Purpose
– This review allows librarians to compare three of the major discovery services – EBSCO Discovery Service, Ex Libris’ Primo and Serials Solutions’ Summon – on the basis of price, content, user experience, features and functionality and back-end configuration to make informed decisions about the best tool for their institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
– The comparisons were made through a literature review, study of the vendors’ websites, several interviews and personal usability testing of each tool.
Findings
– The tools each have their strengths and weaknesses, and a decision of which tool is most appropriate for an institution varies depending on the institution’s needs and current situation.
Originality/value
– A literature review shows that no study has yet been conducted comparing these three discovery tools, and few comparative studies of discovery tools have been published recently.
Discovery search tools: a comparative study
