Is It Time for a Universal Academic Search Engine?

摘要

These days, every database vendor competes to produce a search experience which is just a bit better than what other vendors can offer. Some of them do pretty well. Others seem unable to comprehend what users need. Almost every vendor has come up with one or more features that are real winners. But all of them have functions that are downright lame. We who teach information literacy have to contend with a large number of diverse systems. Our messages to students are often, "You can do that with this system but not with that system," or, "This one has subject filters; that one doesn't." What is more, even scholars complain that academic search engines are too challenging (Innovative Research Report, April 2019, "Academic Libraries Have the Most Trusted Resources, but Their Tools Are Hard to Use"; go.ⅲ.com/2019-aca demic-trends.html). I'm wondering if the time has come to consider creating a universal academic search engine using the best features of existing engines. But that's ridiculous, isn't it? The major platforms out there compete with one another. They spend a lot of cash on and devote a lot of time to crafting their search tools. There is no way these competitors are going give up their best features, let alone get together to establish anything in common.