FIS 1325 Online Information Retrieval

Federated Searching

Erik BreaFebruary 26, 27, 28, 2008

What Is Federated Searching?

Searches across multiple databases across various disciplines

“One-stop shopping” approach Attempt to make searches faster,

easier and more comprehensive

Why Federated Searching? Large number of academic articles

published per year Need for libraries to “Google-ize”

their resources to make them easily accessible

Increase ease-of-use for students Migration of most academic

material from print to electronic format

Federated Search Providers

CSA Illumina (Scholar’s Portal) EBSCO ProQuest

SFX and Federated Searching

The “link” between searches and library holdings

Acts as a means for students to check if an article is available, and in what format

Presents value-added content, such as links to citation software, Ulrich periodical directory, and linking to Blackboard

SFX Features at U of T

SFX Features at U of T

Federated Searching Advantages

Can search across various disciplines at one time using one interface (“Google approach”)

Opens up resources that students may otherwise overlook, such as articles in a discipline outside their field of study

Makes students more aware of the resources available at a particular university via SFX

Federated Searching Disadvantages

Absence of unified search terms, thesauri and vocabulary

Lack of precision as searches encompass various disciplines

Many results may be irrelevant to users, thus wasting time and effort and discouraging further searching

Useful for general, “shallow” searches but not for more in-depth searches in a given area

Problems with stable URLs and availability for articles from different providers

Federated Searching

Hands-on example: attempt a search using a generic term, such as “development”

Terms can mean many different things in different disciplines

Federated Searching: what’s next

U of T to roll out Endeca, which takes federated searching further

Will give users the ability to search article indexes and catalogue holdings simultaneously

Federated Searching: the debate Does federated searching save time and

effort in searching? Does it meet user needs by being a “one-

stop” search? OR

Does it over-simplify the process? Is federated searching limited because of

the lack of thesauri and common search terms?

Does it lead to “good-enough” results, and not the best results?