Tracking down the problem: The development of a web-scale discovery troubleshooting workflow

Abstract

Web-scale discovery services are powerful tools for facilitating access to an institution’s online holdings at the article level. However, the functionality of any given results link in a web-scale discovery search is dependent on multiple factors that are not always apparent to end users. The complexity involved in the troubleshooting process led the University of North Texas Libraries to embed a broken link report button in its search results and build a new troubleshooting workflow around this feature. This article summarizes the steps taken, the troubleshooting methodology developed, and the trends discovered in types of errors reported.