This document discusses ways to improve metasearch systems by focusing on the entire research process rather than just search. It suggests selecting appropriate databases, providing services with search results like citation formatting and expert help, and allowing users to easily modify searches. The author argues for a more flexible, open source platform like Xerxes that can integrate systems and add functionality beyond native interfaces. The conclusion is that simply searching multiple databases simultaneously is not compelling enough, and metasearch needs to enhance the whole research experience.

1. David WalkerCalifornia State UniversityFrom metasearch to metaservices

2. IntroductionPart philosophyWhat are we trying to do w/ metasearch?Where are the problems?How might we do it better?Part practicalWaxing philosophical is not enough!What can we do now with the tech we have?

3. Rethinking metasearch?We’ve been at it long enough nowGoogle ScholarNewer systemsNext-generation catalogs? Enterprise search? Discovery layers?

4. New metasearch modelsMetalib X-ServerDesign your own interfaceIncorporate other systems and dataExperiment!Xerxes ProjectDeveloped by CSU and John HopkinsImplemented at 20+ universities

5. XerxesPHP / XSLT / MySQLDBX-ServerMetalibKB

6. What are we trying to accomplish?“We offer a fragmented set of systems to search for published information . . . each with very different tools for identifying and obtaining materials. For the user, these distinctions are arbitrary.” – UC Bib Serv Taskforce

7. Overview of the literature1990-1999“Is There a Chance for a Standardized User Interface?” –Fletcher2000-2004“Trumping Google? . . .” –Luther“Talking about a Revolution? . . . ” –Nicholas“The Answer to all of our Problems? . . .” –Groenewegen“The Right Solution . . .” –Tennant

8. Overview of the literature2004-2008“Is Metasearching Dead?” –Tennant“Metasearching: Not as Good as We'd Like It” –NLAQ“Why Librarians Hate Metasearch” –McHale“Plotting a New Course for Metasearch” –Breeding

9. Arguing about metasearch“[C]ross-database search tools . . . are the correct solution for unifying access to a variety of information resources.” –Roy Tennant“Metasearching, then, is a step backward, a way of avoiding the learning process.” – William Frost“[M]etasearch … cannot stand up to search systems based on centralized indexes” –Marshall Breeding“Part of me keeps hoping [metasearch] will go away, but nope, it's still there.” – Andrew Pace

10. Arguing about metasearchBroadcast argument (pro)“You can search multiple databases simultaneously!”Nativist argument (anti)“The search is not advanced enough!”Immature technology argument (anti)“The search is too slow!”“Google Scholar is faster!”

11. Isn’t it ironic?Some librarians dislike metasearch because it is too much like Google; othersbecause it is not enough like Google.

12. Usage statisticsSFX as a proxy measure?Query # 2: Requests by source (SID)Not all databases or clicksApples-to-apples comparisonExample Cal State campusesCal State Fullerton – general – 38,000 studentsCal Poly – science + engineering – 20,000 studentsSonoma State – liberal arts – 8,500 students

13. Usage statisticsFullertonNative: 297,602 (54%)Xerxes: 252,238 (45%)Google: 5,340 (1%)Cal PolyNative: 95,885 (47%)Xerxes: 92,534 (46%)Google: 13,697 (7%)Sonoma

14. Native: 22,654 (48%)

15. Xerxes: 22,275 (48%)

16. Google: 1,944 (4%)Native: 416,141 52%Xerxes: 367,047 46%Google: 20,98 3%

17. Isn’t it ironic?Usage of Google Scholar may depend in large part on whether librarians promote it or not!

18. Usability studiesUniversitiesBoston College –BYU – Carnegie Mellon – Maryland – Mississippi – Northwestern – Oregon State – Rochester – Texas A & M –Colorado, Denver –California, Santa CruzSystemsMetalib – Encompass – Serials Solutions – Webfeat – LibraryFind

19. Usability studies70% of the students in BYU study preferred metasearch over native interfaces“[B]oth [metasearch and searching native interfaces individually] produce citation sets of similar quality” – BYU “Graduate students and faculty . . . all located citations they had not previously found” –Texas A&M

