scholarly journals Federated search and discovery solutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-42
Author(s):  
Arunadevi S Lingam
Keyword(s):  
Federated Search

scholarly journals Academics Perceptions of Electronic Resources at the University of Venda, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 424-428
Author(s):  
Alugumi Samuel Ndou ◽  
Wanyenda Leonard Chilimo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Plagiarism Detection ◽  
Electronic Resources ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
The University ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

This study examined the perceptions of academic researchers regarding electronic resources (e-resources) provided by the library at the University of Venda (UNIVEN), South Africa. The quantitative research approach and survey research design were adopted to conduct the investigation. Data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire randomly distributed to 45 UNIVEN academics. The findings of this study revealed that although academics at UNIVEN find e-resources easy to use, believe the resources improve academic performance, and frequently encouraged postgraduate students to use them, the majority of them had plagiarism concerns and were only moderately satisfied with available e-resources at UNIVEN. This study recommends that the university library should train academics on plagiarism detection. In addition, the library should adopt innovative ways of improving e-resource services, such as providing an Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) with advanced and federated search capabilities.

From Metasearching to Discovery

2012 ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
LeiLani Freund ◽  
Christian Poehlmann ◽  
Colleen Seale
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Usability Testing ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
University Of Florida ◽  
Library Users ◽  
Future Evaluation ◽  
The University

Many academic libraries implemented a metasearch or federated search platform as a way to expand the amount of relevant information available to library users. While the metasearch concept seemed to hold great promise, it failed to live up to expectations and users failed to embrace the technology. Nevertheless, the single search box proved to be popular with search engine users, and metasearch would prove to be a forerunner to more evolved discovery solutions. In this chapter, the authors describe experiences with a metasearch product, usability testing, and how that experience shaped decision-making for the chosen discovery solution platform. The available discovery services are explored, and the process for selection at the University of Florida Libraries is described along with the plans for future evaluation of the implemented service.

scholarly journals Testing an Academic Library Website for Usability with Faculty and Graduate Students

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Z. Emde ◽  
Sara E. Morris ◽  
Monica Claassen-Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Front Page ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Search Tool ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
New Discovery

Objectives - This usability study was developed to observe faculty and graduate students’ reactions to a recent redesign of the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries’ website. The redesign included new navigational features, introduction of a federated search tool, a quick search box on the front page, and research subject pages. The study also provided the opportunity to observe the practices of faculty and graduate students in locating and retrieving information on the Libraries’ website. Methods - Ten participants (five faculty and five graduate students) representing diverse disciplines were solicited for the study. Participants were required to access the Libraries’ website to answer a series of questions regarding new and updated features of the website. Observational analysis using Morae™ software was conducted and interviews with each participant provided details of their opinions on how these new features would influence their research and teaching activities. Results - Most of the participants either did not notice or ignored the major website changes. Links to and locations of commonly used resources (e.g. catalogue; databases; e-journals) had been changed minimally, and the faculty and graduate student participants gravitated to those familiar features to complete tasks. Prior to the study, participants had not accessed the new discovery tools; however, once previewed, responses to the tools’ utility were generally favourable. After using the federated search tool on a familiar topic, several participants noted that, when directed to databases they had not previously considered, they were able to locate citations they had missed in the past. Observers noted pitfalls in navigating the site such as inconsistent underscoring of links, ambiguous terminology, and unclear icons meant to expand subject heading lists. Unexpected searching behaviours were observed, including inconsistent and lack of conceptual understanding in searching for e-journal content. Conclusions - This study provides evidence regarding the usability of a library website with a population already familiar with library resources. It demonstrated that faculty and graduate students are not interested in experimenting with new discovery tools but are amenable to their potential value to undergraduate students. The recent trend toward minimizing content and links on websites satisfies this population, one which is already comfortable with the basic attributes of a library’s website.

Model characterization curves for federated search using click-logs

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok Kumar Ponnuswami ◽  
Kumaresh Pattabiraman ◽  
Desmond Brand ◽  
Tapas Kanungo
Keyword(s):  
Federated Search

Exploiting Distributed, Heterogeneous and Sensitive Data Stocks while Maintaining the Owner’s Data Sovereignty

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (04) ◽  
pp. 346-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lablans ◽  
D. Kadioglu ◽  
M. Muscholl ◽  
F. Ückert
Keyword(s):  
Data Protection ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Distributed Databases ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
National Registry ◽  
University Hospitals ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
Explicit Consent ◽  
Patient Consent

SummaryBackground: To achieve statistical significance in medical research, biological or data samples from several bio- or databanks often need to be complemented by those of other institutions. For that purpose, IT-based search services have been established to locate datasets matching a given set of criteria in databases distributed across several institutions. However, previous approaches require data owners to disclose information about their samples, raising a barrier for their participation in the network.Objective: To devise a method to search distributed databases for datasets matching a given set of criteria while fully maintaining their owner’s data sovereignty.Methods: As a modification to traditional federated search services, we propose the decentral search, which allows the data owner a high degree of control. Relevant data are loaded into local bridgeheads, each under their owner’s sovereignty. Researchers can formulate criteria sets along with a project proposal using a central search broker, which then notifies the bridgeheads. The criteria are, however, treated as an inquiry rather than a query: Instead of responding with results, bridgeheads notify their owner and wait for his/her decision regarding whether and what to answer based on the criteria set, the matching datasets and the specific project proposal. Without the owner’s explicit consent, no data leaves his/ her institution.Results: The decentral search has been deployed in one of the six German Centers for Health Research, comprised of eleven university hospitals. In the process, compliance with German data protection regulations has been confirmed. The decentral search also marks the centerpiece of an open source registry software toolbox aiming to build a national registry of rare diseases in Germany.Conclusions: While the sacrifice of real-time answers impairs some use-cases, it leads to several beneficial side effects: improved data protection due to data parsimony, tolerance for incomplete data schema mappings and flexibility with regard to patient consent. Most importantly, as no datasets ever leave their institution, owners can reject projects without facing potential peer pressure. By its lower barrier for participation, a decentral search service is likely to attract a larger number of partners and to bring a researcher into contact with the right potential partners.

scholarly journals Quantifying the Connectivity of a Semantic Warehouse and Understanding its Evolution over Time

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michalis Mountantonakis ◽  
Nikos Minadakis ◽  
Yannis Marketakis ◽  
Pavlos Fafalios ◽  
Yannis Tzitzikas
Keyword(s):  
Operational Semantic ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
Cost Of Quality ◽  
Complex Queries ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Over Time

In many applications one has to fetch and assemble pieces of information coming from more than one source for building a semantic warehouse offering more advanced query capabilities. In this paper the authors describe the corresponding requirements and challenges, and they focus on the aspects of quality and value of the warehouse. For this reason they introduce various metrics (or measures) for quantifying its connectivity, and consequently its ability to answer complex queries. The authors demonstrate the behaviour of these metrics in the context of a real and operational semantic warehouse, as well as on synthetically produced warehouses. The proposed metrics allow someone to get an overview of the contribution (to the warehouse) of each source and to quantify the value of the entire warehouse. Consequently, these metrics can be used for advancing data/endpoint profiling and for this reason the authors use an extension of VoID (for making them publishable). Such descriptions can be exploited for dataset/endpoint selection in the context of federated search. In addition, the authors show how the metrics can be used for monitoring a semantic warehouse after each reconstruction reducing thereby the cost of quality checking, as well as for understanding its evolution over time.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document