Los Angeles Public Library chooses WebFeat Prism for federated searching of over 180 databases

WebFeat answers authentication challenges, usability issues for 1.6 million patrons

Old Brookville, NY, April 22, 2004 - As the largest public library in the western United States, the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) makes more than 150 subscription and 35 public databases available to over 1.6 million cardholding patrons. LAPL chose WebFeat Prism, the federated search solution for public, academic, government, and corporate libraries to make searching of these databases simpler, faster, and more appropriate to patrons and librarians.

In a typical month, the library's web server receives more than 85,000 session requests to connect to databases, with each session representing one or many searches. Matthew Mattson, Webmaster at LAPL, explained the problem: Before WebFeat, we had few options other than basically saying, Here are 150 resources. Happy hunting. Now we give them a smarter, more efficient way to search, whether they're beginners or experienced searchers.

Los Angeles Public Library had other reasons for choosing WebFeat as well. Said Mattson, We wanted to make sure we could streamline the search process for different types of users. With assistance from the people at WebFeat, we designed a functional interface that allows patrons or librarians to search the entire collection, selected categories, or individual databases whatever method best suits their needs.

"Also, we needed a solution that would resolve complex authentication issues. Every subscription database has its own way of validating users' usernames, passwords, IP ranges, and other methods for remote users. WebFeat handles these variations easily and transparently. Patrons login with their library card number, and the rest is automatic."

WebFeat addresses a trend seen by librarians everywhere. Users come to online libraries with increased Internet familiarity and high expectations for fast, easy, user-appropriate searching. They expect the kind of MyLibrary experience they get at Google or Amazon. Federated searching provides it for the database resources that today's libraries must provide.

Los Angeles Public Library worked with WebFeat to design the right search functionality. On LAPL's Databases page, users have multiple options. They can do a simple global search by choosing a Quick Search option. Or, if they have more clearly defined criteria and prefer more focused returns, they can choose a subject category of librarian-selected databases. As a third option, they can click one or more check boxes to make their own database selection. And expert users, such as LAPL librarians, can go directly to a database and all its native functionality, or search the three or four most appropriate databases with a single federated search.

"With WebFeat, our ultimate goal is to make searching more appropriate and more rewarding," concluded Mattson. "As a result, we expect better use of our valuable information resources."

About WebFeat
WebFeat (US patent #6,807,539) is the developer of the WebFeat Prism, used by over 1,500 leading public, academic, government and Global 1000 libraries and information centers—including over half of the top 20 largest U.S. public libraries and one out of every 10 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions.

WebFeat’s latest release, WebFeat 3, offers a suite of next-generation federated search tools, PRISM, the SMART™ COUNTER-compliant usage tracker, and MyWebFeat™ personalized federated search system. Originally founded in 1992 as an information technology consultancy, WebFeat has earned industry recognition from leading organizations such as the Gartner Group and Library Journal. Learn more about WebFeat at www.webfeat.org.