cross-database search

[Jim Campbell]

The September 15 issue of Library Journal has an excellent article by Mary
Jackson on "The Advent of Portals" which spends some time discussing
cross-database searching and has a useful list of vendors. In our investigations
here I've been impressed by MuseGlobal, by Fretwell-Downing, and by what I've
seen of the new Sirsi product to be released early next year, as well as by
EnCompass and the ExLibris Metalib.

I'm a little suspicious of claims that affiliation with a given data vendor make
a product such as EnCompass more desirable. I'd be afraid they'd give in to the
temptation to give an advantage to that vendor's products, or that we'd see in
this new area what we've already seen in the competition among the database
vendors, a refusal by one vendor to let their data play well with someone else's
product.

- Jim Campbell

Digital Access Coordinator
and Librarian for German
University of Virginia Library
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4112
Voice: 434-924-4985  ~  FAX: 434-924-1431
E-Mail: campbell at virginia.edu