Tracy L. Thompson Executive Director NELLCO

Next Generation Discovery An Alternative to Traditional Federated Searching

Universal Search Solution Goal Build, in a collaborative environment, a one-box search application that will allow legal researchers to find relevant content (as defined by collection development standards), both print and electronic, with a single search query and without reference to the OPAC or A-Z list as starting points.

Federated Search and NELLCO 2004 Reference Interest Group – BU Why do our users need federated search? –Our users go to Westlaw, Lexis and Google (the ‘anchors’)

The Information ‘Mall’

Federated Search and NELLCO 2004 Reference Interest Group – BU Why do our users need federated search? –Our users go to Westlaw, Lexis and Google (the ‘anchors’) –Miss out on ‘boutique’ resources Current discovery (out)mode is through OPACs and A-Z lists –We need to steer researchers to relevant resources Enhance scholarship Justify budgets

Fed Search Paradigm Real-time search across multiple databases User enters search string Search is broadcast to ALL associated databases, regardless of content Search string is translated into native search language Search results are delivered as they are retrieved

Federated Search

Problems with the Paradigm Excessive/unnecessary vendor server traffic – scattershot approach Search may not translate as expected Difficulty ranking – first-in-time delivery Difficulty de-duping Skewed usage statistics

An Alternative Approach FPLC committee began exploring enterprise search technology –Developed for fortune 500 companies –Intended for searching proprietary content –Examples Google’s GSA Thunderstone’s Enterprise Search Appliance Vivisimo Endeca

Enterprise Search Paradigm Host creates local index of content Searcher enters search string Search is run against the index Search results are displayed Results link to content, not index

Enterprise Search Index Resource A Resource B Resource C

The Vision Enterprise search applied across ALL electronic content sources –OPAC –Third-party (paid) resources –Free web –Internal datasets Keep the librarian involved in collection development/selection Harness NELLCO’s leverage/vendor relationships?

Publisher Benefits? More relevant exposure for their content Reduced server traffic Representative usage stats

Money 2007 – Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant - $374k 1 to 1 matching required 2 year grant period - 12/07-11/09 Project

Technical Expertise Open source solution Development Partner – IndexData – Danish-based library solution developer

Human Resources Project Coordinator – Carl Grant NELLCO ED and Admin. Assist. Project Committee – –Chaired by Roberta Woods (FPLC) –Members appointed by Directors –10% time commitment over two years –5 members represent library types Grad. intern from Syracuse Participating member libraries Participating vendor/publishers

The Plan Secure vendor and member commitments Develop best practices – cookbooks Develop interfaces –one box GUI (but advanced search will be supported) –Admin. interfaces –Design by committee

The Plan Develop authentication scheme –Two layers Authenticate the user to the index (NELLCO) –Identifies user for correct resource ‘menu’ Authenticate the user to the resource (Vendor or library) –Identifies user as authorized user of content

The Plan Build the index – OAI-PMH protocol –OPACs –Local content –Free web resources vetted by members –Subscription/fee-based resources 20 vendors during proof of concept phase 5 currently committed Commitments required by 4/1/08

The Plan Launch beta by end of 08 Evaluate Troubleshoot and modify Evaluate Grant period ends 11/09 Proof of concept = sustainability?

Thank you! Questions?