kcenter_search

"It is hard to predict what the major challenge in search will be 100 years from now. The challenge may not even be related to information retrieval itself but could be the result of shortages of electricity, network disruptions due to insurgencies, information manipulation or access denial by an uncontrolled computer-based artificial intelligence (as imagined in the science fiction movie The Terminator). Of course, we could simply extrapolate the current ongoing trends, which we know do have an effect on information storage and retrieval, and might hope this gives an indication of some of the challenges that may affect finding and understanding information in a long-term perspective. In this article our focus will be on challenges that can be traced back to Time. Search is a two-sided issue: On one side, once data has been generated it has to be stored somewhere (on volatile or non-volatile media) and this stored data must somehow be accessible to a search or indexing engine; on the other side are the processes of search, retrieval and analysis of the data."

"Catalogue 2.0? Catalogue de nouvelle génération? Peu importent les appellations, finalement. Ce qui compte réellement, c'est la manière de gérer la transition, avec une attention particulière aux contenus et aux services, bref à la médiation. Ci-dessous, une sélection de ressources, de références, amorces possibles pour une discussion "globale", au sein de notre institution, sur les nombreuses questions: On y passe? Oui? Non? Pourquoi? Comment? Suivant quelles modalités? Avec quels outils, quelles fonctionnalités? Si vous le souhaitez, je vous invite à participer au débat en utilisant les commentaires pour alimenter la liste…"

"The following are some of the Discovery Layer Interfaces that have been selected by libraries."

"It is interesting that Summon is built using an open-source product architecture - and ditching the need for a federated search back-end is quite a radical step forward into the cloud. I'm wondering if this is related to their different approach to authentication: both Summon and Metalib seem to be 'authentication agnostic' and could work with a variety of authentication systems: but ExLibris seems to prefer the 'up-front' password challenge as opposed to Serials Solutions who give you it the other way round: metadata first and only authenticate later. Is it harder to integrate authentication, as opposed to searching for content, into an institutional login this way round? I don't yet know as I think it depends what choices we make on identity management. Personally I'm drawn to the 'up-front' approach - even though the simplicity of what Serials Solutions are doing is very attractive, I prefer my password challenges at the beginning - rather than at the end of the process. What about others?"

"Summon Search API uses an authentication scheme based on secret key verification via an HMAC-SHA1 digest. The API performs both authentication and authorization via the same HTTP Authorization header. Creating an Authorization header for an API request requires an access ID, a paired secret key, a client key, and access to certain elements of the HTTP request being authenticated. To create the Authorization header, specific request elements must be assembled into a string that uniquely identifies the request. This ID string is then turned into a digest using the HMAC-SHA1 algorithm as defined in RFC 2104. The digest is then Base64-encoded according to RFC 2045, and assembled into a header along with the access ID. When the API server receives a request, the first thing it does is check the x-summon-date header to make sure it is within a reasonable margin of the server time. If the header time is not within one hour of the server time then authentication fails immediately. If the request timestamp is acceptable, then the server goes on to check that Summon authentication is being used in the Authorization header. If Summon authentication is being used, the server extracts the access ID, client key and encoded authentication digest from the Authorization header, and looks up the paired secret key using the access ID. Finally the server performs the same algorithm described in the previous paragraph to produce a test digest, and compares the test digest against the digest provided in the Authorization header. If the two digests are identical, the request is authenticated."

"In 2007-2008, the DLF convened a Task Group to recommend standard interfaces for integrating the data and services of the Integrated Library System (ILS) with new applications supporting user discovery. This page gives access to the group's recommendation, related materials, and information on followup activities."

"An API for effective interoperation between integrated library systems and external discovery applications"

"But commercial vendors, smelling a new market, are stepping in. Serials Solutions, a subsidiary of ProQuest, released a software product in July called Summon. The company has been negotiating deals with publishers and content providers to create a searchable index of their content. It's like Google, except what Summon provides is an index of the "deep Web" of paid content. So now university libraries that pay for a subscription to Summon can let their users search their licensed content as well as locally owned stuff, together. Summon has 17 customers so far, including Arizona State University and Dartmouth College. The catch? It can be expensive. Andrew S. Nagy, senior discovery-services engineer at Serials Solutions, wouldn't say how expensive. But the cost of a subscription can run into the tens of thousands, said one university administrator who was not authorized to discuss price and thus wanted to remain anonymous. Summon also does not have permission to display the full text of articles."

