Serials Solutions is working with SA ePublications, a service of Sabinet Online, to index The African Electronic Journals in the Summon service. Aggregating the works of multiple publishers, this collection of nearly 400 journals represents the most comprehensive, searchable collection of South- and Southern-African journals in the world.

While the content is not restricted to Africa, the journals are devoted to research carried out in Africa and encompass six separate subject collections:

• Business and Finance
• Law
• Medical and Health
• Science, Technology and Agriculture
• Religion
• Social Sciences and Humanities

Some of these journals are available through an Open Access model. The Open Access works are included in the related subject indexes, but are also indexed as a separate collection for the convenience of libraries.

Launched a decade ago with 40 titles, the SA ePublications service has experienced a tenfold increase, reflecting phenomenal interest from South African publishers and editors in sharing their scholarly output with the world. Summon service indexing provides visibility to these resources for researchers within Africa and around the globe.

• 66% say defining a topic is most difficult
• 80% don’t ask librarians for help
• 82% go to Wikipedia to obtain background

http://ajhead1.wordpress.com/about/

Research examining the changed (and ever-changing) nature of user behaviors inspired the creation of the Summon service.  New research, like these takeaways from PIL, informs our continued innovation such as the new features introduced with Summon 2.0.  For example, the Summon Topic Explorer™ pane helps jump-start the research process, highlighting relevant encyclopedia entries, providing recommendations to related topics, exposing your library’s most relevant research guides, and promoting appropriate subject librarians in context.

Read more about Summon 2.0 and how we’re bringing librarians into the discovery experience.

Serials Solutions Knowledgebase Updates

We continue to add to, modify and enrich our knowledgebase. Clients can learn more details about the changes through the links below:

• 134 new full-text databases from 55 providers
• Database Name Changes: ClinicalKey Books, Surfdiensten Databases, and Brill Journal Archive Online Databases
• Titles-Level URL changes for ASME Transactions Journals (Current), ASME Transactions Journals (Archives), ASME eBooks, ASME Proceedings (Current) and ASME Proceedings (Archives) from American Society of Mechanical Engineers, REDALyC and CLACSO-REDALYC Databases, IOS Press Books Online from IOS Press, Marquette Journals Database, Dow Jones Factiva, and Brill Journal Archive Online Databases
• Titles Removed from Databases for vLex Premium, ClinicalKey Journals, Westlaw (Non-Academic Accounts), SpringerLink Ebooks Energy Databases, FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Plus, ClinicalKey Journals databases
• Database and Platform Migration for Revues.org

Clients can also access a list of only e-books databases within KnowledgeWorks, a historical list of changes to databases and providers, and lists of all providers and databases in KnowledgeWorks through the Support Center.

Content Recently Indexed in the Summon® Service

In the past month we’ve indexed a Swedish A&I database, a directory of collections of primary source material, and a collection of scholarly information in the Netherlands.

• From the publisher BTJ in Sweden, the A&I database ArtikelSök containing more than 2 million items from 12 Swedish newspapers and 440 periodicals
• The Chadwyck-Healey Archive Finder, a current directory which describes over 220,000 collections of primary source material housed in thousands of repositories across the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland
• Humanities, social sciences and performing arts journal content from UK publisher Equinox Publishing Limited
• NARCIS, the gateway to scholarly information in the Netherlands, which contains scientific information, including (open access) publications from the repositories of all the Dutch universities, KNAW, NWO and a number of research institutes, DANS datasets as well as descriptions of research projects, researchers and research institutes

Summon® customers can stay updated on all releases, enhancements and newly indexed content through the Support Center. 

Updates to Ulrich’s

The world's most authoritative source of bibliographic and publisher information for serials, and the most comprehensive source of print and electronic serials data available, continues to expand. Here are the latest updates, across 105,615 (active) and 63,873 (inactive) Publisher/Provider authority records, and 977 Subject areas.

• 378,410 periodicals (increasing 815 since March 31)
• 164,514 titles with A&I coverage (increasing 80 since March 31)
• 131,741 non-English titles (increasing 382 since March 31)
• 38,373 refereed publications (increasing 301 since March 31)
• 8,678 Open Access journals (increasing 116 since March 31)
• 597 A&I Databases, with 543 active (no increase since March 31)

“Big Data,” loosely defined as the ability to gather, analyze, interpret and most importantly act on large volumes of data to identify and solve problems, is a definitely a hot topic on college campuses and beyond.  In a previous blog post we focused on how Big Data analysis is informing library discovery improvements as Serials Solutions analyzes global usage data to inspire and optimize features and functionality of the Summon service.

DataFest gave 52 students (12 teams of 4-5 students per team) the chance to work with big data and open ended research questions that go far beyond what they usually encounter in their coursework.  The students spent an activity filled weekend analyzing a large and complex dataset in order to find, and then present, insights into the data in relation a problem (or set off problems) presented.

The theme of this year's DataFest was online dating using data shared by eHarmony.  The dataset contained information on matches generated by the eHarmony matching algorithm, indicators for the success of these matches (whether the matched users communicated with each other), and other information that users shared on their profile, including personal and personality characteristics and what they look for in a partner.

