Neat.
This is pretty similar to something I wrote for Georgia Tech just
before I left, called Memory Hole:
http://www.library.gatech.edu/search/quicksearch/?query=georgia&x=18&y=9
This is just a _very_ simple (and slightly buggy, don't click on the
'show all' facet links for, example) Ruby on Rails app with a Solr
backend that harvests records from the catalog, DSpace, subject
guides, library staff directory, the EAD Finding Aids application and
crawls the website.
The goal was the same as yours, not a catalog replacement, but rather
an improved site search that actually incorporated _all_ of the
content from the library.
Only took a couple of weeks to write and was a pretty big improvement
over what was there.
-Ross.
On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 8:32 AM, Eric Lease Morgan <emorgan_at_nd.edu> wrote:
> On May 2, 2008, at 4:06 PM, Eric Lease Morgan wrote:
>
>> I have been thinking about Google Onebox technology, "next
>> generation" library catalogs, and interpreting user queries.
>> Specifically, I think the techniques behind Google Onebox
>> technology could easily be implemented in "next generation" library
>> catalogs.
>
>
> To illustrate some of the possibilities of Google Onebox technology
> and how a library catalog search can be integrated into "search this
> site" functionality, I created the following demonstration. Try
> searching for Walt Whitman at the following URL:
>
> http://dewey.library.nd.edu/box/
>
> Remember, it is just an example -- a prototype!
>
> Here at Notre Dame the library manages the campus-wide search engine
> -- a Google Search Appliance. For the most part, it works pretty
> well. The Appliance allows us to create sub-collections, and in our
> case we created a sub-collection of simply library- and archive-
> related materials. It is then possible to insert sub-queries (called
> Onebox in Google parlance) into the Appliance interface such as
> queries against a campus-wide directory. Enter a query. The query
> gets sent to the sub-queries. The query gets sent to Google
> Appliance. Results are returned. Display. The whole thing sort of
> works like meta-search, sort of. Try these searches as well:
>
> * jennifer younger
> * plato and aristotle
> * encyclopedia of philosophy
>
> In a world were the name of the game is "Put your content where the
> users are", integrating the searching of library content in "search
> this site" functionality makes a lot of sense.
>
> --
> Eric Lease Morgan
> Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame
>
Received on Tue May 20 2008 - 13:58:34 EDT