Groxis, a leading producer of visual search applications and developer of the Grokker Enterprise Search Management platform, and EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) today announced that they have teamed to deliver an innovative visual search feature as part of EBSCOhost®, the renowned database platform for corporations, hospitals, schools, government agencies, universities, libraries and other institutions worldwide. Through this partnership, EBSCO becomes the first major content aggregator to implement visualization technology into the aggregated database search experience.

Visual Search
As the world’s premier provider of nearly 200 research databases, EBSCO serves tens of thousands of institutions representing millions of end users — each with individual needs. With Grokker visual search fully integrated into the company's content delivery service, EBSCO provides a powerful complement to the basic and advanced search functions of EBSCOhost, to meet the growing demands of today's information seekers.

The Grokker visual search feature on EBSCOhost organizes hundreds of search results from a single query into an intuitive, easy to navigate content map. The user can then dynamically filter results by keyword, publication date and full text, to pinpoint specific articles and records without having to reframe the query.

“The implementation of our visual search technology at EBSCO is extremely gratifying,” said R.J. Pittman, president and CEO of Groxis. “EBSCO is a leader in the content publishing industry, and this partnership enables millions of users to immediately leverage the power of visual search with the highest quality content in the industry. The partnership demonstrates a huge market advantage in meeting the expectations of today’s Web2.0 world. More and more of today’s researchers have been born digital and their needs go well beyond traditional search, and together with EBSCO we're meeting that need today.”

“EBSCOhost visual search will allow researchers to explore their search results through an easy-to-use, graphical information interface,” said Michael Gorrell, senior vice president and chief information officer for EBSCO Publishing. “This new feature will allow them to see pertinent relationships and dimensions of their results that they wouldn't normally be able to see. It will save them time reading and exploring text, and take them well beyond first page of results. The outcome will be an experience that makes for quicker, more actionable research — regardless of fields of study. EBSCO is excited about this partnership with Groxis and the value that visual search will bring to our customers.”

Usability is Key to EBSCOhost’s Popularity
For more than sixty years, EBSCO has earned a reputation for improving the delivery of quality information to researchers. EBSCO continues to develop robust, customizable options that maximize success in searching and optimize the research experience. Visual search extends EBSCO’s commitment to innovation and to the user experience. Visual search is offered to all EBSCO database subscribers at no additional cost. Both companies will work together to deliver ongoing enhancements to the visual search experience on EBSCOhost.

“Visual search adds another user-friendly tool to the EBSCO toolbox. By offering this new approach to online research, EBSCOhost can accommodate more learning styles and offers students new ways to think about research topics,” said Jody Fagan, Digital Services library at James Madison University. “Visual search is an answer to the challenge of getting students to go beyond the 'top ten' habit that is instilled by internet searches, and really expose the depth and quality that is present in EBSCO’s offerings.”

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is part of the EBSCO Information Services group. EBSCO Information Services provides libraries and research centers with online and print journal subscription services, e-resource access and management services, full-text and secondary database development and access, an OpenURL-compliant link resolver, online book purchasing and related information services. EBSCO maintains a title database of more than 300,000 title listings and upholds relationships with more than 78,000 publishers around the world. EBSCO’s 32 Regional Offices worldwide are staffed with personnel who speak the local language and understand the particular challenges faced by librarians in their areas, offering a uniquely personal level of service. Specialized divisions serve academic, biomedical, government, public, school and special libraries as well as corporations. For more information, visit www.ebsco.com.

About Groxis
Groxis is a pioneer in visual search technology and the creator of the patented Graphical Information Interface (GII). Groxis develops and markets a web-based content access and visual search platform based on the GII called Grokker™. Corporations, universities, and content publishers are using Grokker to improve the way people explore, organize, and share digital information. Grokker ties together library catalogs, corporate databases, subscription content, and search engines in a visual user interface that yields increased productivity through more efficient research and collaboration. A privately held company backed by leading venture investors, Groxis is based in San Francisco's financial district. For more information, please visit http://www.grokker.com.