Jisc has launched three new digital services aimed at making it easier for higher education librarians and researchers to find their way around academic collections.
The sector’s provider of education services said that Library Hub Discover, Library Hub Compare and Library Hub Cataloguing went live last week.
Neil Grindley, head of resource discovery at Jisc, said: “We are delighted to introduce these next generation library services, which will help researchers and librarians locate and manage print and electronic books, journals, newspapers, maps and anything else listed in library catalogues.”
Library Hub Discover, which is open to the public, makes academic library collections visible through web searches. It includes more than 100 library catalogues at launch but will keep growing over time, and is based on data held by the National Bibliographic Knowledgebase.
It replaces Jisc’s Copac and SUNCAT services, which have had a more selective coverage and are now being retired.
Decisions and downloading
Library Hub Compare and Library Hub Cataloguing, developed in partnership with global library cooperative OCLC, have been designed to help library staff and collection managers make more informed decisions about their holdings, and to download high quality catalogue records for use in their local systems.
In a joint comment, David Prosser, executive director of Research Libraries UK, and Ann Rossiter, executive director of the Society of College, National and University Libraries, said: “We wholeheartedly support the launch of the new library hub services and are excited about the progress this represents. The collections of UK academic and specialist libraries will be more available and visible than ever before, and new more flexible and powerful features will deliver benefits for learners and researchers.”
Image from European University Institute, CC BY 2.0
