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Beyond the current generation of next-generation library interfaces: deeper search.

Article Excerpt
One of the top issues in the library automation arena in the last couple of years involves the development of a new generation of interfaces to replace online catalogs that have fallen behind the expectations of web-savvy library users. This aspect of library automation currently attracts incredible interest--almost all libraries are giving consideration to how they can bring the search tools they offer for their collections as well as their overall web presence up to the level expected today. Even at this early point in the adoption cycle of new library interfaces, it's time to press onward toward even more effective and powerful search tools. In this month's column I'm especially interested in exploring the expansion of metadata-based search into deep search based on the full content of digitized materials.

The Current Line of Next-Generation Interfaces

I've written previously about the new generation of library interfaces. Products such as Encore from Innovative Interfaces, Inc., Ex Libris Primo, Endeca ProFind, AquaBrowser Library from Medialab Solutions, and VUfind from Villanova University allow libraries to step up to interfaces appropriate for the current millennium. These products bring an expanded and consolidated scope of search, faceted navigation, sophisticated search technologies, relevancy ranking of results, enriched displays, and many other features needed to bring the user experience of the library's web presence up to the par established on the commercial web.

We can expect other products to roll out in the near future, both from commercial vendors and the open source realm. The Library Corp. has announced Indigo, SirsiDynix has a product based on GlobalBrain from BrainWare in the works, and the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries is working on the eXtensible Catalog with the backing of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. BiblioCommons is hard at work on a next-generation library interface that aims to integrate social computing into the search...