Federated searching's potential impact on
information literacy
Patrick R. Labelle, Concordia University
session 4c / Friday, May 12 / 9:00 - 10:30
Federated searching is bringing about rapid
change to the academic library landscape as it provides information seekers
with a unique opportunity to search simultaneously across multiple databases,
library catalogues and search engines from a single access point. Federated
search tools can definitely be appealing to novice searchers such as
undergraduate students who, faced with an ever-increasing and overwhelming
number of resources, remain unfamiliar as to which tools will best meet their
needs. However, the reliability and trustworthiness of federated search tools,
at this early stage of their development and use, are questionable if not
worrisome.
Should these known issues and imperfections
affect the way federated searching is introduced to students? Should teaching
federated search tools be done only when problems have been ironed out? What
are the benefits of teaching these tools if they will never be able to provide
as much specificity as a database's or a catalogue's native interface?
Librarians need to reflect on these and other questions in order to find ways
for appropriately integrating federated searching within the context of library
instruction.
Although this session will summarize known
limitations and drawbacks of federated searching, it will focus mainly on its
advantages and potential uses as a tool for resource discovery. Implications of
federated searching on information literacy will also be discussed and
considered in light of both the ACRL Standards as well as information seeking
behaviour research.
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Patrick R. Labelle, Concordia University 