Federated Searching Session: Federated Searching & OpenURL

Frank Cervone, Assistant University Librarian, Northwestern University

Our users don?t know what DB the results came from, journal title is important?they just want the info.

What can you link to:
OPAC
DBs

What is federated searching?
?Squishy at this point?

Metasearch: searches that use metadata to make decisions
Megasearch: Dogpile, AlltheWeb, etc.

Can be combined into a superset of federated searching

Why is this so complicated? Not all protocols are supported by vendors: Z39.50

Tips for implementation:

Select software
Select hardware
Gather provider info
Gather holdings info
Input the two (lightweight cataloging of the resources)
Configure the connection information