, ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ University’s online research tool, is now more easily accessible through the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ University website. Online users can locate an expanding variety of resources by clicking on the DiscoverLibrary search box, which has been added to the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ and Web pages.
"We want users to be able to search DiscoverLibrary at their convenience," said Jody Combs, assistant university librarian for information technology. "A student or faculty member shouldn’t always need to come to the library’s website to use the library’s resources. We want the library to go to the user."
²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ partnered with , a leading vendor of library automation and systems software; the , and Denmark’s to develop , which powers DiscoverLibrary. DiscoverLibrary contains all of the records from , the library’s current online card catalog, as well as records from the , the library’s largest digital collection.
In recent months the library has added additional new features to DiscoverLibrary and is working to expand the set of digital resources available. These will include the (an ethnomusicological collection of sound recordings), (digitized portions of Senate and House Documents and Reports), , (images from the first century to the present) and (digital records from the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ community).
DiscoverLibrary includes a meta-search component, a service that enables users to simultaneously search across many of the article indexes and databases to which the library subscribes.
DiscoverLibrary already offers personalized services not available in Acorn such as the ability to save and track searches (e-shelf). As DiscoverLibrary develops, Combs said that the library plans to add new web services such as individualized RSS feeds and alerts, a Google desktop gadget, a Facebook application and a DiscoverLibrary toolbar for the desktop.
DiscoverLibrary is available by clicking on the library’s home page at or by going directly to .
For more information, email Jody Combs at joseph.d.combs@vanderbilt.edu.
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu