TCA Letters to the Editor
Press Release
Title: Serials Solutions Responds to Letter by EBSCO's Tim Collins
Date: July 2010
Organization: Serials Solutions
Letter:
July 20, 2010
Dear Editor,
EBSCO president Tim Collins' letter responding to The Charleston Advisor's recent interview with Jane Burke regarding Serials Solutions' Summon web-scale discovery service reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the challenge libraries are facing in securing their role with users - particularly next-gen users -- as the starting point for research. A few points to consider:
A 2010 Project Information Literacy survey of 8457 university students revealed that 95% of those students rely on Google as the first option for course research. The implication is that the familiar look and feel of established research interfaces are no longer meeting student needs. Those students want a single search box with sub-second delivery of accurate results.
90% of Summon searches return results in less than 1 second, clearly fulfilling the expectations of those students represented in the PIL survey. Moreover, customer feedback clearly speaks to the relevancy of those results with many students finding the right information within the top 3 or 4 results.
Mr. Collins claims that his product does not rely on federated search. However, EBSCO's web site explained EDS as a "complete discover solution," going on to say "This is accomplished through a combination of key elements including: EBSCO Discovery Service ...
- EBSCOhost Databases ...
- EBSCOhost Integrated Search (EHIS) - Extending the reach of the discovery solution by incorporating external resources not available through any discovery service ...."
A recent evaluation of discovery products in The Charleston Advisor (12(1), July 2010) rated Summon tops among the products evaluated, including EBSCO Discover Service.
Most importantly, in only one year in the market Summon has been deployed in excess of 90 libraries around the world, with more deploying every week. We believe this makes Summon the fastest growing web-scale discovery service.
But rather than engage in a war of letters where each company makes claims and counter claims I recommend enabling librarians to decide for themselves which product best meets their discovery needs. How about a head-to-head, live comparison in front of librarians? Summon versus EBSCO Discovery Service. We are happy to show up at the place and time of your choosing.
Sincerely,
Stan Sorensen
Vice President, Product Management and Marketing Serials Solutions
(206)336-7546 (o)
Stan.Sorenson@SerialsSolutions.com
