[Web4lib] Faceted navigation as metasearch

[K.G. Schneider]

One idea I heard recently had to do with using faceted navigation search
engines for metasearch. I've been mulling this over, particularly after
rereading Karen Calhoun's "Changing Nature of the Catalog"
(www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf  ) and really, I'm trying to
figure out if there's much wrong with this idea. 

Consider using a tool (Endeca, Siderean, FAST, i411, Dieselpoint-full
disclosure: we implemented Siderean at my FPOW) that lies above the catalog
and all other discovery services and provides access to ETDs, book data,
journal articles, and more, ecumenically searched but parsed out logically
in post-coordination. In fact, I'm wondering if NCSU and other libraries now
on the faceted-navigation bandwagon are looking at moving in this direction.

I do see one biggy. These search engines are themselves pretty
lickety-split, but I wonder how slow retrieval would get if they were
accessing separate journal and database services (versus what they do now,
which is search their own pre-built indexes...). In some cases, it might be
easy to create an index (e.g. if we have ETDs, I don't see why they can't be
indexed). But journal articles? Pondering again... though if they were
accessing resources such as Google Scholar and then tying everything back
in... 

Karen G. Schneider
Acting Associate Director of Libraries for Technology & Research 
Florida State University
Email/AIM: kschneider at mailer.fsu.edu 
Blog: http://quodvide.wordpress.com 
Phone: 850-644-5214
Cell: 850-590-3370