Beyond Discovery Tools: The Evolution of Discovery at ECU Libraries

Abstract

At East Carolina University (ECU) Libraries, the term “discovery” has been in a state of evolution over the past few years. “Discovery” initially became an important part of librarians’ vocabulary with the introduction of a new kind of library system called the “discovery layer,” “service,” or “tool.” Examples of this include commercially available products such as Serials Solutions’ Summon, EBSCO’s EDS, OCLC’s WorldCat Local, and Ex Libris’ Primo. Since their introduction several years ago, many academic libraries have adopted these tools to help users uncover more of their collections in a Google-like search environment. Thomsett-Scott and Reese provide a comprehensive review of how the selection, maintenance, and evaluation of these tools have been discussed in library literature.1 But while discovery tools have been written about extensively, the idea of discovery has now evolved beyond just the tools. At East Carolina University (ECU) Libraries, the term “discovery” encompasses a broader set of considerations, including overall usability of the libraries’ search tools; how design of user experience facilitates resource discovery; integration of the libraries’ Websites as an essential piece of the discovery framework; and overall access and retrieval concerns that impact the libraries’ ability to provide an optimal information seeking experience for library users. This article discusses the efforts undertaken at ECU Libraries that reflect this broadened understanding of “discovery.”