2. Metasearching: The Problem, Promise, Principles, Possibilities & Perils Roy Tennant California Digital Library

3. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Purpose To provide an overview, to set the stage To help you begin thinking both about the possibilities, as well as current issues and problems To hopefully leave you with the impression that despite the problems, its still very worth doing

4. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 The Problem Most users do not care where the information they need comes from, or who provides it…nor should they have to But our systems presently require them to know: –How to select one or more databases –How to get to them –How to use the unique search options for each How can we create systems that minimize what the user needs to know to get what they want?

5. Remote Catalogs Local Catalog Local Web Site Remote Web Sites Vendor Dbs Remote Digital Content Local Digital Content

6. Remote Catalogs Local Catalog Local Web Site Remote Web Sites Vendor Dbs Remote Digital Content Local Digital Content

7. Remote Catalogs Local Catalog Local Web Site Remote Web Sites Vendor Dbs Remote Digital Content Local Digital Content

8. Remote Catalogs Local Catalog Local Web Site Remote Web Sites Vendor Dbs Remote Digital Content Local Digital Content

9. Remote Catalogs Local Catalog Local Web Site Remote Web Sites Vendor Dbs Remote Digital Content Local Digital Content

12. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 The Promise The Holy Grail of resource discovery: one-stop shopping The simplification of a formerly complex activity (put the complexity in the back end, not the front) Allows the user to focus on evaluating results, not figuring out where to search

13. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Before we talk specifics… …lets start with some principles…

14. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Principles Only librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find

15. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Principles All things being equal, one place to search is better than two or more.

16. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Principles Good enough is often just that.

17. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Principles Our ability to create effective one-stop searching is dependent on our ability to appropriately target user needs.

18. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Principles The size of the result set doesnt matter as much as how the results are presented.

19. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Principles Services should be placed as close to the user as possible.

20. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Possibilities: Software Solutions Special metasearching software optimized for: –Creating and managing target and resource profiles –Managing authorization and authentication –Parsing search strings and result sets –Merging, deduping, and ranking results Stand-alone or integrated with an ILS Many vendors (although a number are based on the same underlying software)

21. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Possibilities: Implementation Scenarios One search box for all resources (only for small libraries w/few targets) An interface that encourages/requires the user to select a subject or task group of DBs Tailored portals for particular needs and user communities or purposes (e.g., a few good things) Search boxes in other systems (e.g., courseware)

22. Slide from Greg Van Essen, Endeavor

23. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Perils Software Provider Concerns Database Provider Concerns Library Concerns User Concerns Note: the following lists are not comprehensive, but illustrative

24. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Software Provider Concerns Access management Search mapping Unreliability of targets Systems that dont support an API (that must be screen-scraped) Inadequate result data for good: –Deduping –Ranking

25. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Database Provider Concerns Access control (robust authentication and authorization) Load Inappropriate searches (searching databases that dont apply) Branding and unfair deduping

28. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Library Concerns Selecting the right system Cost (both upfront and ongoing) System design and implementation System maintenance –Ability to add new resources/targets –Ease of interface changes –Ease of upgrades

29. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 User Concerns What must I go through before hitting the search button? How difficult is it to review results? Are results ranked by relevance? (that will be my assumption) Will I get buried? (too many sources, too many results?) Do I have methods to easily focus in on what I want? Once I find what I want, can I get to the full-text with a click? Can I copy a citation and put it in my paper?

30. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Possible Futures More standards for this type of interaction (i.e., support NISOs efforts) Effective results ranking Learning from other systems (e.g., RedLightGreen.coms citation displays) Dynamic selection of sources based on user query

31. NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003 Recap One-stop shopping for resource discovery is the Holy Grail of librarianship Metasearch services offer the best opportunity weve yet seen to attain this goal It aint perfect, but its well worth pursuing If we can present solid resources next to Google hits and win back our users in the process whats not to like?