Meta Search in Distributed Electronic Resources : A Study

Abstract

The explosion of information on the Internet and information technology in general has created challenges for libraries to focus on developing more effective ways to meet the information needs of users. One practical approach is through customized portals performing simultaneous database searching. This paper presents a new library portal service used at the Indian Statistical Institute Library at Bangalore (ISIB). The key feature of a library portal is to allow searching across multiple databases without having repeat search. This feature is generally referred to as meta-search, parallel search, broadcast search or federated search. Discussion also includes strategies of local customization and the impact on library management in an electronic environment.