Category Archives: vendors and businesses

A brief follow-up to the rant

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Laura

Peter Chapman recently e-mailed me, noting that he’d seen my last post because Sol Lederman (who writes at the Federated Search Blog) kindly linked to me. Sol notes that he “didn’t realize that federated search doesn’t work.” I wanted to … Continue reading →

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Ranting about library technology

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Laura

I’m meeting with my Dean later today to discuss the libraries’ strategic plan with relation to technology. I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the course of this morning and afternoon, and I thought I’d share a bit of … Continue reading →

Posted in i don't get it, vendors and businesses | 6 Comments

A few quick thoughts about relevancy ranking

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Laura

I have heard librarians say to students – more than once – that they should use library databases because we don’t really know how Google ranks things. But it occurred to me the other day that I know a lot … Continue reading →

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The difference between federated search and discovery services

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Laura

I was thinking about this earlier today, and since I was wondering about it, I thought others might be too. Here’s what I’ve learned from my colleagues. Federated search works by “broadcasting” a user’s search term to several databases. Essentially, … Continue reading →

Posted in unified discovery services, vendors and businesses | 4 Comments

Using the library to find open access: screwed the hell up

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Laura

My dean recently sent the libraries’ faculty and staff a link to this blog post about open access and mixed messages. In it, Wally Grotophost1 describes a discovery he made while testing a metasearch project he’s currently working on. While … Continue reading →

Posted in open access, vendors and businesses | 2 Comments

My take on Google Librarian Central’s Year of Silence

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Laura

This afternoon, my attention has been drawn to a hot topic in library land – Google Librarian Central. I’d like to draw your attention to the purported goals of Google Librarian Central, as outlined by Jodi Healy in the first … Continue reading →

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Why my opinion of Ebsco has improved in the last month

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Laura

This is a long overdue post, but I’d like to thank Mike Gorrell from Ebsco for responding to my post about webinars. It’s my philosophy that the best people to complain to are the people that can actually do something … Continue reading →

Posted in vendors and businesses | 3 Comments

I want to play

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Laura

I just attended an online demonstration of Ebsco 2.0, Ebsco’s new search interface. Toward the end of the demonstration, Marcie Brown gave us some links to more information, pointing out that one in particular that would allow us to sign … Continue reading →

Posted in vendors and businesses | 4 Comments