Change in Information Professionals’ Satisfaction with Discovery Services

ABSTRACT

Discovery services provide a one-box search engine, consolidating library content with a centralized index. In 2015, the authors surveyed hospital librarians regarding the purchase, implementation and maintenance, and information professionals’ satisfaction with discovery services. In 41% of the cases, librarians had purchased a discovery tool, and 58% of those respondents said they were satisfied with their product. The information professionals who decided against a purchase cited the cost, insufficient user benefit, overwhelming retrieval, lack of staff, and unfamiliarity with discovery tools. In 2018, the authors replicated the study to determine if information professionals’ attitudes toward discovery services had changed. The later survey showed a significant change in librarians’ attitudes in favor of discovery tools, as 92% had purchase plans. Of those who implemented a discovery service, 73% expressed their satisfaction with discovery products.

KEYWORDS:

• Databases as topic
• discovery tools
• hospital
• information services
• information storage and retrieval
• libraries
• search engine

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.