Blue Sky ThinkingBlue Sky Thinking

A possible alternative A possible alternative to federated searchingto federated searching

Tracy L. ThompsonTracy L. ThompsonNELLCONELLCO

Franklin Pierce Law CenterFranklin Pierce Law Center

• Judy Gire, Roberta Woods, Kathy Pierce, Judy Gire, Roberta Woods, Kathy Pierce, Barry Shanks, Melanie CornellBarry Shanks, Melanie Cornell

• Search for a federated search solutionSearch for a federated search solution– WebfeatWebfeat– MuseMuse– TDNetTDNet– MetalibMetalib– SirsiSirsi– EndeavorEndeavor

Why Federated Searching Why Federated Searching Doesn’t WorkDoesn’t Work

Federated Searching Federated Searching ParadigmParadigm

Simultaneous

Searches in

REAL TIME !!!

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Common ShortcomingsCommon Shortcomings

• SpeedSpeed

• De-dupingDe-duping

• Relevance rankingRelevance ranking

• Server demandServer demand

• No real proof of conceptNo real proof of concept

• No legal contentNo legal content

Google’s GSAGoogle’s GSA

• Hardware/software productHardware/software product

• Developed for internal e-document Developed for internal e-document discoverydiscovery

• Pricing model needs tweaking for this Pricing model needs tweaking for this implementationimplementation

• http://www.google.com/enterprise/http://www.google.com/enterprise/gsa/live_demos.htmlgsa/live_demos.html

Google SolutionGoogle SolutionGoogle spiders crawl content providers’ dataand create an index thatour patrons search beforegoing to our content provider to retrieve data.

Google Search ApplianceGoogle Search Appliance

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Getting results is faster and better since the entire data set is already there …relevance ranked and de-duped.

Benefits to UsBenefits to Us

• Fast SearchingFast Searching• Don’t have to wait for “our” databases to Don’t have to wait for “our” databases to

be profiled nor incur additional costs for be profiled nor incur additional costs for the privilegethe privilege

• Vendor sites aren’t overwhelmed with Vendor sites aren’t overwhelmed with meaningless searchesmeaningless searches

• We create and control logical collections We create and control logical collections and we schedule when spiders crawl for and we schedule when spiders crawl for contentcontent

• We own the solution, we house itWe own the solution, we house it

Where we areWhere we are

• Early days of promising talks with Early days of promising talks with GoogleGoogle

• Two vendors interested in partnering Two vendors interested in partnering for proof of conceptfor proof of concept

• Working on role of consortium as Working on role of consortium as “mother ship”“mother ship”