Searching Online Resources in New Discovery Environment: A State- of-the-Art Review

Abstract

The universe of libraries has evolved and expanded from repository of books, journals and other non-print materials in physical format to knowledge repositories that contain collections in physical as well as electronic and multimedia format. With this changing environment of collection of library resources, the greatest challenge in front of libraries is to find out the best way to present, promote and make accessible the growing collections of heterogeneous resources. Libraries are required to look for search and discovering tools to provide seamless access to their resources. This article introduces basic philosophy of federated search and discovery tools. It elaborates on technological tools, techniques and protocols that are used for developing federated search and discovery tools. The article narrates disadvantages of federated search solutions and discovery tools as compared to conducting a search directly on the interface of primary database. The Concept of open URL as a technology used for link-resolving and finding “appropriate copy” is discussed briefly. Lastly, the article describes contemporary federated search solutions and discovery tools that are available commercially or as open source solution with their merits, demerits and comparative performance.