From catalogue to discovery – through the example of the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen

Abstract

During bibliographic work, it was always an important question whether we were working for a catalogue or a bibliography. According to the traditional approach, the catalogue should reflect the library’s collection (mostly the collection included in the stock), while the bibliographic catalogue is not collection-specific and is organised according to other criteria. The research article examines the following questions. How could one define discovery services in the spectrum from catalogue to bibliography considering that a discovery service is used for registering the electronic content subscribed by the library and at the same time for its transmission to the user? How have the expectations for such services been developed in the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen in the past decade? The article presents the target group for whom the service is intended, as well as the result of the library’s latest project on this topic – the implementation of Summon Discovery. Screenshots illustrate how the requirements in Summon were implemented as the first among the Hungarian libraries. It is also investigated what competencies are necessary for the successful implementation and maintenance of the discovery service.