Some of you will know of AuseSearch but most won't. AuseSearch is a
custom search engine operated by Google under my management since
2006 that returns search results in the familiar Google format, based
on searching all the institutional repositories (digital archives) in
Australia, and nothing else. The price is that Google advertising
appears on the results page. I have just updated AuseSearch, using
the data in Kennan & Kingsley
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2282
/2092, while including Australasian Digital Theses as well.
May I encourage you to add the link to AuseSearch to any relevant
library or repository search pages? My university did so long ago.
AuseSearch does a similar thing to the Australian ARROW Discovery
Service, but faster, without the glitz, with Google's ranking of
results, and it is free.
You can check this out by going to
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=012189697858739272261:yyyqychcumo
(AuseSearch's home page). You can add an AuseSearch box to a
personal iGoogle home page there too.
Better you can add the search box to your library website or
repository homepage by using this code. Results will appear on a new
Google page.
<form action="
http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box">
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="cx"
value="012189697858739272261:yyyqychcumo" />
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" />
<input type="text" name="q" size="31" />
<input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" />
</div>
</form>
<script type="text/javascript"src="
http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en"></scr
ipt>
The same technique can be used for any country. Once the data is in
an institutional repository, it is findable and capable of being
aggregated. This is why institutional repositories and mandates to
deposit in them are so important. How about similar facilities for
the USA, Canada, Germany, or whatever? I'm happy to help or even set
them up. We could have a directory of country-based search engines
for those that want to drill down into a country issue!
Arthur Sale
Emeritus Professor of Computer Science
University of Tasmania
Received on Fri Mar 06 2009 - 11:35:20 GMT