[WEB4LIB] Re: In defense of stupid users

[Drew, Bill]

A9 requires that the site to be searched provide RSS feeds for its
search.  It must meet the so called Open Search criteria.  I don't
believe most library  web opacs do that yet.

Bill Drew
drewwe at morrisville.edu 

> For those who don't already know, you might be interested to 
> hear that the 
> A9.com search engine is now offering user-controlled meta-search 
> capabilities, including for library catalogs. Libraries who 
> have already 
> configured the capability for their users include the British 
> Library, NUI 
> in Galway Ireland, and the Seattle Public Library.
> 
> A9 has always offered a simpler kind of federated search, offering 
> Google/Alexa web results along with Google:Images and 
> Amazon:BookSearch 
> and Answers.com. Now they have made it possible for people to 
> create their 
> own "column" and for people to share these with each other. A 
> few days ago 
> they had 50-some columns available, today it is 171.
> 
> To test it out yourself, follow these steps.
> 
> (1) Go to <http://www.a9.com/>
> 
> (2) Register or sign in as an Amazon customer (assuming you have made
> purchases from Amazon).
> 
> (3) Return to A9 home. On the righthand side of the screen 
> click on the
> bright green text that says:
> 
>    NEW Add Columns to
>    your Search Results
> 
> (4) Explore these, click on ADD to include an option in your personal
> settings.
> 
> (5) Try a search; click on the buttons on the righthand side 
> to activate a
> search in that area. For my course demo, I currently have selected:
> 
> Web Images Books Reference PubMed HealthTopics HealthDirectory Yellow 
> Pages Pretrieve Wikipedia Creative Commons Koders theCurity 
> WebDevRef.com 
> Wesbran.com MSDN Safari ITPapers.com ThinkGeek Acronym Top Blogs 
> blogs.feedster Blogdigger Blogwise Flickr WebshotsPhotos 
> BritishLibrary 
> BLCatalogue NUIGalway RedLightGreen SPL Movies IndeedJobs
> 
> You can manipulate the same search without retyping by simply 
> clicking a
> button ON or OFF.
> 
> I expect people to ask if we will create a column for searching our 
> own library collections. I've already had someone ask me if 
> we could get a 
> 'column' added for ERIC. I'd like one for the FDA databases. 
> There are 
> lots of options that would be very helpful.
> 
> For myself, I use these the same way most patrons use 
> federated search 
> engines -- find out where the most helpful results are and 
> then pop over 
> to that site and really dig. One of my favorite uses, as a medical 
> librarian, is to have web results in one column, Images next, 
> SearchInBook 
> in the second (and I use these to decide what to get from the 
> library), 
> and PubMed in the third (journal articles I might want.) The 
> students I've 
> shown this find it really cuts the time it takes to write a 
> term paper.
> 
> Talk about 'easy', 'empowering the user', 'what will we do 
> when Google 
> Print is really going' ... we are already there, in a sense. Start 
> teaching a9 now, show people how to integrate what it finds 
> with what is 
> available in the library, and integrate library and web in a 
> very powerful 
> way.
> 
> My $.02 worth ...
> 
> Patricia Anderson, pfa at umich.edu
> 
>