"(...) the relevancy ranking within Summon is based on term frequencies as Aaron said, but many other algorithms are used as well, such as field weightings and inverse term frequencies to counterbalance any skewing from the full text content. Additionally, each record in Summon has a static rank that allows for balancing records from one collection against another to ensure all records are treated equally. "

- To Fix A Leaky Sink: Envisioning The Potential of Discovery Layers - LENS: Catalog Records and Additional Data Sources in the Aquabrowser Implementation at the University of Chicago - Automated Metadata Repurposing Using eXtensible Catalog Software - Equality of Retrieval: Leveling the Metadata Playing Field in Big Indexes

"This subgroup is focused on the library user and will recommend ways to make relevant resources more visible and easier to find, particularly within the user's workflow. In developing its recommendations, the subgroup should consider use cases for a range of users, research needs, and resource or collection types. It should take into account not only library-owned collections, but potentially relevant resources from any available source (e.g., electronic books, special collections, grant resources). "

tone, Graham (2010) Searching life, the universe and everything? The implementation of Summon at the University of Huddersfield. In: 39th LIBER Annual General Conference, 29 June - 2 July 2010, Aarhus University, Denmark . (Submitted)

"As part of an effort to improve user interactions with authority data in its online catalog, the UNC Chapel Hill Libraries have developed and implemented a system for providing real-time query suggestions from records found within its catalog. The system takes user input as it is typed to predict likely title, author, or subject matches in a manner functionally similar to the systems found on commercial websites such as google.com or amazon.com. This paper discusses the technologies, decisions and methodologies that went into the implementation of this feature, as well as analysis of its impact on user search behaviors."

"The Wayne State Library System launched its library mapping application in February 2010, designed to help locate materials in the five WSU libraries. The system works within the catalog to show the location of materials, as well as provides a web form for use at the reference desk. Developed using PHP and MySQL, it requires only minimal effort to update using a unique call number overlay mechanism. In addition to mapping shelved materials, the system provides information for any of the over three hundred collections held by the WSU Libraries. Patrons can do more than just locate a book on a shelf: they can learn where to locate reserve items, how to access closed collections, or get driving maps to extension center libraries. The article includes a discussion of the technology reviewed and chosen during development, an overview of the system architecture, and lessons learned during development."

"Le principe de base de Summon est: la recherche doit être simple, l'accès aux résultats aussi. Sauf que ce n'est pas forcément la vision qu'ont les bibliothécaires. Exemple? Summon utilise un créateur de liens qui ne rend qu'une ressource pour un titre donné. Si le titre est paru dans plusieurs références, on n'y a pas accès. Les bibliothécaires préfèrent avoir toutes les références, persuadés qu'ils sont que les « chercheurs » préféreraient aussi. Alors quel intérêt d'avoir un outil de recherches qui ne reprend que les sources que vous avez déjà? Comment vous dire…je ne sais pas. En ce qui concerne les étudiants -du moins les licence- qui ont l'habitude faire la majorité de leurs recherches sur Google, je ne suis pas persuadé de l'intérêt de Summon. Pour les chercheurs, ils ont des habitudes, des sources préférées, et le fait de ne pas afficher -de prime abord- toutes les sources pourrait leur déplaire, ou leur compliquer la tâche. Pour les bibliothécaires, il y aurait des items à modifier, il faudrait indiquer toutes les sources, ce qui contrarie le commercial (!)."

Primal Search uses the power of your thoughts to sift through online content and find what you're looking for. Express your thoughts to Primal Search Go to Primal Search and type in a word or short phrase to get started, such as auto racing. When your search results appear, you'll also see a thought cloud of other ideas related to auto racing. As you click on new thoughts from this cloud, the search results update in real time. Sometimes, a selection might take you in the wrong direction. Simply click the errant thought to de-select it, and your results will update once again.

"This article updates the findings from a study by Hal Kirkwood in 2000 of the organization and content of academic business library Web sites. The authors examined 75 sites, focusing on five general aspects of the sites: organization, terminology, instructional elements, integration of resources across formats, and annotations. Results of the study show that business library Websites have dramatically improved in the 7 years since the original study. "

Project Lefty is a search system that, at a minimum, adds a layer on top of traditional federated search tools that will make the wait for results more worthwhile for researchers. At best, Project Lefty improves search queries and relevance rankings for web-scale discovery tools to make the results themselves more relevant to the researcher's specific query. Project Lefty has three components, each directed at a particular right.

"The software powering Open Library is centered around a flexible templating system that enables anyone to have control over the organization of their information display. It is designed to be simple to use, to encourage participation, yet powerfully modular through the application of macros and principles of networked interface. In this document, we will review existing technologies, explain concepts, present a framework for discussion and outline a plan to meet those goals for a full site launch in October 2009."

Lire: http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/007560.html