Public Library Web Conference - 5-6 November 2002

The following discussion group session will be given at the Public Library Web Managers Workshop to be held at the University of Bath on 5-6^th November 2002.

Note that this exercise is also available in MS Word format.

Aims of this Exercise

The aims of this exercise are to allow participants to address challenges in several areas in implementing the requirements for rich search facilities.

In small groups choose two of the following topics to discuss.

1. Metadata
   What approaches need to be taken to the provision, management and exploitation of metadata for Web sites?
2. Software Evaluations
   How should you go about the evaluation of search engine software for your Web site?
3. Costs - Open Source versus Licensed Solutions
   How much should you budget for a search facility? Is an open source solution (such as ht://Dig) suitable? Are remotely hosted services (such as Google, FreeFind, etc.) suitable?
4. Integration
   How should the search facility for the Web site be integrated with access to non-Web resources, such as OPACs, backend databases, etc?
5. Other
   Feel free to add other topics.