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In 2003 and 2004 the library world was abuzz with the latest technology that was supposed to revolutionize how library users search for information. This technology promised faster and more comprehensive searching of multiple databases and library catalogs. The idea was simple; making the idea work efficiently was another story. The basic idea was to create software that would allow the user to search the library's multiple databases and catalogs simultaneously, thereby saving time and allowing the user to search more databases. The technology borrowed heavily from Google and other search engines because of the simple, intuitive interface, along with the potential for a large number of search results. This new technology has had many names over the past few years. According to [4] Sadeh (2004) this technology was being called parallel searching, meta-searching, integrated searching, cross-database searching, broadcast searching, federated searching, and simultaneous searching. For simplicity the authors will refer to the technology as federated searching.
In the Spring of 2003 the Giovale Library at Westminster College of Salt Lake City, Utah was actively pursuing a federated search engine solution. The reason was simple: the librarians would be able to spend more time helping students with research questions and finding articles instead of teaching several different databases produced by separate vendors in a particular discipline. The library was also in the process of planning an information commons that would blend well with a federated search solution because of the "one-stop shopping" concept merging with the "one-click searching" solution. After reading countless reviews and watching several demonstrations, the librarians chose a federated search engine vendor in the Summer of 2003. The librarians had no idea at the time, but a viable federated search engine solution would not be up and running until the fall semester of 2005. This only happened after severing ties with the first vendor and deciding to go with WebFeat.
The difference between the two vendors was significant. The main problems with the old software were reliability and customer service. It was impossible to teach the product because the system was down more often than it was up. Immediately after the roll out of the product a librarian reported problems with the software. While demonstrating to a class how federated searching...