May's Resource Discovery Forum gave us the chance to discuss how Library colleagues would be introduced to the new resource discovery layer in advance of its launch. The resource discovery layer is designed to be an intuitive system, but staff still need to feel confident using it from a customer perspective in order to provide appropriate support. RDF members felt that we had gained sufficient experience of the system over the past few months to be able to assist with training colleagues. We thought we could provide informal hands-on sessions with scenarios based on common tasks most likely to be carried out by customers. Hopefully, these sessions will demonstrate the greatly extended functionality of the system compared to our current Star catalogue.
Some of the extended functionality comes from MetaLib, our new federated search system. Before the training discussion, there was time for a brief presentation about MetaLib. We bought the system with the intention of making it available to customers through the new resource discovery layer. We plan to use it to offer our A-Z list of databases through the resource discovery layer, and to offer subject-specific groups of databases to cross search. We think it will provide a quick, easy way for customers to access the Library's bibliographic and other databases, and a neat fit with the resource discovery layer to offer a one-stop shop for locating print and electronic resources.
