Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Compare the market
The success of the new breed of 'web discovery services' will be seen
over the next five to ten years; however, the fact that three of the major
players have all thrown their hats into the ring shows that they must
believe there is significant benefit in developing such systems. It will be
up to libraries to gauge whether the benefits of harvested search
outweigh those of federated search (Lederman, 2008).
Libraries will need to plan their e-resources strategies accordingly,
before assessing this new market, by developing a plan to see where
they want to be in five years' time and mapping out the journey for how
they want to get there. Libraries need to prioritize which of the benefits
of harvested/federated search are most important:
a first-class search engine for your users
increased user satisfaction
increased usage
a single interface
'one-stop shop' approach
improved system management (interoperability and flexibility)
mix and match
future-proofing
improved system management (management and administration)
less duplication of effort/more efficiencies
better control of subscriptions
improved value for money
within existing budget.
The order of these priorities should influence the terms of reference and
will therefore assist in weighting any evaluation of products and services
(Laurisden and Stone, 2009).
With neither solution, as yet, providing a search of all A&I content,
a switch from federated to harvested search may, in reality, mean a
switch from one set of incomplete resources to another. However, in the
long run, users will choose the method of resource discovery that they
prefer.