20. On search times“Eight [out of 18] students measured the speed of the search processing as reasonable and only five found the system too slow.” –Maryland“Users are willing to wait as long as they think that they will get useful results. Their perceptions of time depend on this belief.” –Santa Cruz“When people accomplish what they set out to do on a site, they perceive that site to be fast . . . If people can't find what they want on a site, they will regard the site as a waste of time (and slow).” – Perfetti, Landesman

21. On the interface“I found that both were not very user friendly.” – BYU Student“[Non-federated search] lent itself to more abstracts . . . With [federated search] I was relying more on the title which can sometimes be misleading.” –BYU Student“I would have to search through every single one of these to find which one is a scholarly article and which one is just a newspaper article.” – Maryland Student

22. Broadening our goals“[T]he point of federated searching is to make searching as simple as possible” –CervoneIs it all about search?What happens before you search?What happens after you search?Re-search is more than just searching

23. Selecting the right resources“Nothing slows the user's scanning momentum more than encountering results that are irrelevant . . . many users view it as a digital equivalent of Tourette's Syndrome, where the system just spits out random items, unrelated to their search.” – Jared Spool

24. Selecting the right resourcesWhy not search everything?Impractical technicallyImpractical presentationallyWhat you don’t search is equally as important as what you do searchWhy metasearch systems get this wrong(Overly-) focused on the search boxDefining is not the same as limiting

28. Once you start down the Quick Search path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

32. Desperately seeking search box“I just want a search box on the homepage.” – Your usersFirst Rule of Usability? Don't Listen to Users!What users say they do is sometimes different from what they actually do“The Google phenomenon”?

36. Desperately seeking search box“[T]here is something inherent in the site's design that causes users to choose the search engine or the links, not a hard-and-fast preference of the user” “[U]sers often gravitated to the search engine when the links on the page didn't satisfy them in some way.” – Jared Spool

37. Isn’t it ironic?The search box dominates the opening screens, then disappears!

42. Changing queries“Nearly all students repeated their searches, changing terms or subject categories, so the interface needs to make this easy.”– Maryland “Each new piece of information [users] encounter gives them new ideas and directions to follow and, consequently, a new conception of the query … [T]he query itself (as well as the search terms used) is continually shifting, in part or whole.” –Bates

43. Services for resultsSpell checkPeer reviewed flagFull-text look-upFull-text linkingFormatForeign language

44. Avoid pogosticking“66% of purchases on [e-commerce] sites happened without any pogosticking . . . the more [users] pogosticked, the less likely the session would result in a purchase.”“The best search results pages will prevent pogosticking by providing the relevant content before the user chooses a specific result.” – Jared Spool

47. Services with resultsSave and exportCitation formattingTagging, editing, and sharingExpert research help

48. Going back to searchProblems with broadcast searchingSlow, dropped connectionsLowest-common denominator searchingProblems with central indexingNot easyRequires software, hardware, money, hagglingA middle ground?

49. MetasearchNot all targets are created equal

50. Not all targets are created equalMetasearch

52. Problems searching the catalogZ39.50 searching not greatLimited search optionsBrowse searching not inherent in MetalibInnovative ILSHit counts are wrongKeyword results return results in bib id orderNot getting fixed any time soon.

53. WorldCat and Ebsco APIsWorldCat APIFree (to OCLC members) web service to WorldCatJust ended pilot phaseEbsco Integration ToolkitFree (to Ebsco customers) web service to all Ebsco databasesAvailable now

55. A-9 style Search Results PageCatalog(s)Acad SearchMetalib

56. A-9 style Psychology Search Results PageCatalog(s)PsycInfoMetalib

57. HybridSystemMetasearchOther databasesCatalogMain database

60. From the catalog out?EndeccaVUFindPrimoEncoreWorldCat Local

61. Todd Miller, Webfeat

68. Library portal?Metalib not flexible enoughInterfaceAdding functionalityIntegrating with other systemsXerxes should beEverything is XML-basedOpen source

69. Toward a services layerAdding value beyond the native interfaceConsolidation before distributionCome to the RSS presentation on FridaySaving, tagging, sharingThe interface is the systemMetasearch, centrally indexed, hybrid . . .Still need a good interface

70. Conclusion“You can search multiple databases at the same time” is not a compelling enough argumentWe need to focus on the whole research process , not just searchAdd value and layer functionality on top of the results

71. ConclusionWe need an experimental platform to try new things, and an open source community to allow that to happenxerxes.calstate.edu