Abstract
Higher and further education provide a wide range of high-quality Web sites and services but the sheer range and number of these services can often be confusing to users, who may have to search across a number of resources, with different interfaces, search criteria and formats. The move towards the development of cross searching capabilities provides a means to simplify the users’ experience, which should encourage take-up and allow institutions to provide one interface to a whole range of services. This session will look at the technologies that can be used to achieve cross searching capabilities, covering Z39.50, XML, OAI and the development of Web Services. The session will concentrate on looking at real life implementations of these technologies within the e-learning, bibliographic and archival domains. This session will argue that XML is the key enabler for the growth of a distributed searching environment.
Learning Outcomes:
This session is intended to provide a non-technical explanation of Web-based distributed searching applications and to show attendees that real progress is being made in implementing solutions for distributed searching. It will help people to appreciate the real-world benefits of XML.