Southeastern News Online May, 2004 Vol. 2  No. 1

Federated Searching Program

On April 26, 2004, the Technology Review & Advisory Committee (TRAC) of SENYLRC sponsored a three and half hour long program on Federated Searching at the Mid-Hudson Library System Auditorium. Federated searching is a cross-collection discovery technology that has been referred to as “broadcast,” “multi-protocol,” or “meta-” searching. The topic certainly generated interest and we had over seventy people attend the program. Vassar College sent ten people and two people from Serials Solutions came all the way from Seattle. We were pleased to have forty six people attend from academic libraries and twenty five people attend from out of the region.

According to the first speaker, Judy Luther, “... Metasearching could be a way to meet the expectations and needs of ‘the Google generation.’ This software allows the user to enter keywords in a simple interface and retrieve articles from multiple full-text and bibliographic databases simultaneously” (Library Journal, 10/1/2003). Judy introduced the technology and set the stage for the rest of the morning’s speakers. Judy also explained to the audience the shift in attitudes of younger library users and what technology they expect from libraries and search engines.

Judy Luther	Cathy Carl and John McGinty

John McGinty, Director (former Library Director, Marist College) and Charles Lockwood, the Digital Librarian at the Loyola Notre Dame College Library, in Maryland gave an overview of their implementation of the Endeavor product called ENCompass for Research Access. Both John and Charles expressed the importance of having this technology at their library in order to search proprietary databases via Z39.50, HTTP, and XML; local digitized collections; other library catalogs; and web sites.

Athena Nazario, Electronic Resources/Instruction Librarian at the Sojourner Truth Library, State University of New York at New Paltz gave an overview of their implementation of the Ex Libris product called MetaLib. Athena described the process of setting up the MetaLib system, the timeline at SUNY New Paltz, and explained how they introduce this service to students through instruction classes.

Frederick Fishel, Applications Development Manager, Information Technology & Systems and
Malabika Das, Supervisor of On-line Services/Information from the Queens Borough Public Library gave an overview of their implementation of WebFeat. Fred and Malabika were able to implement WebFeat in a very short timeframe, thanks to the ease of the product and the service that they received.

Frederick Fishel	Malabika Das

Wayne Hay, IT Manager at the Westchester Library System described their implementation of MuseGlobal at his library system and the customization and functionality of the MuseGlobal system.

Katy Silberger, Head of Automation Services, at Marist College explained how they use Z39.50 through the library’s Voyager system to search licensed databases. The goal for their project was to understand the potential and limitations of Z39.50 connections in order to assist the library staff at Marist College in making informed decisions concerning federated search products. All of the speakers did a wonderful job describing their projects in the short amount of time allotted to them. The morning went by quickly and many people stayed around to discuss the program, more about federated searching and other issues. The goal of the program was definitely achieved – a audience that is more informed about the issues associated with implementing federated searching. The cost of the program was paid for by SENYLRC’s Regional Automation (RBDB) funds along with a generous donation by Endeavor Information Systems, Inc.

Katy Silberger

By Tessa Killian, Member Services Librarian

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