*implementing* search engines for a campus

[Andrzej Kowalski]

>>I too would be particularly interested in both learning what others are
>>doing in this area  -- as well as participating in any discussions which
>>may ensue.  This is the major "problem" on my plate right now - our web
>>pages/documents are proliferating at a rate that is out of control and
>>wais, swish etc. are not sophisticated and specific enough to allow the
>>targeted search and retrieval that our users are accustomed to with more
>>sophisticated bibliographic search engines - we are also looking into the
>>costs/implications of some value added "cataloguing" for web pages -- but
>>costs/staff impacts/ maintenance etc... are all critical issues.
>>If this can be the beginning of a dialog, that would be great.
>>
>>______________________________________
>>Eve M. Ruff, M.S.
>>Head of Library Services
>>Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
>>1124 Columbia Street B1 - 010
>>Seattle, WA 98104
>>
>>eruff at fred.fhcrc.org
>>206.667.6845
>>206.667.4737 (fax)

Free text engines e.g. WAIS typically have limited or zero support for
structured fields and relational-types of operations. i.e. you woudn't use a
free text engine to manage an OPAC.  Similarly, relational engines have
little or no support for free text but are good with structured data.

If you have a need to manage both structured fields (e.g. OPAC type of data)
and free text and don't want to use two separate engines, have a look at KE
Texpress at http://www.dingo.com.

Andrzej Kowalski
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Andrzej Kowalski                                     Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dingo Software Systems Inc.                          Tel: (604) 877-1960 
andrzej at dingo.com                                    Fax: (604) 877-1961
http://www.dingo.com    
                                                     
Fast and flexible data retrieval from data collections of all sizes
in-house and on the WWW with the KE Texpress Information Management System.
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