Students’ work resulted in fascinating presentations on topics such as using predictive modeling to understand communication between compatible eHarmony matches and the levels that people will still communicate with one another in relation to whether eHarmony relaxes its matching algorithms.

The competition kickoff, presentations and wrap-up took place at SAMSI, the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute—a partnership of Duke University, North Carolina State University (NCSU), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS)—based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.  DataFest gave participants a chance to experience firsthand the inherent interdisciplinary nature of statistics and data analysis, and the powerful opportunities that Big Data presents to improve experiences.

As a provider of data-driven Software as a Service solutions, Serials Solutions was proud to support these students in exploring the intricacies and impact big data analysis can have on product development.

The Summon service will index the full text of the following:

The Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. The official publication of the AES is the only peer-reviewed journal devoted exclusively to audio technology. The Journal contains technical papers and engineering reports; feature articles; pre and post reports of AES conventions and other society activities; Standards and Education Committee work;  patents, new products, and newsworthy developments in the field of audio.

Convention Papers library. Convention papers document the proceedings and presentations at AES conventions. The collection includes scientific presentations and technical papers, as well as supporting materials for various student activities, workshops and tutorials.

Conference Proceedings and Collected Papers library. AES conferences, held periodically in locations around the world, each are devoted to a specific field of audio engineering. These gatherings and the publication of their proceedings contribute to the international advance of audio technology.

By aiding researchers in discovering this content, the Summon service helps the academic community stay current with emerging audio technologies and techniques.

Long recognized as Taiwan’s leading publisher in the social sciences and humanities, Wu-Nan has further broadened its catalog of academic works and college textbooks to include technology, engineering and other applied sciences. Inclusion in the Summon service supports the company’s stated goal to disseminate culture widely and propagate learning.

The morning started off with an introduction to Summon 2.0—the latest advancements for the Summon service—and a sneak peak at Intota™ Assessment, which provides innovative views and metrics of a library’s collection, including a number of reporting and analysis tools designed to improve collection management, helping libraries easily make the most data-informed collection development decisions possible. The highlight of the event was a conversation with librarians Jeff Daniels, Head of Knowledge Access and Resource Management Services at Grand Valley State University Library (GVSU) and Bradley Faust, Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services at Ball State University Libraries.

At one point the conversation turned to the need for libraries to partner with vendors and other libraries to tackle the challenges that libraries are facing.  Daniels remarked that Serials Solutions services are essential for their relatively small library staff to handle the volume of work required to stay on top of managing growing electronic collections.  Serials Solutions’ Software as a Service (SaaS) model coupled with the continuous enhancements and innovations made to the services are a huge benefit to the library.  Daniels went on to say that Serials Solutions services such as Summon really do work in ways that meet users’ expectations which allows their front line staff to excel in providing the services they do.

Faust agreed that partnering with vendors is important simply because, for most libraries, a vendor can build tools better and cheaper than any library ever will.  He went on to provide a concrete example of the power of working with Serials Solutions and the value it brings to his library and users.  When the library first went live with the Summon service in Fall 2012, a search across the full breadth of Ball State University’s collections surfaced 255 million results.  Repeating the search just a few days before ACRL produced results for over 282 million records.  Faust commented, “There’s just no way we could have made 27 million more items discoverable at our library on our own.” 

Throughout the discussion, Daniels and Faust shared numerous thoughts on why libraries (and vendors) must continue to innovate to keep pace with changing technologies, changing user expectations and the changing nature of library collections.  Both commented on the fact that users simply expect a single search box experience that works like Google—they expect immediate access to full text, 100% of the time.   Daniels stated that it used to be acceptable for a user to wait for 24 hours for delivery an item, but now users don’t even want to wait five minutes.  Daniels also added, “Librarians need to face the fact that there are thousands of users who simply never interact with librarians or ask for help.”

Daniels and Faust summarized the positive impact that Summon and other Serials Solutions services are having on their libraries.  Faust explained, “Summon has allowed Ball State to move toward the single search box in a meaningful way, it simplifies and streamlines access to more of the scholarly material in our collections. We have seen significant increases in ‘click-throughs’ via a link resolver since introducing Summon. And, we are beginning to see metrics like cost per use of electronic journals improve (i.e. lower cost per access).”  Daniels added that at GVSU the Summon service is not only increasing usage of resources but it is improving service levels as well.

Changes in users’ expectations and collections have inspired and helped each of these libraries to rethink and adjust service models.  Both libraries are expanding opportunities for self-service and empowering students with new ways to access robust digital collections.  Also, they both are fostering news ways for librarians to engage with users and they see the continued development of the library as place—in fact, GVSU will be opening a new library later this year.

