RMU Library is excited to be participating in a trial of EDS, a new Discovery Service, powered by EBSCOhost. This Discovery Service allows users to search a major portion of RMU Library resources from a single search box.

What does the Discovery Service include?
The Discovery Service includes EBSCO databases but also covers full-text journals and other periodicals from many publishers that are in non-EBSCO databases, including these popular databases:
-Credo
-Emerald
-JSTOR
-Project Muse
-ProQuest Central
-SAGE

What types of resources are not currently included in RMU Library’s Discovery Service?
-BNA
-Cabell’s
-Datamonitor
-Faulkner Advisory for IT Studies
-Global Road Warrior
-HaPI
-Issues & Controveries
-Local Market Audience Analyst (SRDS)
-SBRNet
-STAT!Ref
-Westlaw

What is different about using this Discovery tool and searching all EBSCO databases?
The Discover Service includes full-text journals and other periodicals from many publishers that are in non-EBSCO databases.

The Discovery Service also includes records for books, media, etc., through inclusion of ROBCAT.
Lastly, the Discovery Service is intended to be a very broad search, so you should notice quite a large number of results for your searches because it defaults to searching through the full-text of articles for the keywords you enter, and searches for alternate word endings. Of course, you can always refine your search by checking and unchecking various search parameters, (peer-reviewed materials, all articles vs. only articles in full-text for RMU users, all publication dates vs. only items published within the last year, etc.).

What is different about using this Discovery tool and searching Google Scholar?
Essentially, Google Scholar is not as customizable, so a search in Google Scholar (when selecting “Robert Morris University Library” under Library Links in Preferences) includes more non-scholarly content and may also lead to more “dead ends” because of the lack of specificity in the dates of coverage for subscribed periodicals.