One-To-Many: Building a single-search interface for disparate resources

Libraries provide access to a complex array of resources, but it comes as little surprise that many struggle with this task. The ubiquity of Google in modern research has placed libraries in the position of trying to emulate or set themselves apart from the search engine, regardless of how appropriate it is to compare libraries to Google. There are numerous ways in which libraries can improve the search and discovery experience for patrons, and for many, this improvement currently comes in the form of custom-built or commercial discovery systems—which aggregate disparate library content into a single results display. But, regardless of discovery systems’ potential, as Lown, Sierra, and Boyer (2013) conclude, libraries should learn and balance user expectations with the actual capabilities of library information systems. In an effort to find this balance, our work led us to a singular goal: providing a single-search interface for our complex array of library resources. What resulted was a discovery tool we named QuickSearch