DISCOVERY SERVICE ASSESSMENTLinda Wobbe Saint Mary’s College of CA 2014
SMC Goals
Google-like searching Access the entire Library collection Discovery of overlooked resources Improve cross-disciplinary access
Discovery: search everything?
% EDS Partners by Material Type
Reference databases
FT Journals
Index & Abstracts
Primary Source Document
Digital Media databases
Catalog databases
eBook databases
Index + FT - Aggregators
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
What is missing?
Reference Desk
Do you use Discovery at the Reference Desk?
YES: 100%
Reference desk YES NO0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Reference
YES: as a way to retrieve known articles. YES: when I'm not sure what discipline a topic
will fall into. YES: when no results are found in the subject
specific database, then I'll show Multisearch to "discover" things that might be hiding somewhere else.
YES: students often aren't sure whether they want a book or article
YES: students at the desk need something NOW and Multisearch is great for that.
Instruction
Do you teach Multisearch to undergraduates? YES: 67%
YES NO0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Instruction for undergraduates YES: one search box is easy for students YES: perfect for lower division courses YES: "Google-like" experience that
makes research easy YES: limit results by full text
Instruction for Undergraduates NO: lower division classes focus on
learning the database for that discipline. NO: brings up too much, which is
overwhelming for the lower division students' needs.
Graduate Instruction
Do you teach Discovery to graduate students
NO: 67%
Graduate instruc-tion
YES NO0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Instruction for Graduate & Upper YES: as a supplement to the disciplinary
database particularly with interdisciplinary topics
NO: they need more options for limiting NO: their more sophisticated needs are
met in a database that has subject nuanced search features
NO: The search feature in subject specific databases is detailed to the particular subjects
Increase use?
Number one:
Present Discovery Search as the default
How to increase use?
Improve precision Material type limiters Discipline-specific limiters Take advantage of catalog scopes
Sign truce with ProQuest Would percentage included to 60% from
50% Enhance reference handbook
and statistical resources content
Multisearch Results
