Introduction & Definitions
- What is Federated Searching?
- Brings together all (i.e. most) of your e-resources into a single interface.
- Allows simultaneous searching of multiple resources.
- AKA broadcast searching, cross-database searching, parallel searching, and metasearching.
- Typically include additional features, e.g. resource cataloging, e-shelves, saved searches.
- FSE != Google
- Metacrawlers index freely-available websites. FSE's let you search subscription services.
- Metacrawlers don't require authentication. FSE's can search sites requiring authentication.
- Metacrawler links are static URL's. FSE links are usually dynamic.