Designing a Robust Online Library Information Searching and Retrieval System

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to critically analyse the features provided by various search methods that are provided by various types of online library searching and information retrieval systems. Emphasis is given on the use of faceted search, federated search and Discovery tools available on the library portals of IITs, IIMs and NITs. A survey was conducted and data was collected online from 49 portals selected through simple random sample. Questionnaire method was used to collect information regarding issues and problems. It is found that despite availability of several advance features in searching, sorting, display options, hyperlinks, widgets, etc. still their takers are not much due to various problems such as limited on screen help, no information regarding search strategies used, etc. A conceptual model is proposed which is aimed at overcoming these problems while maximizing the users expectations.