Amanda Foster School of Information and Library Science, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Use of Serial Solutions’ Summon™ in Information Literacy Instruction

Acknowledgments

Photo Credits

http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtuallearningcenter

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucdaviscoe.

Findings

Describing Summon, cont’d

• Many librarians use metaphors or similes to describe

what Summon does. Popular ones include:

• Super Wal-Mart, Super Target

• Google, Google Scholar

• Buckets

• Pies

Information Literacy Skills

One major research question of this study involved

information literacy skills and whether or not the

introduction of Summon was affecting which skills were

being taught. Based on the interviews, I drew conclusions

on which information literacy skills were receiving more or

less focus.

More Focus Less Focus

Student Questions

Librarians noted there were no significant differences

between questions asked about Summon in comparison

to other databases.

Recommendations

Branding

Summon has been branded under several names

including, but not limited to: One Search, Quick Search,

Articles Plus, Articles, All, and Search. Branding can be

tricky because the “brand” may not be accurately

descriptive of the content being searched. This can cause

negative fallout among library staff and university faculty.

One recommendation is that libraries should be cautious

and thoughtful when branding Summon and other search

features.

Staff Training

In some of the interviews, statements were made that

displayed some confusion among librarians about the

content that Summon™ indexed. This problem is

exacerbated by different institutions including and

excluding different content in the results like the catalog,

newspaper articles, and book reviews. Also, Summon™

indexes content from some journals but not others,

making it difficult to know what content is actually being

covered by Summon™. One recommendation for libraries

is to provide training for librarians who will teach

Summon™ during information literacy instruction.

Training on Summon™ may cut down on confusion about

what content is actually being indexed in Summon™.

Research Questions

• What does an information literacy session in which

Summon is taught look like?

• What audience(s) are librarians most likely to

teach Summon™ to?

• How do librarians describe what Summon™ is,

what it does, and how it works?

• What information literacy skills do librarians focus on

when teaching Summon™?

• How do librarians feel the introduction of Summon™

has changed the way they teach information literacy?

• What are librarians’ thoughts on Summon™ as a

resource and as a tool for teaching information

literacy?

.

Abstract

This study investigates the how librarians use the web-

scale discovery tool, Summon™, during information

literacy instruction. Questions explored include the

process of teaching Summon, which information literacy

skills librarians focused on, and librarian perceptions of

the tool and its influence on information literacy skills.

Eight librarians were interviewed about their experiences

teaching Summon using the critical incident technique.

The interviews reveal which information literacy skills

librarians focus on while teaching Summon™ during

information literacy instruction. Librarians are teaching

Summon to all audiences, though the method and

delivery are dependent on the context of the information

literacy session. Overall, the librarians interviewed were

positive about the introduction of Summon™ at their

library.

Methodology

• Interview 8 instruction librarians

• Use critical incident technique

• Code using NVivo, focusing on the following:

Course-Related Information Literacy Skills Audience Using facets

Time Evaluating sources

Course-Level Generating Keywords

Student Questions, etc... Peer-Review, etc…

Conclusion

In this study, eight librarians were interviewed about their

experiences teaching Summon™ during information

literacy instruction. The interviews revealed interesting

facts about how librarians are teaching

Summon™. Librarians are teaching Summon™ to all

audiences, though the method and delivery are

dependent on the context and audience of the

information literacy session. In terms of which information

literacy skills librarians are focusing on while teaching

Summon™, there appears to be a trend toward teaching

how to utilize facets, broaden and narrow search results,

and generating keywords. Overall, the librarians

interviewed were positive about the introduction of

Summon™ at their library.

Findings

Audience

• Summon is being taught to all audiences: undergrads,

graduate/professional students, and faculty.

• Librarians tend to agree that Summon is a more

appropriate resource for undergraduate research,

particularly in first-year courses. Summon was often

referred to as “a good starting point.”

• For more advanced research, Summon is generally

thought to be a “complimentary” or “supplementary”

tool and is taught in conjunction with other resources

like databases or the catalog. The major exception to

this is inter-disciplinary research or subjects where the

database offerings are not very good.

Describing Summon

• Most librarians describe Summon to students by

explaining what it searches. Sometimes this may

include a discussion of what it doesn’t cover, but not

always.

• 3 of the 8 librarians interviewed choose to not explain

Summon at all. As one librarian put it, “We [librarians]

care a lot more about what Summon is searching than

they [students] do.”

• Some librarians still use outdated “library-jargon” like

“database” and “index” to describe Summon. One

librarian referred to Summon as a “search engine,”

believing that students may relate to this term better.

Library

E-Content Summon

Library

Databases

& Journals

Catalog

Facets

Narrowing

Your Search

Topic

Generating

Keywords

Boolean

Searching