DiscoveryWC.Org

• Launched in 1991

• Key use case: Library front door to precision search of WorldCat

• In use at thousands of libraries worldwide

• Essential tool for librarians and scholars

• Libraries own even when they have alternate discovery application

• Launched in 2006

• Key use case: Open web discovery of library resources

• 230 million+ pageviews per year

• 125k+ visitors a day find books, create and share lists, write reviews

• Many libraries link to worldcat.org as a research tool

• Launched in 2008

• Key use case: Search local collection, articles and worldwide library holdings at same time

• In use at 100s of libraries worldwide

• Pioneering discovery application

• Original discovery application for WMS customers

• Launched in 2014

• Key use case: Search local collection, articles and worldwide library holdings at same time

• In use at 100s of libraries worldwide

• Originally designed to replace both WC Local AND FS

• All new WMS customers now get WCD, not WCL

OCLC Discovery product overview

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OP

AC

sH

yb

rid

sD

isco

very

Layers

Next G

en

Cata

log

s

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Components of modern library discovery

• Search all (most) content in one place

• Central index of e-content + local collection

• Simple, fast search with keyword-driven relevancy

• Facets to filter results

• Modern, intuitive interfaces

• One-click to full text

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Complexity of the problem means no

single solution solves all use cases

• Multiple user types

– researcher, student, librarian

• Huge diversity of content types with vast differences

in available metadata

– books, articles, digital, etc.

• Multiple paths and workflows lead to same content

– users will pick their own paths

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Diverse information needs

genetics of alcoholism

urban inequality

methane emissions

banned comic books

drag queens and queer representation

Leonardo Da Vinci inventions

industrial farming

bilingual parentingasian americans and bullying

korean counterculture

animal abuse

medieval surgery

blackness and prison

Chicana movement

cheating college coaches

stress and college

DISCOVERY INFLECTION POINT?

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Have we solved the problem?

Yes and no

Users expect much more

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Challenges in library discovery

• Users start with ambiguous queries• More than half of queries are 1-3 words long

• Users need context• Why is something important?• What are my options?

• Users want ability to explore topics• 50,000+ topics searched over and over• The age of Wikipedia-driven inquiry

• Users don’t want to think• In an age of algorithms, why should they have to figure out

what’s available that matches their needs?

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Relevancy signals to drive results

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Context and ability to explore

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Query driven user experience

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Just in time

information

Personalized

results

Automated

curation/updates

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Bento box search trend: Impactful?

WHAT’S NEXT?

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Growing user engagement

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Growing Web discovery of library materials

-

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

4,000,000

4,500,000

5,000,000

May2014

Jun2014

Jul2014

Aug2014

Sept2014

Oct2014

WorldCat Works Linked

Data Released

Unique Visitors to WorldCat

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Exploring ways to use linked data

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Using data to improve search algorithm

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Discussion points

• What challenges to you see in your library related to discovery?

• How could we (the library community) provide a more consistent, data-driven view of what end-users need and want?

• Is it possible to create and adopt best practices to inform a consistent user experience?

• How can OCLC help drive improvement, regardless of which discovery product members choose to use?