Google Search Appliance (GSA) & HIP Feasibility Review October 29, 2008

Why Are We Here? Authorization for Google Search Appliance/HIP Project. If authorized: Form project team Create formal project documentation Set aside money in budget Implement project

Improving the Catalog Interface May 2007 IT was asked to look for better search interface options. At that time, our current system lacked: An ability to search multiple databases at once Easy and effective tool to search databases and catalog, specifically: –No Spell Check –No Relevancy Ranking –Some found search process confusing

OPAC Interface Risks Better solution will appear later Current contract vendor may go out of business Patrons hate it Not enough documentation Won’t work with our next ILS Horizon data compromise search results Excessive staff time to customize interface (specifically building spell check) Next ILS OPAC better than OPAC interface

AquaBrowser Considered in end of 2007 Looked very cool but didn’t feel it met our objectives Decided to –Proceed with federated search –Hold on OPAC replacement –Continue to track OPAC improvement and options –Explore other enhancements that could improve the cusomer experience

Other Interfaces Encore Primo Enterprise

GSA Project History Spring of Contracted with LTech to explore feasibility of using the Google Search Appliance (GSA) with HIP Exported our catalog records which LTech manipulated in order to input into the GSA Focused mainly on concept, haven’t spent much time on interface

Overview of GSA Designed to be a HIP add-on, NOT a replacement. Designed for basic user. Expect more advanced users will still use HIP. Sunk costs $4000 Estimated Total Project Cost $40,000 (includes sunk costs, hardware, additional software consulting time)

GSA Testing Performed 814 “real patron” searches GSAHIP “Better Results25636 No Results Of 814 searches, 109 were misspelled. The GSA suggested correct spelling alternatives 71 times.

Decision Factors Ease of Use Spell Checking Feature Quality of Results/Relevancy Ranking Cutting-edge Promotion Staff time to manage ILS Neutral Cost Ease of interface enhancements Availability of vendor support Vendor search marketshare Patron Response

Questions about GSA & HIP?

Rating the GSA

Decision Time Should we authorize a GSA/HIP project?