Metasearch v. Google

Lorcan Dempsey's most excellent analysis.

Libraries struggle because they manage a resource which is fragmented and 'off-web'. It is fragmented by user interface, by title, by subject division, by vocabulary. It is a resource very much organised by publisher interest, rather than by user need, and the user may struggle to know which databases are of potential value. By off-web, I mean that a resource hides its content behind its user interface and is not available to open web approaches. Increasingly, to be on-web is to be available in Google or other open web approaches.