Comments on: Introducing Summon http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html shifting libraries at the speed of byte Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:15:35 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Bill Pardue http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html/comment-page-1#comment-17716 Bill Pardue Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:34:52 +0000 http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html#comment-17716 I find this a VERY interesting development. I guess they're primarily targeting academics, but I think some database-rich publics could really use this, too. We use SS' 360 Search. It's a hard sell to convince Ref staff that it's really that useful (althought I've had some very good results from it). The major issue is that it's "broadcast" search, while the user's expectation is that it's more like a search on a "harvested" set of records. It's hard to get most folks (even librarians) to understand the "first set of records from each database" concept, as well as the fact that fed search results don't really have relevance ranking (because you're not really ranking against the full set of contending articles...thus they default to date-ranked--or at least 360 search does). The date issue also means that results from non-periodical sources (like reference articles from Gale databases) gets relegated to the end of the results set, even though they might be the most useful content. Did they demonstrate whether or not Summons will do relevance ranking? Did it seem like a good result? Other thoughts...are they truly aggregating full-text, or are you only searching citation/abstract? How do they do with retrieving record-level citations/abstracts from FirstSearch sources (do they have an arrangement w/OCLC)? Before I ramble on even more...I just want to show that those are some of the frustrations we currently see in the current generation of fed/broadcast search systems. I'm very interested in seeing how Summons deals with those. I find this a VERY interesting development. I guess they’re primarily targeting academics, but I think some database-rich publics could really use this, too. We use SS’ 360 Search. It’s a hard sell to convince Ref staff that it’s really that useful (althought I’ve had some very good results from it). The major issue is that it’s “broadcast” search, while the user’s expectation is that it’s more like a search on a “harvested” set of records. It’s hard to get most folks (even librarians) to understand the “first set of records from each database” concept, as well as the fact that fed search results don’t really have relevance ranking (because you’re not really ranking against the full set of contending articles…thus they default to date-ranked–or at least 360 search does). The date issue also means that results from non-periodical sources (like reference articles from Gale databases) gets relegated to the end of the results set, even though they might be the most useful content. Did they demonstrate whether or not Summons will do relevance ranking? Did it seem like a good result?

Other thoughts…are they truly aggregating full-text, or are you only searching citation/abstract? How do they do with retrieving record-level citations/abstracts from FirstSearch sources (do they have an arrangement w/OCLC)?

Before I ramble on even more…I just want to show that those are some of the frustrations we currently see in the current generation of fed/broadcast search systems. I’m very interested in seeing how Summons deals with those.

]]> By: Dr. No http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html/comment-page-1#comment-17714 Dr. No Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:07:23 +0000 http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html#comment-17714 Thought you might like this: http://acadamnit.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-just-finished-reading-your-paper-for.html Thought you might like this:
http://acadamnit.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-just-finished-reading-your-paper-for.html

]]> By: ranti http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html/comment-page-1#comment-17707 ranti Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:38:23 +0000 http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html#comment-17707 Jenny, no, they don't give feedback from the beta tester. Perhaps it's NDA? Then again, I didn't ask. I didn't see anybody from any of those two institution on the hall. But I did give some feedback, based on the demo only. Jenny, no, they don’t give feedback from the beta tester. Perhaps it’s NDA? Then again, I didn’t ask. I didn’t see anybody from any of those two institution on the hall. But I did give some feedback, based on the demo only.

]]> By: jenny http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html/comment-page-1#comment-17706 jenny Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:12:40 +0000 http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html#comment-17706 Ranti, did they give you any feedback from the beta test sites? Ranti, did they give you any feedback from the beta test sites?

]]> By: jenny http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html/comment-page-1#comment-17705 jenny Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:11:27 +0000 http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html#comment-17705 Jen, we didn't hear anything from the beta testers, which I thought was a little strange. While I was impressed with what I saw of Summon, the meeting/demo was very 20th century. It was a breakfast where folks sat at round tables, which meant no place for my laptop. There were no power strips at the tables, so I chose to sit on the floor by an outlet (which turned out not to work anyway). I was surprised they weren't set up for bloggers, but then the audience was clearly administrators at academic libraries. Joan Lippincott's talk was great, but they never had the beta testers stand up and talk about their experiences. They didn't show comments from users or offer any usage statistics. There were only a couple of demo searches, and they didn't take suggested topics from the audience. There was no row of laptops available where we could immediately play with the service, so they're relying on attendees to make it to the exhibit floor and have time to talk to someone there, something I've not had time to do so far. So while I'm tentatively impressed with Summon, I'm also surprised that they didn't do more to let the service do the talking for them. I thought they missed some big opportunities. Jen, we didn’t hear anything from the beta testers, which I thought was a little strange. While I was impressed with what I saw of Summon, the meeting/demo was very 20th century. It was a breakfast where folks sat at round tables, which meant no place for my laptop. There were no power strips at the tables, so I chose to sit on the floor by an outlet (which turned out not to work anyway). I was surprised they weren’t set up for bloggers, but then the audience was clearly administrators at academic libraries.

Joan Lippincott’s talk was great, but they never had the beta testers stand up and talk about their experiences. They didn’t show comments from users or offer any usage statistics. There were only a couple of demo searches, and they didn’t take suggested topics from the audience. There was no row of laptops available where we could immediately play with the service, so they’re relying on attendees to make it to the exhibit floor and have time to talk to someone there, something I’ve not had time to do so far.

So while I’m tentatively impressed with Summon, I’m also surprised that they didn’t do more to let the service do the talking for them. I thought they missed some big opportunities.

]]> By: ranti http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html/comment-page-1#comment-17702 ranti Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:58:35 +0000 http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html#comment-17702 Andrew Nagy kindly showed me the search platform from Dartmouth and OK State at the exhibition hall. Nicely done. I think this is going to be a big hit among students *and* faculty. Andrew Nagy kindly showed me the search platform from Dartmouth and OK State at the exhibition hall. Nicely done. I think this is going to be a big hit among students *and* faculty.

]]> By: Jen Waller http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html/comment-page-1#comment-17701 Jen Waller Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:45:40 +0000 http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2009/01/24/introducing-summon.html#comment-17701 Would have loved to see the demo. Have you heard thoughts and reactions from folks at Dartmouth or OK State? Would have loved to see the demo. Have you heard thoughts and reactions from folks at Dartmouth or OK State?

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