Exploring Discovery: The Front Door to Your Library’s Licensed and Digitized Content. Edited by Kenneth J. Varnum. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2016, 292 p. $95 softcover (ISBN: 978-0-8389-1414-4).
We are well into the twenty-first century and many libraries, large and small, are dealing with the ever-evolving subject of discovery. This book does an excellent job of covering the many discovery interfaces and platforms available and their impact at various libraries. Discovery is, to quote a statement given in chapter 10 of this book, “enabling people to pick out what they need from an otherwise unmanageable mass of information” (120). Given the changing roles of libraries, as well as the multitude of different media types with which libraries must now deal and must make accessible to patrons, discovery is more important than ever before. Thus, this growing need for discovery that is user-friendly, all encompassing (or nearly so) and fairly intuitive on the back end has given birth to a plethora of options, all of which have their benefits and drawbacks. As not every library or collection is identical, so can be said for the various discovery platforms explored in this work.
The book is divided into four sections. The first two are devoted to various systems, divided between those which are vended and those which are custom made. The third section focuses on the front-facing aspect or “interface” side of some of these systems and the fourth, on the back-end, metadata-heavy side. The majority of chapters in this book focus on discovery systems in academic libraries. Thirteen of the nineteen chapters are either case studies in academic libraries or pull their examples from academic library websites. There are also chapters devoted to discovery in archives and library combinations, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Two chapters also focus on digital and/or open access libraries where their discovery systems were of greater importance given their fully digital collections. In addition, there are a few chapters rounding out the book that do not ground themselves to a particular library type, rather they look at discovery systems and platforms as a whole. Also worth noting is the fact that while some of the chapters in this book delve into highly niche areas such as geospatial resource discovery or use noticeably technical terminology, overall this book is quite readable.
The first section focuses on vended discovery systems, with the first two chapters concentrating on Ex Libris’s offering Primo and its integrated library system Alma, and the second two chapters hone in on OCLC’s WorldShare Management System and SirsiDynix’s Enterprise OPAC, respectively. While three of the four were academic libraries, those three serve campus communities of varying sizes. It is elements such as these that lend themselves to how the different systems were selected and then used by the libraries in focus. The only nonacademic library focused on in this section was a combination library, museum, and archive, which also gives a unique look at what options and flexibility vended discovery systems are capable of offering.
The second section directs its attention to custom discovery systems with an emphasis on Blacklight. Blacklight is used to varying degrees by each of the five libraries discussed. Given the system’s flexible nature, this does not come as a surprise. While other systems are mentioned, these chapters dive deeply into the various parts of discovery for which Blacklight is used. As such, this section is extremely useful for any library or librarian interested in using the web application. Once again, the libraries spotlighted in these five chapters are a diverse group. While three of the five chapters focus on academic libraries in the United States, chapters 7 and 8 focus on the discovery systems (and implementation of Blacklight) at a Canadian university and a museum archives, respectively.
The third section focuses on interfaces and user experiences. This section begins with dabbling in how library discovery has had to change and adapt since the advent of popular search engines such as Google. Various aspects of interfaces ranging from bento box design and single search interface to integrating online services and facets are explored in this chapter. Four of the five chapters focus on academic libraries, however much of the information in this section centers around aspects of discovery that are not only used and useful in the broad library world, but also by companies and institutions outside of the library world.
The fourth section focuses on the content and metadata aspect of discovery systems. In general, these last five chapters of the book tend to focus on the nitty-gritty technical aspects, metadata integration, and backend side of discovery platforms. To this end, the first three chapters of this section concentrate on discovery and metadata of a few digital and open access collections. This section also has two chapters dedicated to the impact of discovery platforms on libraries overall. Specifically, chapter 18 focuses on the impact in regards to the library world in general, and chapter 19 focuses on new challenges in how metadata is now used.
In summary, this is a useful book for those wishing to understand and research different discovery options. Particularly of interest are the discussions of what Blacklight and Ex Libris’s Primo have to offer libraries and patrons. Despite focusing mainly on academic libraries in the United States, the nineteen chapters do cover a wide array of discovery issues that can be found in any kind of library. This is primarily what makes the book useful. In general, librarians at academic libraries will benefit the most from the information presented here. That said, there are still many tidbits of information that librarians from other types of libraries could glean, particularly from the chapters encompassing the whole spectrum of discovery and metadata. Because of this, this book would make an excellent addition to any library or librarian’s collection.—Laura Nelson (lnelson@csusm.edu), California State University, San Marcos, California