What is Endeca?

Endeca is a database search solution powering some of biggest sites on the web including Walmart, Barnes and Noble, and Walgreens.  Using the Endeca search engine, these websites give their customers access to products via a quick and easy search process.  North Carolina State Unversity was the first library to use Endeca as a replacement for the traditional library catalog.  Their success inspired others to follow suit, including McMaster University and the Phoenix Public Library.

What is a "next-generation catalog"?

The emergence of the web has led to the development of many models for searching a database.  And, while there are still many approaches, a few "standards" have emerged.  Regardless of what product they offer, successful websites:

Traditional library catalogs do not fare well when compared to this list.  Next-generation catalogs give patrons the same tools they already enjoy on websites like Amazon and Google.  Since library databases are generally built according to standards like MARC, they are usually ILS-agnostic and will work with a wide variety of systems.

Why is SELCO looking at Endeca?

The short answer is "to make our catalog more useful to patrons".  Besides the capabilities described above, Endeca offers us great freedom to design our search interface.  Unlike iPac and other traditional library catalogs, Endeca is not a stand-alone product.  It provides all the search and display functions but requires a website to work within.  SELCO would be tasked with creating this interface (Endeca does supply tools to make this process easier).

This means we could do things that are not possible in iPac, but therein lies the challenge.  There will be a large array of choices we have to make in creating a catalog around Endeca.  I'm confident in our ability as a region to make and implement these decisions but it will require a lot of work.

Besides search functionality, Endeca offers us broad scope in adding other databases to the mix.  We could have searches hit ELM at the same time as our bibliographic database, for example.  Phoenix Public Library contracts with Rotten Tomatoes to have their movie reviews added to the display of DVDs and VCR tapes.  The only limit is our imagination and the size of our budget (most of these other resources are not free).

Finally, by implementing a new catalog that is ILS-agnostic now, we will be much less dependent on our next ILS when it comes to patron search.  By keeping the same basic interface, the migration could be much easier and more seamless for our patrons using the catalog.

If you want to know more...

There is a ton of information on the web for this topic and I have just scratched the surface.  For more, just do a Google search on "next-generation catalog" or "opacs suck" (this was the title of a series of blog posts on the topic that got a lot of people talking). 

Marshal Breeding did a presentation on next-generation catalogs at this year's Computers in Libraries conference.  I was there and blogged it here. 

For a more detailed examination of the topic, I strongly recommend reading the July/August 2007 issue of Library Technology Reports.  The Introduction article is a great summary of topic and there is a short article examining Endeca.  The whole thing is available in full text through EBSCO.

Although the agenda has not been posted, yours truly will be doing a presentation on this topic at the May 13 Users Group meeting.

And finally some links to libraries using Endeca:
Phoenix Public Library
North Carolina State Unversity
McMaster University