Improving E-Book Access via a Library Developed Full-Text Search Tool Jill E. Foust, MLS Phillip Bergen, MA, MS Gretchen L. Maxeiner, MA, MS Health Sciences Library System University of Pittsburgh Peter N. Pawlowski, BS, BA Vivisimo, Inc.

Purpose To allow the searching of electronic books across providers at the full-text level

What is Federated Searching? Allows users to search for documents from different resources simultaneously Allows users to search for documents from different resources simultaneously Both publicly available and subscription resources Both publicly available and subscription resources First generation First generation

Advantages of Federated Searching Simple search interface Simple search interface Good for basic searching Good for basic searching Retrieves a few relevant articles, not necessarily the “right” article Retrieves a few relevant articles, not necessarily the “right” article

Disadvantages of Federated Searching No advanced search commands No advanced search commands Limited detection of duplicates Limited detection of duplicates Inadequate relevancy ranking Inadequate relevancy ranking Updating and management of multiple Updating and management of multiple licensed sources

Why Electronic Books? Electronic books collections under-used Electronic books collections under-used Hospitals lack physical libraries Hospitals lack physical libraries Federated searching Federated searching Possible to miss valuable information Possible to miss valuable information

Vivísimo

Vivísimo Results Screen

Electronic Book Search Developed by librarians Developed by librarians Requires authorization to view full text Requires authorization to view full text XML (Extensible Markup Language) XML (Extensible Markup Language)

Vivísimo Software Tools Spider and search engine Spider and search engine Content Integrator Content Integrator Clustering Engine Clustering Engine Customizable user interface Customizable user interface

Current Collections Elsevier ScienceDirect Elsevier ScienceDirect MD Consult MD Consult STAT!Ref STAT!Ref Wiley InterScience Wiley InterScience

Electronic Book Search

Main Search Screen

Electronic Book Search Help

Electronic Book Titles

Titles by Provider

Electronic Books Search Results Screen

Results by Source

Limitations No advanced searching No advanced searching Limited number of results Limited number of results Clusters on titles on results page only Clusters on titles on results page only

Challenges Titles in some collections must be Titles in some collections must be programmed separately Ongoing maintenance Ongoing maintenance Licensing issues Licensing issues

Evaluation Initial testing by librarians was favorable Initial testing by librarians was favorable User search log analysis over first six week period User search log analysis over first six week period 318 total searches 318 total searches 85% legitimate searches 85% legitimate searches Unsuitable searches Unsuitable searches 28% searched on Clustered Results 28% searched on Clustered Results 20% viewed Help 20% viewed Help

Conclusion Facilitate and increase use of electronic Facilitate and increase use of electronic book collections Unique project Unique project Easy to use Easy to use

Future Better search capabilities Better search capabilities Possibly adding more electronic Possibly adding more electronic book collections