Summon Research
"I have seen the future of how libraries will provide access to information, resources, and collections. It's called "Summon" by Serials Solutions and it can become equally important as Google in everyone's everyday information seeking and use."- Michael Eisenberg, Dean Emeritus & Professor
University of Washington
Information School
Research and Presentations.
Meeting the Library End-User’s Expectations: an in-depth look at the Summon™ web-scale discovery service
Peter Jacso, Internet Librarian 2009
Summon at Dartmouth: Conjuring up convenient and comprehensive resource discovery
Cynthia F. Pawlek & David Seaman - Summon Beta Panel, ALA Annual 2009
The Beta Experience at Oklahoma State University
Anne Prestamo, Associate Dean for Collection and Technology Services - Summon Beta Panel, ALA Annual 2009
Summon experience so far at Western Michigan University Libraries
Scott Garrison, Associate Dean for Public Services and Technology - Summon Beta Panel, ALA Annual 2009
Visualize the Perfect Search
By Carol Tenopir, Library Journal - 3/1/2009
"Studies show that people start with a search engine like Google when they need information. As early as 2004, in a focus group for one of my research studies, a college freshman bemoaned, 'Why is Google so easy and the library so hard?'"
Webcast: Building ROI through Discovery: Leveraging the Value of the Library Collection
Dodie Ownes, Library Journal - July, 2009
"Close to 300 attendees joined the June 30 webcast, Building ROI through Discovery: Leveraging the Value of the Library Collection, sponsored by Serials Solutions and Library Journal. This was the second in the webcast series, Returning the Researcher to the Library.
"Jane Burke, vice president and executive director at Serials Solutions, set the stage in her introduction by pointing out that “the collection is often the largest single investment in the library and the source of its competitive advantage.” Unfortunately, when users try to navigate it, they are often frustrated and stop using the library for their research needs."
Observing Student Researchers in their Native Habitat
Alison J. Head, Ph.D, Project Information Literacy - ACRL Keynote 2009
"Finding context is requisite to research process; the basis for a typology of research behaviors. Students have different strategies for finding context."
Project Information Literacy: Through the Lens of the Student Experience
Alison J. Head, Ph.D, Project Information Literacy - ACRL Keynote 2009
"Finding context is requisite to research process; the basis for a typology of research behaviors. Students have different strategies for finding context."
Introducing the Summon™ Unified Discovery Service
Jane Burke, Vice President, Serials Solutions - ACRL 2009
"Even though the library is perceived to be better... The use of Google and other Internet search engines continues to rise. Why not the library first? There's no clear and compelling starting place, difficulty identifying appropriate resources, and a general lack of awareness of resources. [...]Welcome to the Dream: Summon enables quick disvoery of the most credible resources anywhere the library has them."
Project Information Literacy (PIL): 2009 Progress Report
Alison J. Head, Ph.D., and Michael B. Eisenberg, Ph.D.
"[There are] Too many results from a Google search and the need to sort through them... Figuring out what is a credible source, and what is not."
NetGen Students: Content, Tools, and Services that Meet their Needs
Joan Lippincott - ALA MidWinter 2009
Academic Libraries and the Struggle to Remain Relevant: Why Research is Conducted Elsewhere
John Law - Sydney Online 2009
"The library's content goes significantly underutilized... Only by making the entirety of the collection accessible via a discovery layer can the library guarantee comprehensive search results. [...] The ability of researchers to access the library's content is not simply a convenience, but rather, a necessity if the academic library is to preserve and enhance its role as an information gateway for current and future generations of academic researchers."
"As the de facto standard search experience, Google has set a high bar. The research shows that users place a high value on the search experience. In some cases, users are willing to sacrifice the quality of the search results in favor of a pleasant search experience. This willingness to opt out to a less qualified resource should serve as both a warning about [making library resources 'accessible' and discoverable]."
How Do You Know That? An Investigation of Student Research Practices in the Digital Age
Randall McClure and Kellian Clink
"It is also clear from teacher and student responses in the study that the library is seen as an intimidating and inconvenient place, especially and interestingly in its primary purpose - supporting student research and often assisting students in the identification, location, and evaluation of sources. [...] We also concede it is understandable that students are drawn to using search engines on the Internet to conduct academic research. These engines are easy to use, available to anyone with an Internet connection, and quick and bountiful in their returns."
How Readers Navigate Scholarly Content
Simon Inger and Tracy Gardner
"A key measure of publisher success is the usage which can be maximized by enabling all the routes to its content [...] Library technology plays a key role in user navigation."
Observing Student Researchers in their Native Habitat
John Law, VP of Discovery Services, Serials Solutions - IWR Horizons 2008
"While users recognise that library electronic resources offer higher quality, more credible content, the library’s e-resources are not readily available to the research process in any compelling fashion."
What Do Users Really Do in Their Native Habitat
John Law - Computers in Libraries 2008
Beyond Google: How Do Students Conduct Academic Research?
Alison J. Head
Ithaka's 2006 Studies of Key Stakeholders in the Digital Transformation in Higher Education
Ross Housewright and Roger Schonfeld
"The importance of the role of the library as a gateway for locating information has fallen over time [...] The library is increasingly disintermediated from the actual research process."
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Summon
Publications
Brochures
Case Studies
- University of Liverpool: Supporting Academic Research Through Technological Innovation
- University of Sydney: Powering Up to Beat Budget Challenges
- Western Michigan University: Building a 21st Century Library
- Dartmouth College: Fast Access Through a Single Search Box
- University of Calgary: Integrating Collections with the World Beyond
- Oklahoma State University: Transforming the Library to Embrace the User