Applying Google Mini Search Appliance for Document Discoverability

摘要

Innovation in the workplace doesn't necessarily presuppose having a large budget and a detailed strategic plan. Both are undoubtedly helpful, but sometimes simply being alert to unanticipated opportunities is every bit as good. Take our situation at the Combined Arms Research Library (CARL): A chance conversation this spring alerted us to the possibilities offered by our parent institution's Google Mini Search Appliance. A new Google Mini ranges in cost from about $3,000 on the low end to as high as $10,000 (handling up to 300,000 files), which is well outside of our budget. However, if we could tag along with the existing Mini, we could greatly enhance document discoverability.rnThe U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) originally purchased the device to provide a search capability for its website. We learned, with some excitement, that our Google Mini indexes up to 150,000 files. We could set up multiple front ends (Google Search Interfaces) to target specific subsets of documents or webpages. We reasoned that we could use it as a simple and expedient means of searching the wealth of full-text materials we place on our library's web server.