From Federated Search to the Universal Search Solution

Abstract

This presentation detailed an investigation by law librarians at Franklin Pierce Law Center Library of the viability of federated search and enterprise search to meet the needs of law library patrons. The results of the investigation revealed that federated search products could not answer the needs of law libraries to provide a single search box with a single, integrated result set because it has a fundamental flaw—it searches in real time. Neither could enterprise search solutions like the Google Search Appliance. With the backing of the New England Law Library Consortium (NELLCO) and a two-year leadership grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a committee composed of law librarians from law schools throughout New England, a vendor representative, and a development partner, IndexData, created the Universal Search Solution (USS). The USS is an open-source, standards-based, single search box solution for law libraries that may ultimately guide all libraries in similar pursuits.