Federated Search Engines: A Building Block for Participatory Library Service

Abstract

This article provides a brief background on the current state of information search in this highly connected and pervasive internet age. It is followed by an introduction to the federated search engine and its definition. While this article assumes that the role played by federated search engine in searching disparate information has been now quite justified and established, it lays the emphasis on the capabilities of the federated search engines. It does so by listing the functionalities expected from a federated search engine, and higher level explanation of inner workings of the federated search engine. It also lists the advantages and shortcomings of federated search engines. This is followed by the selection criteria of a federated search engine and lastly a list of some of the popular federated search engines available today.