The member communities of ELUNA (http://el-una.org/) and IGeLU (http://igelu.org/) have been working with Ex Libris to analyse and address challenges to the best use of the Central Discovery Index (CDI). The CDI Advisory Group was struck and started meeting in June composed of members of the joint IGeLU and ELUNA Content Working Group (CWG), representatives from the Alma, Primo, Summon/360, SFX, Aleph and Voyager communities from North America, Europe, Australia and South America, along with senior product leaders from Ex Libris, a Part of Clarivate.
“The CWG produced a comprehensive listing and description of specific areas where customers have been experiencing problems with the aggregated content in CDI and we’re teaming up with Ex Libris to examine these together, get feedback from Ex Libris on which can be technically addressed, and also plan a process and roadmap for CDI enhancement,” explained ELUNA Steering Committee member, Pascal Calarco (University of Windsor, Canada), who is co-Chairing the group with IGeLU Steering Committee member Maribel Alvadaro Acuna (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile).
“It’s fundamental that the CDI adequately represent the variety of content for which libraries invest large amounts of their budgets,” adds Charlie Remy (Dartmouth University, USA), who is ELUNA Chair for the joint CWG. “The Advisory Group and the enhancement process that we co-develop with Ex Libris can facilitate a more holistic perspective toward the CDI instead of how it’s historically been viewed within various product silos.”
The CDI Advisory Group is expected to work through June 2023 and produce several outputs: a report detailing which of the “pain points” can be addressed through process improvement or software enhancement, a roadmap to an agreed-upon enhancement process for CDI between Ex Libris and the user communities, and the work also serves an Ex Libris internal effort towards Data Excellence. The documents that initiated the CDI Advisory Group are available in ELUNA’s document repository (authentication required; ask your ELUNA member representative). http://documents.el-una.org/2096/