Link to the Unified Resource Discovery Comparison hosted by Andy Ekins Dear fellow participants in the workshop "Discovery Interfaces: What's needed and what's available?" at the ELAG 2010 conference! I am pleased by your interest in the topic and looking forward to a fruitful meeting. We will be about 50 participants, what is pretty much for a workshop, but I am sure we will share interesting findings! This page should give you an idea what to expect from our workshop and some links to general introductions to discovery interfaces. Let me give you some information on the workshop: I'd like to start by giving a short introduction into the topic, by talking about the ongoing trend to discovery tools as user interfaces to library resources and the different aspects of discovery solutions. Maybe we can find a working definition or at least a common understanding of discovery interfaces in a discussion based on that. I'd then like to compile a list of available discovery interfaces for libraries. I have one prepared, but I am sure that isn't complete. So your input is very much appreciated. Based on this list, I'd like you to look at some products in detail in smaller groups. Each group investigates one of those solutions on the first workshop day. It would be great, if we had at least one person in each group that knows the product first hand. I'd like you to make a characterization of each product, for example by writing down the top things you like best and the top things you like least about it in your group. On the second day of our workshop, one participant of each group should present its findings in a very short way (depending on number of products max. 5 minutes), for example by showing a bullet list of the top 5 pros and cons or the 10 most remarkable characteristics you found. We collect these findings and compile a list of the different aspects you talk about in your presentations. So we have some basic criteria for the second part of our workshop focusing on the question "What's needed?". To give you an idea of possible criteria, I quote my own list here (compiled from my work experience with libraries in the field of discovery interfaces and my own needs in discovery interface projects, these may be totally irrelevant for you, so take this only as a suggestion or starting point to discuss your criteria). As an overall result of the workshop I imagine an expandable document (wiki) characterizing the available discovery interface solutions based on criteria/needs relevant for you (knowing well that weighting of those criteria is individual) and listing needs not satisfied by currently available solutions (if these exist).. See you at ELAG 2010 in Helsinki! Till |