GALILEO Quick Search:The Answer to the Google Drumbeat?

Presented byCarla Wilson Buss

University of Georgia

Jessie CopelandGeorgia Gwinnett College Library

Apryl PriceValdosta State University

The Upgrade

Implementation in phases over three years WebFeat is part of Phase I Implementation of SFX for all institutions is

coming as is Additional remote access support from

EZProxy.

How Does This Work?

Initial deployments are reviewed first by the GALILEO Reference Committee

Then a general review in the demo system For future phases, working groups will come

from each GALILEO community MetaLib will be incorporated for academic

libraries

What IS WebFeat?

Federated Searching of GALILEO Allows searching of multiple databases at

one time Gives patrons the default option of “General

Topics” – Allows for refining of search by further searching

in other categories, i.e., Science and Technology

Quick Search Categories

Arts & Humanities Business & Economics Georgia K-12 Medicine & Health

News/Facts/ Reference Science & Technology Social Sciences Spanish/Español

What’s Covered?

Each category has a select set of databases that are searched

Categories vary by “family” of institution Additional customization is possible

– UGA is a “pilot institution” so was approved for more experimentation. For example, only ASP appears in General Topics results

Benefits

Patrons do not always recognize what a database contains from the name. Ex: EBSCO

The ability to search in more than one database at time saves time for students

Results are displayed in a timely fashion

Searching for Answers

“Only librarians like to search; everyone else likes to find” ~1

“Federated searching is not for power searching needs.” ~2

Drawbacks

Students do not have access to all the databases in a given category and may miss some valuable resources

Is this the best approach?– “Arguments as to whether or not this is the “best”

for the user are moot—it doesn’t matter if it’s best if nobody uses it.” ~ 3

Methodology

Asked students to search in Academic Search Premier for topics

Next, asked students to repeat searches in Quick Search, using default category, “General Topics”

Directed students to refine search in QS Discussed which categories were appropriate Discussed benefits/difficulties

What We Asked Students

Brief survey of students and how they do or might use Quick Search

Presented students with four search topics– Global Jihad– Pandemic Precautions– Illegal Immigrant Healthcare– Drilling in the ANWR

And the Categories Were…

For Global Jihad– Social Sciences, News/Facts/Reference, and

Business & Economics Pandemic Precautions

– Medicine & Health, Science & Technology and Social Sciences

Illegal Immigrant Healthcare– Medicine & Health, Science & Technology,

Business & Economics, Social Sciences

And the Final Jeopardy Answer…

Drilling in the ANWR– Business & Economics, News, Science &

Technology

Student Choices

Students do not always seem to think critically about the topics

Students may not always make the correct category choices– Students may not always make the correct

category choices in the current “tab” version of GALILEO

Student Replies from UGA

“Easy to use” Most would not go to GALILEO to find books They understand the concept of searching

multiple databases at once Most would use Quick Search again

Georgia Gwinnett CollegeLibrary ~ Who We Are

Georgia Perimeter College University of Georgia Medical College of Georgia Southern Polytechnic State University

Survey Results from Students at Georgia Gwinnett College

Almost 100 % of students received the same results in their search of Academic Search Premier.– 1 student received 1 result when searching for “illegal

immigrant healthcare”– 1 student only identified 10 results because that is

what is displayed on the initial results page

Survey Results cont’d

The Quick Search proved more difficult for the students

Out of 8 students, 3 identified the correct number of hits

The other students did not understand the various resources searched and where to see the total results

Survey Results cont’d

Questions:– How do I get to ASP?– Is it OK if I get zero results? (students seemed to think they

had done something wrong if they got zero results…) Comments:

– Only 1 student had used Quick Search– Most students suggested using different search terms or

combining search terms (this is a search strategy that we encourage in instruction)

– Only 1 student suggested using the categories

Survey Results from Valdosta State University

All 7 students had the same number of hits in Academic Search Premier.

All 7 students had a different number of hits in the GALILEO Quick Search.– In one search the student received the following

message, “Lexis Nexis has not been successfully initialized.”

– I was unable to replicate any of the search results.

Survey Results (VSU)

Observations– All students thought the initial search was simple.– Confusion about how to view all the search

results from a particular database.– All the students understood the resources that

were searched .– 2 students asked how to limit results to scholarly

resources.

Professional Concerns

Reference Committee has had discussions with GALILEO Staff– Problems were submitted to GALILEO Staff– GALILEO Staff has tried to respond to most issues*

• Notes from “Action Plan for Finalization and Phase I Production Roll-Out” available at www.usg.edu/galileo/about/planning/projects/upgrade/project/ActionPlanfor PhaseICompletion_02

Limiting Features

Peer-reviewed option– This has been suppressed due to inconsistent

and confusing displays. Peer-reviewed limiter only works to the extent that this limit is defined in target databases.

Full-text limiter– Similar problem. This is available in Search Again

and Advanced Search. Working groups may make determinations about its reliability.

