Summon Library Discovery Layer
Summon library discovery solution – connecting patrons to academic content and enables your patrons to uncover a wealth of academic content through a simple, user-friendly interface. Carefully designed to meet both patrons’ and librarians’ needs, Summon improves the discovery of your library’s collection and institutional resources.
Libraries can leverage robust capabilities through an out-of-the-box interface or an API and benefit from flexible customization options and easy-to-use administration tools.
Summon
Enhancing Patron Engagement and Intuitive Discovery with Summon Research Assistant
A generative AI-powered library discovery solution enables and engages patrons better, empowering them to intuitively search, explore, and take maximum advantage of trusted library materials.
Based on a RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) architecture and grounded in the extensive Ex Libris CDI (Central Discovery Index), Summon Research Assistant provides a starting point to users for their research, including source referencing, and appropriate attribution for the authors.
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Multi-Layered Delivery Strategy
Summon library discovery interface has multiple pathways for connecting users to content. Quicklinks offer one-click, direct access to over a billion resources, and OpenURL is a reliable standard. Summon is provider-neutral, but you may prioritize content sources as needed.
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Summon
Enhancing Patron Engagement and Intuitive Discovery with Summon Research Assistant
A generative AI-powered library discovery solution enables and engages patrons better, empowering them to intuitively search, explore, and take maximum advantage of trusted library materials.
Based on a RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) architecture and grounded in the extensive Ex Libris CDI (Central Discovery Index), Summon Research Assistant provides a starting point to users for their research, including source referencing, and appropriate attribution for the authors.
Multi-Layered Delivery Strategy
Summon library discovery interface has multiple pathways for connecting users to content. Quicklinks offer one-click, direct access to over a billion resources, and OpenURL is a reliable standard. Summon is provider-neutral, but you may prioritize content sources as needed.
Our team of experts looks forward to hearing from you
We play nice with
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Records in the Central Discovery Index (CDI)
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Searches weekly
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Content neutral
Ex Libris Webinars
12 May 2026
Upcoming
Smarter Resource Sharing. Faster Access.
Library users expect quick, easy access to the resources they need, no matter where those materials come from. For library staff, meeting those expectations often means juggling ti...
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Wednesday, Nov 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM GTM -5
Upcoming
Effective email marketing strategies for libraries
From onboarding new users or patrons to developing content that reflects your library voice and mission, you’ll learn how to craft email strategies that drive engagement, build tru...
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On demand
Understanding the Ex Libris Knowledgebase Ecosystem and unve...
This 60-minute webinar provides a sneak peek into two enhancements scheduled for release in the 2nd half of 2026:
1. The "Ingestion Information" Panel: We are introducing a new de...
On demand
Provider Relations 2025 roadmap: Enhancing Content Provider ...
Learn about Ex Libris' Provider Relations key initiatives for enhancing collaboration with content providers in 2025.
On demand
Unveiling the New Ex Libris Provider Platform – A Webi...
See how Ex Libris customers are using Alma to activate your resources from the Community Zone and learn about the Provider Platform which will allow you, as a provider, to see you...
On demand
Unveiling Supply Chain workflows, the new “Manifest” initiat...
Dive deep into three key areas that impact the content journey: supply chain, expedited new collection processing, and provider feedback. Gain insights into the supply chain workfl...
On demand
Getting the Most Out of Customer Care – Ex Libris Prod...
Join our Customer Care Webinar for a practical, behind-the-scenes look at how Clarivate Customer Care supports you across products and regions.
On demand
Rialto Release Customer Education Session
A quarterly session taking Rialto users through some of the most significant updates in the monthly product releases. Watch this overview of release highlights and demonstration of...
Physical Holdings retention in Alma (2026 Roadmap Webinar Se...
Alma will support retention of the holdings record, in addition to the existing retention of physical items and bibliographic records.
The Linked Open Data Editor for BIBFRAME (2026 Roadmap Webin...
Using the new Linked Open Data Editor for BIBFRAME Librarians will be able to create BIBFRAME records (work and instance) in a new editor.
A test webinar which will be removed shortly (2026 Roadmap ...
I am a description being used to see if ling text will appear and if so how long the text can be. I am therefore making text which is longer than we have used in the past. Let's ...
AI based tools in Primo VE NDE (2026 Roadmap Webinar Series)
The Primo Research Assistant and the Natural Language Search ("Ask Anything") are AI based tools in Primo VE NDE.
Customized Repository Search Bibliographic Indexes (2026 Roa...
With this development each institution can customize bibliographic indexes to include those field(s) which are desired by the institution.
The new “Relative Date Index” in Alma (2026 Road...
A new index allowing for the staff user to search entities via an "X days ago" relative date index has already been added (Nov. 2025) to the various 'Titles" searches.
On demand
Academic AI in Action: Enhancing Library Services with Alma
In this session, experts from Ex Libris’ Alma share how the close-knit Alma user community is helping shape the future of libraries through collaboration and shared innovation. Par...
On demand
Rialto Release Customer Education Session – December 2...
