New developments

As part of the ongoing development of the Library Hub Discover service we have released a new Advanced search screen – at the moment this is accessible by choosing the ‘more search options’ link under the search box on the Search screen. There are still changes to make, but we would like your input whilst the work is ongoing.

• The Advanced search screen includes a wide range of search options, allowing you to build precise searches.
• It includes a map scale search which supports range searching eg. 63000-64000, to cater for the variations in the way some scales are represented in the records. We are continuing to try and identify the diversity of map scale types and standardise these for searching.
• You can limit your search results using a number of options as on Copac, but the selection process should now be easier. For example, to limit your search to a couple of local libraries you can select these libraries from the list and they will appear in the box on the right to show you what has been selected, making it easier for you to work with the increasing number of libraries whose catalogues are included.
• There is also a new region search option to allow you to limit your search just to libraries within your region.
• We have added an export option, which has the same range of export formats as Copac. The export is now available on the holdings display as well as the full record display. It will be included in the search result list in due course.

Please let us know if you have any comments on the new search and export options. You can use the feedback link at the end of each Library Hub Discover screen.

Action needed

There will be no login option in the new Library Hub Discover service, as there is in Copac. If you currently login to Copac and you wish to retain the records in ‘My References‘ you must ensure that you export these records before the end of July. Your ‘My References’ list will not be available after that date.

The Copac login gets very little use and will not be provided in Discover. We will be replacing the ‘Search History’ facility in future with a History function that is available to all service users, not just those able to login. However, the widespread use of freely available personal reference management software means there is limited value in a ‘My References’ function in its current form and there will be no equivalent in Library Hub Discover. This means that if you are one of the few people currently using the Copac ‘My References’ facility, you need to export your references before the service is replaced at the end of July. From that date you will not be able to recover any references that you haven’t exported, other than by searching the new service to identify and export them. With apologies for anyone this change may inconvenience.