Developed in collaboration between the Stanford University Libraries
and Deep Web Technologies, xSearch provides Stanford students and
researchers with a single search option for multiple online resources.
Searches may be limited to specific databases, or all available
resources may be searched simultaneously. Search results are merged into
one relevance-ranked list, and are clustered by topic, author,
publication, publisher, and date.
While Deep Web Technologies offers ready-to-deploy solutions
to universities and other organizations, the company worked closely with
Stanford to provide functionality that Stanford would not have found in
any "out-of-the-box" solution, such as integration with their
authentication and LDAP services. In addition to the custom integration
work, Deep Web Technologies’ Explorit provides advanced features such as
email alerts in order to be notified of new items that match search
criteria, incremental results for quick results and custom search pages
which allow students and professors to quickly and easily build their
own federated search applications that search just the sources they
need.
The initial xSearch launch includes 28 sources that contain
links to journal articles, patent citations, conference proceedings,
ebooks, and even a directory of grant funds. More online resources may
be added in the future.
Grace Baysinger, Head Librarian and Bibliographer of
Stanford’s Swain Library of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, worked
closely with Deep Web Technologies and is pleased with the result.
"Working with Deep Web Technologies has provided us with a technical
solution that greatly advances our ability to support multi-disciplinary
research by the Stanford community. That solution is fast, easy to use,
and lets us simultaneously search a number of important resources."
Abe Lederman, President and CTO of Deep Web Technologies,
commented on his involvement in the partnership. "We’re delighted to
have worked so closely with Stanford to bring federated search to their
students and staff. Stanford had a number of unique requirements that
couldn’t have been met with other search systems. The combination of our
flexible and powerful technology and great attention to detail on both
sides has led to a very successful deployment. And, of course, we are
grateful to be partnering with a school as prestigious as Stanford
University."