The webinar focused on recent updates and enhancements to metadata, visibility features, search functionalities, and future improvements in the system's ordering and fulfillment pr...
On demand
What’s New with Summon 2025
What’s New with Summon 2025
On demand
CDI: Behind the Search Box
Join Lieve Rottiers, Product Owner for Primo, and David Hanegbi, Senior Manager at Content Operations, for a practical session designed to help you better understand how CDI works ...
On demand
What’s New in Primo – Q1 2026
Watch this live webinar to get caught up on recent and upcoming developments of Primo and Primo VE. Members of the Product Management team will recap the most recent release, highl...
Primo VE NDE configuration (Part of the 2025 Roadmap Webinar...
Please join us for this session in which we will demonstrate live the various configuration options for the Primo VE NDE.
We will look at configurations which do, as well as do no...
On demand
Maximize Your Partnership with Ex Libris: A Deep Dive into A...
This session provides a comprehensive overview of the Ex Libris auto-holdings integration, a powerful tool for automating the distribution of your electronic holdings to libraries ...
On demand
Primo Roadmap Webinar Jan 2026
An exclusive overview of the Primo Roadmap for 2026. Watch this webinar, where we highlight key initiatives, introduce exciting new developments, and share how these plans will con...
On demand
Make the Most of the New Search UX
The new search interface is full of new capabilities and ways to save time and effort come learn how to make the most of the new search.
On demand
Regional webinar – Middle East – Content Provide...
A Webinar dedicated to content providers based in Israel. The webinar provides an overview of Alma, Community Zone, CDI, and the Provider Platform.
On demand
NDE UI Onboarding in Practice
This webinar, conducted on February 2026, was designed for libraries preparing to onboard or currently onboarding to the NDE UI. It covered real onboarding scenarios from the field...
On demand
The Content Case Journey
See how your content cases move through our workflows and how we work together to deliver fast, high-quality results.
Ever wondered what happens after you open a content support...
On demand
Maximize Your Partnership with Ex Libris Upcoming Enhancemen...
This 60-minute webinar provides a sneak peek into two enhancements scheduled for release in the 2nd half of 2026:
1. The "Ingestion Information" Panel: We are introducing a new de...
On demand
Metadata Enrichment using AI - First Glance at Research and...
In this session, David Hanegbi (Senior Content Ingestion Manager) and Elizabeth York (University of Rutgers) will present the scope of the project, the challenges and insights from...
On demand
Data Excellence Updates
In this session, David Hanegbi (Senior Content Ingestion Manager) and Elizabeth York (University of Rutgers) will present the scope of the project, the challenges and insights from...
On demand
Mastering Metadata with CZMG: Navigating the Community Zone
Want to hear librarians’ perspectives and insights about Alma CZ? Join us in our next webinar, given by the Community Zone Management Group members
Our Services
All the Ex Libris consultants, trainers and experienced developers partner with you to tailor your solutions.
Cloud
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Our revolutionary cloud services deliver exceptional reliability and the highest levels of security and data privacy across all institutional data, systems and processes.
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Content
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Services
We continuously grow and innovate our content services to support discovery and provide easy access to relevant information, optimizing every aspect of the research and learning experience.
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Professional
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Our best-in-class professional services provided by our global teams ensure on-time and on-budget project implementation and we are with you every step of the way with on-going advice, training, and support.
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Support
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Services
We are committed to ensuring a high level of satisfaction among our customers. Our dedicated support services team attends to your specific configurations and needs on time, every time.
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FAQ
The Central Discovery Index (CDI) has 5.26 billion records of scholarly and academic resources of all kinds – journals, articles, books, videos, music, and more; local library catalogs and repositories, including electronic and print journals; Open Access content; commercial resources; and all ProQuest content. Our multi-tiered linking approach will connect your users with the content as easily and quickly as possible.
Summon is a standalone discovery solution that integrates with almost any ILS (that supports MARC21 or MARCXML) and provides an e-resources collection management system powered by the 360 Knowledgebase. Primo is tightly integrated with Alma to provide a full user experience including patron services.
Integrations with other Clarivate services – such as Web of Science, RefWorks, EndNote, Syndetics Unbound, etc. – are built-in. In addition, Summon utilizes LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) to integrate with library management systems like Canvas. The customizable interface accepts JavaScript and CSS to support bespoke integrations to local services as well.
We take seriously the responsibility to provide an accessible user experience for our community members. We do a yearly audit with the ProQuest User Experience team, publish the results and address issues that are uncovered. Details are here.
The collaboration between our team and yours is a close one to ensure you have the discovery environment you need. In addition, we want to move at a speed with which your team is comfortable. If you want to include your print collection records in Summon the process will take as little as 3 months; if you want an e-resources only solution the process can take considerably less time.
Yes! Summon has a vibrant, committed community that participates in everything from “How do I?” conversations to fleshing out requirements for new features. Collaboration takes place through channels such as the Product Working Groups, NERS and Idea Exchange, as well as through focus groups and ad-hoc discussions.