Abstract
In August 2010, James Madison University (JMU) implemented EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and placed its search widget front and center on the library home page. This paper will examine general usage trends over the tool’s first two semesters, including changes in physical circulation, library catalog searches, home page traffic, and other database usage. Searches, sessions, and full‐text downloads of subject‐specific databases before and after the implementation of the discovery tool will be compared. Finally, the limitations of the data and our methods will be discussed in order to inform other libraries’ work with similar data. The objective of the paper will be to share information for those considering a discovery tool or those preparing to evaluate a discovery tool that has already been implemented.
Discovery by the Numbers: An Examination of the Impact of a Discovery Tool through Usage Statistics
In August 2010, James Madison University (JMU) implemented EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and placed its search widget front and center on the library home page. This paper will examine general usage trends over the tool’s first two semesters, including changes in physical circulation, library catalog searches, home page traffic, and other database usage. Searches, sessions, and full‐text downloads of subject‐specific databases before and after the implementation of the discovery tool will be compared. Finally, the limitations of the data and our methods will be discussed in order to inform other libraries’ work with similar data. The objective of the paper will be to share information for those considering a discovery tool or those preparing to evaluate a discovery tool that has already been implemented.