Scott Herrington, Ph.D.
Head, Library Information and Systems
Arziona State University
Search and Retrieval Issues associated with Federated Database Searching

Presentation Abstract

This presentation will focus on search and retrieval issues related to federated searching. The presentation will include an examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the most common methods for interfacing with dissimilar electronic resources, including accessing vendor APIs and resorting to "screen scraping"; it will also include a discussion of the use of standard protocols, including Z39.50 in search and retrieval. In addition, the presentation will look at the organization and presentation of result sets from different electronic resource providers, and how they are handled in federated searching.