[LM_NET] Hit: Federated searching vs. the actual databases

[Paula Yohe <paula_yohe@YAHOO.COM>]

Responses I received
Thanks!!

I have created two search engines or databases that access only
informational web sites previously selected by educators, librarians, and
educational and library consortia.  They are www.virtuallrc.com  and
www.academicindex.net .

I am presently re-designing www.academicindex.net .  Please look at
www.academicindex.net/browse2.html     and 
www.academicindex.net/index2.html ..


I read your post on LM_Net, and I agree with your position that providing more 
library databases is self-defeating because it provides students with an excuse to 
use Google instead. Your solution about using federated searching certainly is a 
step in the right direction of meeting student needs and providing a variety of 
vetted resources for learning that Google can’t.

 

I have been a ProQuest consultant for some years since my retirement as teacher and 
tech coordinator at a PA school district. One of my major responsibilities was to 
develop the BookCart lesson planning tool and create a collection of hundreds of 
free models that librarians can copy and adapt to increase librarian-teacher 
collaboration and use of library resources. I’m not sure if you know about this 
tool and how it may address the needs of students and teachers in an educationally 
superior way than federated searching. 

 

I’m not in sales. I only offer this information because I wish that I had this 
tool available in my former career as an educator. As I train librarians to use 
BookCarts, they are grateful for this innovative way to get teachers excited about 
using library resources to integrate 21st Century skills and be a Google Buster too.

 

Differentiating Learning with BookCart/CourseCart Lesson Planning -- Many 
librarians may not be aware that the eLibrary BookCart provides a unique and 
innovative strategy for teachers to build custom lesson plans for inquiry-based 
activities. ProQuest has created hundreds of models including the new U.S. 
Government and Civics CourseCarts. Librarians can copy and edit these to serve the 
needs of most of their teaching staff. This one-stop solution for students is a 
compelling reason for teachers and students to use focused and credible BookCart 
learning instead of wasted time and supervision required in Google research. 
BookCarts can also integrate other library database resources. BookCarts can also 
differentiate learning resources for challenged, mainstream, and advances learners. 
Only eLibrary has this unique teacher tool and free collection of hundreds of 
professional models that can jump start inquiry-based activities across all 
curriculum areas and
 levels. Copy part or all of the collection and present the benefits to your 
teachers. This is an excellent way to bring them back to the library for all their 
K-12 research needs and support your goal of integrating the new AASL 21st Century 
Literacy standards.

 

BookCarts Correlated to U.S Government & Civics Textbooks – This list of 
CourseCarts demonstrates the power and usefulness of eLibrary BookCarts to 
librarians, teachers, and school leaders. This list of 21 ProQuest Carts correlates 
to major topics and issues in textbooks used to teach U.S. Government/Civics 
courses in high schools. Each BookCart is a collection of articles and websites 
that provide both current and historic information on the chapter topic and issues. 
Each can include end of chapter questions for critical thinking. Each enables 
teachers to choose what and when to assign 21st Century inquiry-based learning 
activities as enrichment. Each preserves and expands the investment in textbooks 
used to teach this course.

 

I have been thinking about this for a year. I'd like to know what federated search 
products are available and who is using them.

I believe federated searching is very common in postsecondary institutions and I 
guess I'll have to start asking people in those institutions.  I want to prepare 
our students for their postsecondary training and education.


First, a caveat: I am not a library media specialist, but a university
librarian (I'm on the listserv because I teach reference for a minor in
library science, and I'm having the students 'lurk'). We have a federated
search engine which I happen to dislike...but mostly because LOCALLY it
doesn't meet expectations, which is partly our problem rather than the search
engines' fault. Not using the federated search *does* put a strain on
training, which primarily falls back on my shoulders.

As you point out, college students - and even more so at the K-12 levels - do
go to the internet first because it is quick and easy. Yes, a lot of the
stuff on the 'net is dross; but for K-12 in particular, where the likelihood
of needing 'scholarly' quality articles is far less, I think a federated
search is a great tool. Since the federated search tool is at least searching
in a pool of more 'quality' than an internet search engine to begin with, the
relative 'fit' of what they find is going to be better, even if not exactly
on target. The refined language of individual databases is probably not
significant enough for the K-12 audience. I can't imagine, for instance, that
your students are cross-searching America History and Life and ERIC, which
have 2 distinctly different language structures. The terms they are likely to
use are still likely keywords, if not subject terms...and it's in the
subject/vocabulary that the true variation in searches really appears. The
staff may be a different matter, but you can probably isolate them into
groups and teach them the individual database interface.

My colleagues in the University structure feel that, even for lower division
undergraduates, teaching a federated search engine rather than individual
databases is the most efficacious, and even 'force' it by requiring a
searcher to go into the federated search engine even to locate and isolate
the other, individual databases. Some of them are only teaching advanced
searches in the native interface of say, PsycInfo, when the students reach
sophomore or junior level. 

As I said, I don't happen to like our federated search engine; but that is
because we are significantly understaffed and do not have the technological
expertise to stay on top of maintaining all the subsets (through the
federated portal) for all 150+ databases to which we subscribe. I also don't
like some of our choices (which we are rethinking), like including the
catalog in a basic search. That, in turn, leads me into more explanations of
how the federated database is working (or not!), which I find more tedious
than teaching the databases individually. :-) To add on top of that, we then
have an additional 'tool' that locates full text across the various
subscriptions; and while both the federated search and the 'find it' tool are
produced by the same company, they don't always work together!!!


Teachers schedule time in the library with 5 days allotted for each project. The 
first day is library instruction. We use whole group instruction and demonstrate 
the variety of sources that they need. With freshmen, it's an introduction on "how 
to" use the databases. For the 10-12 grades, it's a refresher course or 
introduction to new ones that we have. We subscribe to Galenet databases (Bio 
Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints & Discovering), EbscoHost (free of charge from 
the state), Issues & Controversies in American History, Magill Literary Criticism, 
SIRS Discoverer/Explorer, OKCIS (Ok Career database). The students know which ones 
to use and how to use them. We don't want federated searches because we are 
teaching them how to use the databases and how to access these at home. When they 
go to college, they are prepared to use the databases there and can also use ours 
online as well. We teach them that Googling something is fine for fast information
 like a recipe or car facts, etc. but that research is scholarly and needs experts. 
 Our kids have no trouble using the databases. I also think that if they learned 
this skill in the lower grades, it would be much easier for us to introduce it to 
the freshmen. 


I think federated is the way to go.  Here in PA, our POWER LIBRARY suite of about 
30 databases is going that way.  I think in the elementary, if we start out with 
basic database searching principles, then they can progress to using a federated 
search.  There is so much info out there; I don't see how we can continue with the 
multiple database model.

Paula Yohe
Director Of Technology/Library Media Center
Dillon School District Two
405 West Washington Street
Dillon, SC 29536
Phone: 843-841-3604 Fax:843-774-1214
paula_yohe@yahoo.com


      

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