How UK academic libraries choose metasearch systems

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how UK academic libraries choose metasearch systems; the choice processes they use; the main influences on their choices; and whether these choice processes could be made easier.

Design/methodology/approach

The project used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods, consisting of a literature review, two semi‐structured interviews, and an electronic questionnaire, distributed to systems librarians in UK university libraries.

Findings

It was found that many processes are repeated across libraries. It was also found that a prior/existing relationship with vendors has a strong influence on how libraries chose metasearch systems.

Originality/value

There has been no prior research explicitly investigating how a range‐of‐libraries chose metasearch systems. The results could be of value to libraries that are choosing a metasearch system, or other systems such as library management systems. It could also be of value to anyone interested in general choice procedures in libraries.

Citation

Ruddock, B. and Hartley, D. (2010), "How UK academic libraries choose metasearch systems", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 62 No. 1, pp. 85-105. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531011015226