Moving forward: The next-gen catalog and the new discovery tools

Abstract

This article explores two emerging solutions -- next-gen catalogs and discovery products. A next-gen catalog provides an intuitive interface designed in accordance with current web standards. It incorporates features such as visually rich displays, virtual shelf browsing, a spell-check function, auto-completion options, and search-term suggestions, as well as social features that encourage patron participation, such as tagging, ranking, and reviews. The discovery products are a new type of software-an interface that layers on top of the library management system (LMS). It provides the capability to simultaneously search for material in the library's local collection, articles in subscription databases, and digital collections managed locally.