• Leah Prescott, Ricky Erway
• Online Computer Library Center

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14 September 2011This report summarizes the discussions from an OCLC Research Library Partnership working group of nine single search implementers and highlights the emerging practices in providing single search access to library, archive and museum collections. The goal of the report is to foster successful single search implementations by sharing the experience of the working group with those who want to create single search but don't know where to start.

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As part of an OCLC Research investigation (2009) into convergence issues for libraries, archives and museums (LAMs), a series of workshops at five institutions raised many examples of successful collaborations, as well as obstacles to collaboration. One topic that came up at each of the institutions was the desire to offer users a way to easily discover the institution’s resources regardless of where and how the resources might be managed. Following the workshops, the discussions about single search were continued with other institutions, many of whom had implemented single search, but were unhappy with the results and wanted to re-implement it. Others were just beginning to consider the options available to them. OCLC Research thought it would be useful to get some successful implementers together to share their experiences and help those who were just getting started.

Users can search Internet resources through a single search engine query, yet often the resources of a single cultural institution or university campus are segregated into silos, each with its own dedicated search system. The prominence of multidisciplinary research, the increase in the use of primary materials, and the desire to make new connections across disparate materials all would be advanced by the offering of single search to open up all the collections to the researcher.