Research has never been so easy: Summon at the University of Huddersfield Graham Stone E-resources Manager 5th UNICA Scholarly Communication Seminar 7 – 9 November 2010 Universidade Nova de Lisboa #summon4hn

University of Huddersfield 24,000 students (16,000 FTE); 7,500 p/t 57% female; 68% mature; 19% declared non-white Broad spread of courses Increasing international focus Increasing focus on research

Huddersfield “Why is Google so easy and the library so hard?” [Duddy, 2009] “Why do we want to teach our users to be librarians?” [Pattern, 2009]

Vision 1.A first class search engine –capable of returning relevant, accurate results and provide a Google-like experience for users 2.The ‘one-stop-shop’ –a single interface was required for users to be able to access ALL library resources via a single search 3.Improved value for money –for purchase and ongoing maintenance costs –while significantly reducing administration costs for library staff 4.Improved system management –to provide ‘back-end’ system management by being interoperable and running on open standards

Implementation Conference call with United States staff MARC21 mapping spreadsheet returned –Default settings 360 training 6 week installation –Branding etc.

Key dates Project plan Contract signedAug 2009 Implementation startsSep 2009 Summon instance deliveredOct goes liveFeb 2010 Launch at Research Festival (beta alongside MetaLib) Mar 2010 Questionnaire and focus groupsMay-Jul 2010 Training sessionsMay-Sep 2010 Summon replaced MetaLibAug 2010 Launched to new StudentsSep/Oct 2010

Challenges encountered and Lessons learned

MARC records Separated all print and e-journal MARC records Previously merged e-book/monograph records were split Initial upload did not include: –E-books, e-journals, fast adds, temporary ILL records, records that were on order or unavailable Issues with deletions – now resolved

Rogue cataloguing! Summon highlights bad cataloguing! –Music scores –DVDs –Copy cataloguing

Electronic Resources Wiki

Results for journal search in Summon

Database search in Summon

Excellent User Community Very active discussion list Summon community wiki – Coming soon! –A list of Summon customers, including: a link to their Summon LMS/ILS and link resolver product used authentication methods used (e.g. Shibboleth, etc) links to PR and training materials –MARC mapping tips implication of choices, etc –A place to share code, scripts and general tips

Beta launch Launched in March 2010 Start of the Marketing Strategy

Simplifying resource discovery and access in academic libraries JISC Call: Enhancing library management systems – Theme A – Use of new resource discovery interfacesJISC Call: Enhancing library management systems – Theme A – Use of new resource discovery interfaces Joint case study of the implementation, evaluation and launch of Summon at Huddersfield and Northumbria 6 month project from April to October 2010 –

Marketing strategy Work PackageObjective InterfaceTo promote Summon front page and make necessary interface changes PublicityTo disseminate promotional material throughout the University Evaluation and FeedbackEnsure Summon is fit for purpose by launch CLS Staff trainingTo ensure full training across service User trainingTo ensure relevant stakeholders are offered training

Publicity

Questionnaire results How easy are the screens to understand? Was the layout of the results clear? Full results to be published in an open access journal in early 2011

Information strategy The very nature of the way users search will be turned on its head –from searching databases that include ALL content and then hoping that the abstracts chosen will hold the full text –to searching the full text subscribed material first and then widening the search if necessary –Will take time to move users from choosing a database to search to using Summon as a one-stop-shop –We can concentrate on search techniques rather than different interfaces

Early indicators Careful planning and consultation have overcome any perceived problems with the launch More qualitative user feedback data is being sought –Focus groups –Feedback from information literacy sessions –Analysis of search results Good development of the product over the last 12 months Close monitoring of full text and database subscriptions

Click through data Sep 09 vs. Sep 10

The users love it! “Summon is bloody brilliant… …It gives fast, efficient and above all relevant search results” Abdul Jabber, PhD student