Database Selection

Questions of what to include in General Topics– Some discussion of including an encyclopedia

and not just Academic Search Premier Particular DBs appear in a particular subject category

for any institution that has that DB. General Topics is limited to fewer than 8 DB as suggested by national precedent

Phase II will allow for reconsideration

Searching All Resources

“I want the ability to use the advanced search to search everything. Otherwise, it’s like owning a sports car and only driving the speed limit.”– Mixed feedback on where to present the All

Resources Option– For larger institutions, the response time could be

very long, frustrating patrons

General Topics

Is General Topics descriptive enough? Will patrons confuse this with All Resources?

Should it be called Multiple Subject Databases?

What about public libraries and K-12?

General Topics: GALILEO Staff Responses

“General Topics” was selected after review of production sites as working well for the greatest number of users.

Phase II will allow for greater customization between the types of institutions: academic, public and K-12.

Subject Categories

Are patrons aware of additional options beyond General Topics?– The pulldown menu signals more choices– Phase II working groups will further address this

issue

Sorting Concerns

Results are returned by resource Re-sorting by relevancy breaks the link Relevancy ranking does not seem to work Is removal of duplicates happening?

Sorting and GALILEO Staff Response

Sorting by groups is the default of WebFeat Users can re-sort by relevancy, author, etc. Different sort orders might lead to longer

response times WebFeat plans to build in a “next set” for the

entire first results screen WebFeat does not de-dupe

Sorting and Links

Some concern that sorting “breaks the link” GALILEO Response:

– Re-sorting removes the “next set” button, so users can not go to the next set of results unless they are in the article window

– Links in the “Results by Resource” are not active because they results are no longer by resource.

GALILEO Homepage Questions…

Are the tabs still necessary? Blue “I” button needed for more information

on databases Institutional personalization?

…And the Replies from GALILEO

The tabs are the only way to access all the DBs in the native interface

WebFeat has some ability to provide information about DBs, but this will be explored further in Phase II

Phase I is intended to provide a basic infrastructure for the consortial implementation. Phase II will allow more customization by communities & institutions.

Good news!

“I can’t tell you how excited I am!” “I just tried the demo. What a timesaver. I

love it.” “We’re excited about the upgrade!” “The new WebFeat search feature is great. I

think students will find this to be user-friendly.”

More Student Reactions

Most students would like to see the title as a link

Most had trouble locating the “Find a Database by Name” box

Only one student expanded the fields within the categories

Teaching Pointsor what we are emphasizing at GGC

The Quick Search drop down box corresponds to the tabs along the top

Teaching Points cont’d

Use of the Advanced Search

Teaching Points cont’d

Only the databases provided through GALILEO are being searched*

The full-text limiter may not limit Able to choose individual databases to

search

Teaching Points at UGA & VSU

Most of our BI sessions are for specifically tailored assignments, so we’re likely to continue teaching the “standard” GALILEO, but will mention Quick Search.

Competition

Google Scholar

Windows Live Academic Search

Google Scholar

Easy to use for less experienced researchers.

User-friendly interface.

Results contain peer-reviewed articles, theses, books, researchers web sites, abstracts, and other articles.

Google Scholar

Results are organized by their relevance to the query as determined by the full text of the article, the author’s publication history, the publications in which the article appeared and the number of previous citations in scholarly literature.

What is the content of database?

Global JihadGoogle Scholar vs. Quick Search

At UGA (only searching ASP)– 40 hits in QS– 320 in GS

From the first ten hits in each– No duplicates– NYT & WSJ from GS

Titles from Google Scholar

– Two citations for “Bearers of Global Jihad: Immigration and National Security after 9/11”, a report from the Nixon Center

– New York Times– Journal of Management Inquiry– Wall Street Journal– Five citations for Middle East Review of

International Affairs

Titles from Quick Search(Only ASP @ UGA)

Five were full-text Historian (source did not display in results) Middle East Policy Human Events Middle East Journal Foreign Affairs Wall Street Journal New Republic

Windows Live Academic Search

Still in Beta Material from Computer Science, Electrical

Engineering, and Physics Not sure when content from other disciplines

will be available Provides a journal list Comes from free and fee-based peer-

reviewed journals

Windows Live Academic Search

Sort and limit results by author, date, journal, conference, or relevance (default)

Preview pane to view abstracts on results page

Export citations No advanced search

Remember:

This is a test. Had this been an actual finished product, you would have been instructed where to turn….

Bibliography

1. Miller, Todd. “Federated Searching: Put it in its Place”. Library Journal 129 (2004): 32. Accessed GALILEO, LISTA, 04/08/2006

2. Fyer, Donna. “Federated Search Engines”. Online 28 (2004): 16-19. Accessed GALILEO, LISTA 04/08/2006

3. Miller, op. cit., p. 32 4. Mesele, Samson. “Google Scholar offers

research alternative”. The Chronicle 24 Oct. 2005. Accessed GALILEO, Lexis-Nexis, 04/12/2006

5. Quint, Barbara. “Windows Live Academic Search: The Details.” Information Today, Inc. 2006. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb060417-2.shtml>.