Federated Searching and Diverse Subject Areas in Academic Tertiary Libraries: a Study at Database Level

Abstract

Searching online databases is a task tertiary students are commonly required to undertake when completing their academic work, and can often be a somewhat tedious process. Federated searching products appear to mitigate the tedium of this process by reducing the number of times a search needs to be repeated. This study aims to investigate the information needs of undergraduate history and medical students, what type of search results they prefer and their attitudes to the concept of a federated search engine. Twelve students were interviewed, six from each subject. A semi-structured interview method was used for data collection. Results showed that the information needs of both groups of students are similar, as are the techniques they use to conduct and refine their searches. There was no correlation between the subject studied and the type of results preferred (specific or broad), but significant differences were found in the attitudes of the two groups of students to a federated search product. Implications of these findings on the suitability of a federated search in a tertiary academic library setting are discussed, along with the implications these findings have for information literacy. Suggestions are made for further research.