COAST 2.0 Beta Test - It's Encore
Campus Community Update #233
March 9, 2009COAST 2.0 Beta Test - It's Encore
The term "Web 2.0" describes the changing trends in the use of web technology and design that enhance, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 has come to COAST! The Library is introducing a new, state-of-the-art COAST 2.0 search technology that will make finding what the library has to offer easier and more engaging than ever before. The new web-based search engine, commercially called Encore, will reveal content like media and e-books, suggestions of recently added or popular items, (tags or reviews added by library users,) faceted search results for easily modifying queries, and direct links to our LINK+ partner collections.
COAST 2.0 will return items that are clearly listed by relevance and can be effortlessly expanded or refined according to publication date, collection, language, or subject as presented in a Tag Cloud. The Tag Cloud, which is found on websites like the Flickr photo-sharing service, helps users by presenting a grouping of words related to their searches that they can click on to launch new queries.
According to Roman Kochan, Dean of Library Services, "COAST 2.0 provides highly sophisticated search results presented in a very simple way. We think everyone will find it extremely useful, whether you're an undergraduate searching for information for a paper or a graduate student looking for in-depth research materials."
Dean Kochan continues, "Now, for the first time, our users can easily move beyond the classic COAST online library catalog to a richer online discovery experience. You can get results that are expert without having to be an advanced user of COAST."
The Encore discovery services platform was developed by Innovative Interfaces, a California library technology company that serves over 4500 public and academic libraries around the world. The CSULB Library has used Innovative Interfaces products for over twenty years; the classic COAST was developed by Innovative, as is the platform through which our LINK+ partners operate.
About Innovative Interfaces:
For over 25 years, Innovative Interfaces (http://www.iii.com) has dedicated its energies to meeting the needs of libraries and the challenges of library automation. The company has fulfilled this mission with first-rate services and products such as the Millennium integrated library platform, the INN-Reach direct consortia borrowing solution, Electronic Resource Management, and the Encore discovery services platform. Today, thousands of libraries of all types in over 40 countries rely on Innovative's products, services, and support. The company is located in Emeryville, California with offices around the world. For more on Encore see: www.encoreforlibraries.com.
