Yesterday EBSCO Information Services announced the launch of a new service to libraries called Panorama, “a modern library analytics platform combining different library and campus data sets to enable insights from a streamlined platform. Panorama offers visualization tools and a central dashboard to collect, manipulate and display data to help the library demonstrate its impact and make informed collection decisions.” 

For some time now the Missouri State University Libraries has been one of several academic libraries serving as beta partners in the development of this new service. In fact, earlier yesterday the members of the Porfolio Managers Team at the MSU Libraries — Brooks Travis, Lindsey Taggart, Holly Kouns, Rachel Besara, and Tom Peters — were meeting with EBSCO’s worldwide development team to discuss the launch of the service and MSU’s configuration of Panorama. 

Based on the press release, “Panorama’s features include a self-service platform for data discovery, default and custom visual dashboards and customizable data sources. These features were created to help libraries demonstrate their value to the academic institution, support new programs and make informed decisions for library spending while developing the most effective collections for their patrons.”

The use of Panorama by the MSU Libraries aligns with one of the guiding principles of our current five-year plan:

• Become more Data-Informed. “The MSU Libraries will strive to use data to inform our decision-making and assessment activities in order to optimally deploy our scarce resources and assets.”