MSU Libraries Implement Summon Discovery Tool

EAST LANSING, Mich., Aug. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Michigan State University Libraries have selected the Summon^® discovery service from ProQuest for implementation at the nation's pioneer land-grant university. The service launched at the beginning of this month with a number of activities planned to educate students and faculty about this new tool.

The Summon service provides a single entry point into nearly all of a library's resources, allowing users to search and navigate a unified list of results drawn from a broad range of content types. Summon also offers a variety of configuration options for faceted searches and filtering results, and helpful options such as content spotlighting and navigating by discipline.

"Summon's ability to display full citations without authentication is a welcome feature," says Lee Sochay, chair of the library's discovery implementation task force, "because it is consistent with the University's land-grant mission."

"The Summon discovery service covers most of the library's collections, including resources such as books, e-books, journal and magazine articles, dissertations, and historical newspapers," says Steven W. Sowards, associate director for collections. "Library users will no longer face a confusing array of different indexes and databases: Summon opens up content from so many sources in a single search, with potential benefits for everyone from first-year students exploring a topic, to researchers seeking a cross-disciplinary approach."

"We're pleased to be implementing Summon for our users," says Clifford H. Haka, director of the MSU Libraries, "because it brings serendipity back into the research process. Users will discover resources in formats and disciplines they might not have found previously, when using traditional subject-specific indexes."

About ProQuest
ProQuest is a global provider of digital content and technologies for academic, government, corporate, school and public libraries. With roots dating from 1869, the privately-held library and research solutions innovator is headquartered in Ann Arbor with sales and service operating in 152 countries. 

About the Michigan State University Libraries
The MSU Libraries serve a campus of more than 49,000 students. The collection includes more than 6.4 million volumes, 143,000 serials, and an extensive set of online resources. In 2013, library users downloaded more than 4.3 million full-text articles from the library's databases.

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SOURCE ProQuest