[Publib] Questions about evaluating federated search engines

[Erin E. Hendricks]

I am a library school student working on my practicum right now, and the
public library I am working at, Grandview Heights Public Library in
Columbus, Ohio (www.ghpl.org) is interested in purchasing a federated search
engine for their website, so patrons can have a "one-stop shop" for
searching their subscribed databases and catalog. Part of what I am doing
there for my final project is a paper that will help them evaluate different
vendors and set up best practices to make a final decision.

I found some good literature about evaluating search engines and vendors,
but does anyone have any real experience with choosing search engines for a
public library? I will be setting up two sets of questions for the
librarians: one to ask the vendors when evaluating them, and one to ask
themselves when demoing different options (which should give them a patron
perspective).

Any suggestions on the kinds of important questions that should be asked (in
either case) or any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Erin H.
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