Hi Ebe,
As a VuFind site and EBSCO Discovery Service development partner, I can
appreciate trying to keep it all straight. I think the big thing about
the new discovery products is that they work off indexes, which allow
for faster searching of article-level data. They integrate federated
searching tools (is "federated" still a dirty word around here?) and
link resolvers to move efficiently beyond library-held records. Most (or
many) are hosted solutions, which would kind of make sense when you
think about the size of an index holding and updating for article
searches.
You have a good point that "next gen" catalogs are presentation tools,
taking what you have and allowing new ways to navigate through. Of
course, many of these products can accept non-MARC records - Auburn's
VuFind also includes our CDM-based Digital Library - but those are still
things you essentially own. I have heard that VuFind will accept
article-level records, but I don't know anyone who has actively done
that. List-readers, if you have heard of such a test site, would you
point me in that direction?
Terminology seems to be changing at as rapid a pace as the technology
it represents. I tend to think of the new breed as "integrated
discovery", though I'm sure that term is neither perfectly descriptive
nor ubiquitous.
Those who are rather more steeped in analysis of this library trend,
what say you?
Best,
Marliese
Marliese Thomas
Database Enhancement Librarian
RBD Library
Auburn University
231 Mell Street
Auburn, AL 36849
334.844.8171
mst0001_at_auburn.edu
Received on Tue Jul 13 2010 - 09:39:19 EDT