Discover It! performs a comprehensive search across catalogs, databases, and other electronic resources to gather the most relevant results for your patrons. Contact us about adding a search box to your library's website (see contact link below).
From the search box, after entering a search term, your screen will look similar to this, with one center panel and two side panels:
Center panel
This is your results list. Discover It! is configured to display the results most relevant to your location, as set within your library's profile. If you belong to the Montana Shared Catalog, then MSC item records will usually display at the top. If you are a non-MSC library, then your library's results will usually appear first. You may select "Retrieve catalog item" for items displaying from your library. For items from other libraries, an interlibrary loan request form will display on the item record.
Add to your folder
As you search, you can choose to save your search and compile handpicked results for later review and export by selecting "Add to folder."
You must have an EBSCO account (which is separate from your library account) to share your folder with others, save and retrieve your search history, and create email alerts that notify you if a new title becomes available that is relevant to your saved search. You can click on "Sign in" in the upper right corner to sign up for an EBSCO account.
Relevance
Your search results are set by default to have the best matches to your query appear first ("Relevance"). Selecting the "Relevance" button in the center panel taskbar will open a drop-down box with additional options to sort your results by most recent publications ("Date Descending," – results will be listed in reverse chronological order) or by oldest listed publications ("Date Ascending," – results will be listed in chronological order).
Page Options
You can change the way item records display in your search results by selecting different options in the "Page Options" drop-down box:
1. "Result format" gives various options for how much information is displayed along with the title in the item record.
a. "Standard" provides the title, author, publisher, date of publication, physical dimensions, language, and database (or catalog) from which the record was pulled, as well as an abstract or summary of the content.
b. "Title only" provides the title, author, and database (or catalog) from which the record was pulled.
c. "Brief" provides the title, author, publisher, date of publication, physical dimensions, language, and database (or catalog) from which the record was pulled.
d. "Detailed" provides the title, author, publisher, date of publication, physical dimensions, language, and database (or catalog) from which the record was pulled, as well as an abstract or summary of the content.
Alert/Save/Share
This drop-down box gives you the option of adding search results or search phrases to a folder for later use. You can also create an "email alert" or RSS feed to notify you if new results become available for your saved search. The permalink URL can be copied and saved or pasted elsewhere to duplicate your search. Below the permalink there are several icons for social media sites and external bookmarking tools where you can export and save your search.
Left column
Results box
By expanding the results box you can view the search terms and also the limiters used in your search. A search in Discover It! typically yields a high list of results, even with these default limiters in place. Selecting additional limiters, as described below, will help narrow your search results further.
Refine your results
This box will give you some options to narrow your search to item records that are either linked to full text documents (instead of abstracts), peer reviewed journal titles, or Montana Memory Project materials. You can also use the sliding bar to narrow the publication time frame within your search. "Show more" will open the Advanced Search box, with more limiter options such as image type (photograph, diagram, map, etc), language, and digital collection.
Source types, subject, publisher, publication, language, geography, location, collection, and content provider boxes
You can limit your search to one or more selected types within each of these categories. "Show more" will open a box displaying all source type options, as well as the option to sort the list by name or by hit count.
Right column
Additional Resources
Individual library subscriptions, such as MontanaLibrary2Go, Ancestry, and other databases, can be added to the Discover It! search via connector. These add-ons can be found under "Additional Resources."
News
This box displays recent syndicated newspaper articles relevant to your search. Select "Find more" to view additional news results.
Related Images
This box displays images from the Image Collection database that are relevant to terms included in your search. Select "Find more" to view additional images results.
Related Historical Images
This box displays images from the World History Image Collection that are relevant to terms included in your search. Select "Find more" to view additional historical images results.
Related Videos
This box displays videos from the Video Encyclopedia of the 20th Century that are relevant to terms included in your search. Hover over the video thumbnail for a summary of the clip (as shown above). Select "Find more" to view additional video results.
Advanced Search
The "Advanced Search" option below the search box will display additional options such as limiting by image type (photograph, diagram, map, etc), language, and digital collection, or by expanding the scope of search terms and search fields.
Additional information about Discover It! can be found on these pages:
Please contact Cara Orban for further details or for assistance in adding your instance of Discover It! to your library's website.