Both GVSU and Ball State University use multiple services form Serials Solutions to aid in discovery and management of their collections—including the Summon service, 360 Link, 360 Resource Manager, and 360 Counter—and both have contributed to the continuous development of these services.  As the first customer to purchase the Summon service in North America, as well as the recipient of a 2012 ACRL Excellence in Libraries award, GVSU is widely recognized as having an innovative library that’s delivering top-notch services.  GVSU is currently serving as a Summon 2.0 development advisor which provides them an opportunity to engage with their users to solicit feedback and provide comments on upcoming enhancements to the Summon service.  Meanwhile, Ball State University is an Intota™ development partner which provides them an opportunity to help shape the development of a new solution that will transform library management and assessment services.    

For both of these libraries, the conclusion is: library resources must be easy to use.  Faust expanded on this notion by explaining that competition from Internet search will continue to be a challenge for libraries and that the Summon service helps close that gap by simplifying library search for students and faculty.  “Libraries do need to guard against students’ willingness to settle on something for their research that’s ‘good enough,’” said Faust.  The Summon service provides easy access to scholarly resources and is continuously enhanced to match user expectations.  At the same time Serials Solutions’ management tools ensure that libraries can optimize, assess and manage collections.

ebrary is also celebrating its 10^th anniversary!  With continual feedback from libraries on why they choose Academic Complete – the top ten reasons include:

1. A platform built for e-books – including DASH!™ (Data Sharing, Fast) and free dedicated mobile apps for Android™ and the iPhone®, iPad®, and iPod touch®
2. More discoverability – integration on the ProQuest platform, indexed in the Summon® service, and deal signed with OCLC for WorldCat Local
3. More usage data – the most-used titles aren’t always the most recent
4. The most university presses
5. More important publishers – including top YBP 100 publishers like Taylor & Francis and Palgrave Macmillan
6. More core titles – like Doody’s Core Titles in the Health Sciences
7. More CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles
8. More careful content selection by our expert librarians
9. More awards – Library Journal’s Best E-book Database, CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, CODiE finalist for Best Service using Aggregated Content
10. More reviews for great content

Click here to preview Academic Complete.

For the past decade or longer, usability testing has been the traditional process for evaluating a software application’s user experience.  In usability testing, users—existing users of the application or participants recruited “off-the-street”—are observed while completing a series of scenarios that mimic real life examples.  Usability testing has its pros and cons.  For many years, this approach has provided valuable information.  However, no matter how unobtrusive the observation mechanism, users act differently when they know they are being observed.  So how can we better understand how users are actually using a service like Summon?

Enter Big Data.  As complex software systems have evolved into a Software as a Service (SaaS) paradigm leveraging the advantages of economies of scale to make more powerful solutions, user experience analysis models have changed.  Rather than having hundreds or thousands of users on a locally installed application, we now have millions of users working on a single common application.  This single common application can record and track user activity and store the data in large-scale data warehouses creating an opportunity for a superior approach to user analysis.

Delivered as a SaaS solution, at the core of the Summon service is a single, unified index.  This unique architecture, which ensures that all users are searching the same system, allows us to gather and analyze user behavior data from the hundreds of millions of Summon searches performed by millions of users—including researchers from the largest and most prestigious academic and research libraries around the world.  All users searching across the same unified index, no matter how customized their local Summon site might be, is the key to capturing meaningful and interpretable data.

This data can expose behaviors that illustrate true usage of library services, as opposed to the usage of a small number of participants being observed in an unfamiliar situation such a usability study with defined tasks.  While proving a significant breakthrough in understanding user behaviors, Big Data analysis doesn’t replace the traditional usability testing process since this kind of analysis can only illustrate what people are doing, not what they aren’t.

What have we learned about users of the Summon service by analyzing Big Data?  One interesting observation that you can see illustrated in the chart below is that most common searches are 2-4 word queries with a long tail of much longer queries.

We see from the data that there are two main types of searches, short broad topical queries and multi-term focused queries.  Some of the most common searches in the Summon service are things like “early childhood development”, “human resource management”, “cloud computing” which show how users identify a theme and conduct broad, topical searches.  By coupling Big Data analysis with usability study analysis, we’re able to find that users tend to start with these broad topical search terms and narrow their results by adding additional terms to the query and applying filters and facets.

Another interesting outcome of our analysis is that the more search terms a user has in their query, the less likely they are to abandon the search.   

The chart above illustrates there is a lower abandonment rate when a user has more search terms in their query.  The lower the abandonment rate, the better the search results are for the user.  This chart shows that once the user has at least 3 terms in their query, they have a much better chance of easily identifying content that looks interesting to them.

By combining user behavior analysis from Big Data and usability testing, we’re able to identify common scenarios that allow us to develop features and enhancements that address the observed behaviors.  For example, development of some of the latest features of the Summon service have been informed by this type of analysis, including Best Bets, the Database Recommender, Related Search Suggestions and  other features introduced with Summon 2.0.

Big Data analysis can be valuable beyond design and development; it can also play an important role in the way these features actually work.  Leveraging real-time, global Summon usage data, the Related Search Suggestions feature encourages users to expand their queries which can lead to better research outcomes.  And being data-driven, these features are rapidly and continuously fine-tuned to improve over time.