The point of this message is to inquire about an integrated, federated search that I have been hearing about on Calix, -- WebFeat. Apparently this search system provides integrated results across OPACs and databases with "one-stop, remote patron authentication." The company also provides a product called Smart Usage Tracker, a slick statistical measurement program that does the following:
SMART logs and reports key metrics, including-----
* Number of search requests by database
* Number of full record/full text requests by database; and
number of next set requests by database
* In-house verses remote usage; tracked by IP address or library/client type
* Search terms
* Date/time stamp
* Native search response time
* Number of database "turnaways" (users denied access due to native database concurrent user limits
* Key fields from citations selected by users: ISSN, title, author, and database
One librarian, of Contra Costa County Library reported in his June 6, 2008 Calix message that after implementing WebFeat Express and the WebFeat add-on in AquaBroswer some of the library databases zoomed from an average of 5,000 uses per month to over 200,000 per month. (Contra Costa County Library System serves a population of over 1 million, and includes 20 branches.) This increased figure of usage (40 percent) reveals the impact of a federated search across the database offerings rather than increased patron usasge per se. However, the more comprehensive results may garner more patron interest and confidence. And because usage stats are much higher as a whole, the Smart Usage Tracker becomes an important tool to narrow down the details of use per database. This is my conclusion anyway; and I would be interested in learning what federated searching products Black Gold ATS has already explored and what value such a system and tracking module may have for Black Gold.
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