Information Technology

As part of the Libraries ongoing incremental improvement of the Discover application, a new addition to the service will be put into production as part of the Thursday, January 30th maintenance window. 

New feature: Connect With

Libraries’ IT will release an exciting new feature that we are calling “Connect With…”

One of the unique goals for the Discover application is to have it act as a bridge between our users and the Libraries by connecting our community to the wide range of experts that make up our organization. The Connect With feature promotes the people who can provide guidance related to research needs.  

How does it look?

If a user performs a keyword search that closely matches an area of consultation or subject guide associated with a librarian, the Connect With box will appear and display contact information and a link to any  related subject guides. In the example below, a user searches for engineering.  Information for two of our subject specialists is offered:

An example of Connect With after a user searches for ‘engineering’

The intention is to display only the most relevant information.  To that end, if a user performs a keyword search that doesn’t match  up with an area of expertise in the library,  Connect With will not display. 

How do people appear?

The following pieces of data are indexed and then searched producing results:

• Subjects (only applied to Faculty members) i.e. liaison librarian’s subject areas.
• LibGuides Subjects. Subjects that are applied to subject guides.
• Library employees who have the “Public Expert” option checked in their bios.
  • All subject librarians will have this option checked by default. They have the ability to uncheck this option.
  • Staff members who have areas of consultation may check the “Public Expert” option with supervisor approval.
• Up to five Areas of Consultation added to your bio page.
• Hidden tags for Discover (part of Areas of Consultation section). 
  • Add tags that represent your areas of expertise and/or subject expertise.
  • Do not duplicate what you already have in areas of consultation or your subject terms (if you are a subject librarian). Rather, add terms that may be synonyms or terms you weren’t able to fit into the areas of consultation. 
  • These tags will not be visible in your Bio. They will be used solely for indexing for discover search capabilities.

The Libraries has always been about more than just its resources. While the book tower is the first thing that a user sees when they walk into Thompson, it is the faculty and the staff, that make the OSU Libraries special.

As part of the Libraries ongoing incremental improvement of the Discover application, a new addition to the service will be put into production as part of the Tuesday, January 7th maintenance window. 

New Features in Articles+:  Date Range Slider, Date Range Selector

Articles+ Search Adds Limiter by Published Date

Above is an example search for the phrase ‘predictor of womens health after childbirth.’  Even when limited to only peer-reviewed and full-text resources, there are 1,143 article results. This can be an overwhelming number for the typical Discover user. Several new features will make finding just the right content easier than before. 

Date Range Selector

For users that want to limit the results by a specific year or years, we can manually enter or scroll up and down to the desired date(s). In this example, the beginning and end date have been entered as 2005: 

Results limited to the year 2005

Date Range Slider

Using the same search example, say we are doing research focusing on the earliest articles available.  We can adjust the slider to a smaller year range. In this example, we limited to range 1985 – 1990, and clicked the Apply button.

Slider will narrow range of publications dates

This limits our results to only articles results published between 1985 – 1990.

Articles published between 1985-1990

Limit to Last 12 Months, Three Years, Five Years

Perhaps we want the latest findings on this topic.  Another convenient option is the ability to easily limit by common date ranges. There is now the added ability for users to limit results by the last twelve months, three years, or five years by clicking the appropriate link:

Date range will auto-limit to appropriate range if ‘Last 12 Months’ is selected

If you have any feedback to share about the Discover application, please contact us!

As part of the Libraries ongoing incremental improvement of the Discover application, a new addition to the service will be put into production as part of the Tuesday, November 12th maintenance window. 

Addition of OhioLINK results

Discover now returns results from the OhioLINK Central Catalog.  One of the guiding principles for this project is that Discovery should lead to access, not dead ends. Adding results from OhioLINK furthers that goal.  With this new release, OhioLINK results will be listed in the bento just below the University Libraries’ catalog results.  

A sample search of Discover which includes results from the OhioLINK Central Catalog

In both the abreviated bento and the expanded focus view, users can click on a result to be directed to the OhioLINK Central Catalog record. From the Central Catalog, users can access consortially-owned electronic materials and directly request available materials from OhioLINK member libraries.

An example of online access:

Full text access to the Film & television literature index

Example of a requestable item from other OhioLINK member libraries:

This book available from Ohio University can be directly requested by a patron to be delivered.

OhioLINK results are also described in the Quick Tour:

Users can find out more about what OhioLINK offers as part of the Quick Tour.

If you have any feedback to share about the Discover application, please contact us!

As part of the Libraries ongoing incremental improvement of the Discover application, several new updates focusing on user onboarding will be put into production as part of the Tuesday, October 29th maintenance window. 

Some highlights:

Newly added Quick Tour

Users who want more information about the type of results found in each bento category may wish to take a Quick Tour. 

Click Quick Tour button to learn more about Discover application

Users can opt in to take a brief tour of the search box, and the different categories found in Discover: Articles+, Library Catalog, Libraries’ Websites, Digital Collections and Special Collections. They can opt out of the tour at any time by clicking “Skip” or clicking outside of the highlighted window. 

Example: description of type of results found in Digital Collections

First Phase of Ever-Present Help Options 

In the lower right side of the application, a floating Need Help? button will display, regardless of what part of Discover the user is searching. 

‘Floating’ persistent Help button

In this first phase, if the user hovers over the Need Help? button, they will see four options. Users can browse the Ask Us (LibAnswers) page, start a live chat, send a query by email. or provide feedback. This is the first phase of user onboarding, just-in-time assistance. In future phases of this feature, we will be adding more detailed assistance for frequently asked questions. 

Options for help currently available: browse the Ask Us (LibAnswers) page, start a chat, send an email, or provide feedback.

Relocation of More Search Tools

Usabilty testing found that the More Search tools sidebar was intrusive and confusing, often compared to sponsored ads found to the side in Google results. We have relocated the search tools menu option to the top of the application. When the user clicks on the option, it displays links to alternative search tools in a clean, three-column design. 

The More Search Tools options for locating online resources, print materials, etc. are more noticable at the top of the application.

In addition to testing our users, many of these updates are a result of the valuable input from library employees. If you have any feedback to share about the Discover application, please contact us!