Santa Rosa Junior College

North Bay and Bay Area librarians attended a Discovery Day Camp on December 5, 2014 sponsored by EBSCO Information Services and hosted at Santa Rosa Junior College.  A group of 35 librarians representing a unique blend of secondary and tertiary educational institutions, including 15 community colleges, spent the day learning about the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS).  Intended as an opportunity to learn more about best practices for configuring the EDS for search and instruction, the day began with an in-depth overview of the architecture of the discovery platform, a look at how relevancy ranking works,  and an analysis of the configuration options that librarians can use to fine tune their discovery services for optimum search results.

A second session shifted gears from system configuration to classroom use, as several SRJC librarians presented a lightning round of ways discovery is being integrated into face-to-face and online instruction. Participants learned about how the EDS is used in lesson plans, and saw examples of EDS integration into LibGuides, access in online classes via the Curriculum Builder reading list generator, and EDS use as the basis for Guide on the Side active learning tutorials.

After lunch and a tour of the Doyle Library, a review of the current and upcoming reporting features of the EDS was presented. The day was a welcome opportunity for regional librarians to come together and share information, and ended with a lively mixer in the Doyle Art Gallery that was hosted by CCL.